Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitchissippi
Isn't it already wide enough under there? There's even room for the pathway that runs through. It's the trench that's too narrow in some sections for double tracking and the city will have to widen it. In their wisdom, they'll probably close down the Trillium line for 2 years just to do that.
Are the standards for trench width clearance different for LRT and heavy rail?
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Most likely they would have to close the Trillium Line for 2 consecutive summers (May to August) to blast through the tunnel and widen it - the earliest realistically it could be done is the summer of 2019 and 2020. It would be too disruptive during the school year for a full closure so it would need to be scheduled to ensure it can operate fully during the school year. The tunnel is 620 metres in length, so two boring machines could each handle 310 metres of tunneling.
The first summer they could tunnel it out, stabilize it and reinstall the tracks (likely with a speed restriction) and the second summer they could construct the twin tunnels and then with that space they could build the twinned tracks. Unless a switching is done, they would have to build on the west side of the tunnel for the twinning, to line up with the trench which could be blasted easily during that time frame.
A second bridge (or new bridge) over the Rideau River can be done with relatively minimal impact to operations, since most of the work would be off the bridge - in the river or on the new bridge. They could use those 2 summer closures to do the heavy work.
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