The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[rike5]

2013 Transit Ridership figures have been released for Edmonton.
The total comes to an impressive 87,041,248 rides. This is an increase of roughly 5,2% over 2012's 82,754,242 rides.

Overview:
https://dashboard.edmonton.ca/en/stat/goals/mei7-q2k3/u8rv-dkj4/k9qg-zdq4

The Transit Ridership Dataset (useful for checking historical 12 month rolling statistics):
https://dashboard.edmonton.ca/dataset/Transit-Ridership/q4c4-5fu4

[caltrane74]

Union Station Second Platform and Concourse Improvements Project

Update - January 21, 2014
Upcoming Major Milestones

Completion of major new structures: February 2014
Commencement of Front Street reinstatement: March 2014
Opening of new second platform: Summer 2014
Commencement of existing centre platform rehabilitation: Summer 2014
Art wall installation: Fall 2014
Project completion: Early 2015
Weekend Closure Jan 11/12 2014






More Pictures and Articles on the Project Here

[Coldrsx]

Originally Posted by rike5

2013 Transit Ridership figures have been released for Edmonton.
The total comes to an impressive 87,041,248 rides. This is an increase of roughly 5,2% over 2012's 82,754,242 rides.

Overview:
https://dashboard.edmonton.ca/en/stat/goals/mei7-q2k3/u8rv-dkj4/k9qg-zdq4

The Transit Ridership Dataset (useful for checking historical 12 month rolling statistics):
https://dashboard.edmonton.ca/dataset/Transit-Ridership/q4c4-5fu4

Very impressive gains Looking forward to a large bump in 2014 due to the NAIT LRT line opening up.

[Chadillaccc]

My vision the future of Calgary's inner-city rapid transit network. Not too far from what is currently proposed/existing. I believe the only differences are the elevated section of the 201 from Sunnyside to North Hill, and the subway under Stampede Park.


Solid Line = underground
White Line = elevated
Dashed Line = at-grade


Future_Metro by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

The Lakeshore line inside the city Toronto, doesn't carry much freight (I believe the rails are owned by Metrolinx within the City) , and the Kitchener Line/ Airport Line are being separated from freight as we speak as the upgrades are completed for opening of the UP Express in 2015 (Again the new commuter corridors totally separated from freight)

The province is moving fast to electrify the airport line, likely within 10 years, same for the Lakeshore line. Once the lines are electrified, sleek EMU commuter trains from Bombardier, Sumitomo, Seimens or Alstrom can take the rails

The first one is a Bombardier Talent, same as the Ottawa O-Train. It has been out of production for a while.



The replacement Talent 2 isn't as nice.



Nor is Ottawa's new DMUs, the Alstom Coradia LINT;



All three were originally designed for the German market (often used by the Deutsche Bahn).

[Innsertnamehere]

kitchener goes without freight until just south of the 407, then the remaining distance to Kitchener is freight heavy. Lakeshore goes without Freight until it goes past Aldershot and approaches Hamilton (that is the main reason Hamilton doesn't have all day 2 way), Richmond Hill goes without Freight until just south of the 407, where it becomes double tracked to deal with the traffic as it is a very busy freight line. Stouffville goes entirely without freight, though the corridor has 2 small freight customers left that get service when GO isn't running. Milton runs on CPs main corridor, and is extremely restricted by Freight.

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

My vision the future of Calgary's inner-city rapid transit network. Not too far from what is currently proposed/existing. I believe the only differences are the elevated section of the 201 from Sunnyside to North Hill, and the subway under Stampede Park.


Solid Line = underground
White Line = elevated
Dashed Line = at-grade

That looks pretty accurate. Why would you have the Sunnyside portion elevated though? That was my local station for a year, and while I am no big fan of at -grade crossings, the ones around there really aren't an issue, and the Sunnyside station is one of my favorites on the network, it is nicely integrated with it's surroundings. To build that, you would need to sever the entire line at a critical point for probably a year for little, if any, positives for the network. There are way more at grade crossings that should be fixed before those two.

[Chadillaccc]

Because if it were elevated for that portion, that would make the entire Northwest line grade separated. I know the trains have 100% priority at those 4 crossings (the only crossings on the NW section) but if we're going to be hitting 2 million people within the next 28 years, we're going to need grade separation. Plus, elevating the line will ensure minimal disruption to existing Ctrain services during construction for as seamless of a transfer as possible. Burying it would cause major disruptions.

[kora]

Survey of Household Spending, 2012
StatsCan
http://statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/140129/dq140129a-eng.htm?HPA

Households spent an average of $11,216 on transportation in 2012, little changed from 2011.

This spending consisted of $10,087 on average for private transportation (which includes spending on the purchase of cars, trucks and vans and their operating costs), while the remaining $1,128 was for public transportation, which covered spending on public transit, taxis, air fares, inter-city buses and trains.

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Because if it were elevated for that portion, that would make the entire Northwest line grade separated. I know the trains have 100% priority at those 4 crossings (the only crossings on the NW section) but if we're going to be hitting 2 million people within the next 28 years, we're going to need grade separation. Plus, elevating the line will ensure minimal disruption to existing Ctrain services during construction for as seamless of a transfer as possible. Burying it would cause major disruptions.

I agree with the aim, but I just don't think it's feasible, look at the work that would be required just at Sunnyside. Reconfiguring the bridges at either end alone would take months and no trains could run at that time. Maybe you could build a guideway alongside the ground level tracks but it probably would require some appropriations. And good luck selling a guideway through hipsterville Sunnyside, especially when the existing line works fine. Also remember there will still probably be an at grade crossing at 4th Ave anyway with the current plans.

Going underground would be much simpler to be honest, which usually means cheaper. If that was done at the same time as 8th Ave, then there would be no lost time with connecting the portal downtown, it would just have to connect probably at the tunnel at 16th Ave.

[Chadillaccc]

Trust me, going underground is absolutely never cheaper than elevated. The guideway supports could be built right in the middle, between the tracks themselves in almost the entire line. You think they could do it in hipsterville Vancouver but not in hipsterville Calgary? Any option is going to cause months of disruption, minimum. Since Calgary can't do bored tunnels in low lying areas (Sunnyside for example) because of our soil, tunneling would cause years of disruptions.

[milomilo]

I don't think either option is going to happen within 50 years - the roads on the South end are much more of a problem and should be fixed first. And I really doubt a guideway could be built above the existing track while there is live OHLE and a running railway, and you still need to connect it to the bridges. You are talking months, probably a year of no service - there is no way that would be tolerated.

I'm no expert on TBMs, but I'm sure it would be possible to bore underneath the river, but probably not worth the cost.

[caltrane74]

Wow, I didn't realize the Lakeshore Line was commuter only for such a distance. Its good that Metrolonx has invested in making the service all day / 2 way and is pushing into Hamilton now. Also the Toronto DRL debate could also push the province to make upgrades to the commuter service that would relieve some pressure from the Yonge Line.

[caltrane74]

Union Station Train Shed Update by Metrolinx


Aerial shots from Metrolinx's flickr:


Jan 2014 - Union Station Revitalization Train Shed by Metrolinx, on Flickr


Jan 2014 - Union Station Revitalization Train Shed by Metrolinx, on Flickr


Jan 2014 - Union Station Revitalization Train Shed by Metrolinx, on Flickr


Jan 2014 - Union Station Revitalization Train Shed by Metrolinx, on Flickr

[SpongeG]

CBC News
BREAKING NEWS: Woman dies in Montreal's Metro after scarf caught in escalator. More to come: http://fw.to/wMUsFwe

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/w...ht-in-montreal-metro-escalator-1.2516971

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

CBC News
BREAKING NEWS: Woman dies in Montreal's Metro after scarf caught in escalator. More to come: http://fw.to/wMUsFwe

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/w...ht-in-montreal-metro-escalator-1.2516971

I've been hearing "scarf" all over, but then I saw this:

http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/01/30/woman-dies-after-scarf-hair-get-tangled-in-montreal-escalator

Are all other media outlets trying to be politically correct?

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I've been hearing "scarf" all over, but then I saw this:

http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/01/30/woman-dies-after-scarf-hair-get-tangled-in-montreal-escalator

Are all other media outlets trying to be politically correct?

Scarf is a correct term.

[Aylmer]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I've been hearing "scarf" all over, but then I saw this:

http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/01/30/woman-dies-after-scarf-hair-get-tangled-in-montreal-escalator

Are all other media outlets trying to be politically correct?

Nope:

"There were media reports the woman was wearing a hijab, but that was denied by Brabant."

Read more: http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/woman-dies-in...led-in-escalator-1.1662867#ixzz2s0YMFvEl

It's just Sun 'News' being it's regular self. Rule of thunb: if everyone but Sun says something, don't go with Sun.

[Mikemike]

It's not quite, because when we hear scarf we think something completely different than head-scarf, especially in winter.

But I don't think there's any PC censoring going on. This is a complete freak/random accident that's neither garment-specific, nor does it lend itself to minority stereotyping. If anything, editors got it wrong because getting a trailing scarf seems possible, while a headscarf seem unlikely to lead to this kind of accident.

Edit: if it was a regular scarf as is reliably reported above, the headscarf theory is troubling partially because it is so unlikely. The strangeness of it seems to indicate that the hijab rumour is either true, or was started intentionally and probably maliciously.

[GreaterMontréal]

It was a hijab. 2 witnesses said it was a hijab. Journal de Montréal