Millennium Line - Evergreen Extension | Completed

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by Tetsuo

MARK III shots from Koncept61 on r/vancouver

http://imgur.com/a/uVS9g

Thanks!!

Looking good, but they should go with inward facing bench seats to increase capacity.

[xd_1771]

They were testing it at a station! I hope I run into it soon then!
(Now I hope that broken bridge somewhere in Northern ON doesn't delay/affect the trains delivery....)

Interestingly those maps seem to show the Millennium Line still being interlined with the Expo Line as it is today (as opposed to it just being the Expo Line to Production & Millennium Line from VCC-Douglas)
Looks like that's a confirmation that these cars will be in service well before the Evergreen Line's opening date.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by MIPS

Could they really not of used Line?

Expo Line
---------Millenium Line
-----------------------Canada line
----------------------------------Evergreen EXTENSION
Sure, it's some 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 child of an extension of the Millenium Line but it just sounds so weird compared to the other routes.

My guess is that "Line" suggests an independent route - so it could be misleading.
A passenger could be waiting at the platform forever for the pixel board to read "Evergreen LINE train to ...."

Originally Posted by Kwik-E-Mart

Not sure if someone took a similar pic before I did, but here's an update on the vehicle maintenance facility at Falcon Drive:

Nice one, thanks.

Originally Posted by jhausner

I'm confused why they don't just do what they've done for over a decade on Expo line. Have the two lines intertwined and for each alternate train say Evergreen ...

There was a study a while back and the routing you describe was called the "double coordinated" option (meaning that Waterfront to VCC "Millennium" trains would have to interline twice - with Expo Line trains and with Evergreen Line trains.
It was not selected because a breakdown on one line would affect what would otherwise be an independent line, and because of the difficulty in coordinating the numbers of trains for what would be different traffic demands on the different branches.
That's why the current Millennium Line trains branching from the Expo Line will be terminating early (at Production Way, and in future, probably at Lougheed) and the mainline will be from VCC to Lafarge Lake - Douglas.

i.e. breakdown on the Expo Line mainline (Watefront to Columbia) would impact frequency of trains on the Evergreen Line mainline (VCC to Lougheed) since a number of trains would be stuck behind the breakdown and unable to serve the Evergreen Line. If the Evergreen Line mainline relied on half of its trains circling around from the Expo Line, service on the Evergreen mainline would be cut in half during such a disruption.

[bardak]

Originally Posted by Jebby

Looking good, but they should go with inward facing bench seats to increase capacity.

There is more standing room with the single forward eating. With longitudinal seating (inward facing) peoples legs protrude out much more than with side seating. The width of the single row of side seating on the skytrain is only 18"
and people do not protrude further. With side seating the width for the seat is just under 23" and there is probably a minimum of 6" that the knee protrudes on top of that.

lengths come from http://www.americanseating.com/transportation/uploads/tools-resources/insight-brochure-web-2014.pdf

[SOSS]

Latest Evergreen advisory. This explains the mini aggregate stockpiles at the north portal.

Ongoing Tunnel Construction near Seaview Drive

Boring of the two-kilometre tunnel for the Evergreen Line was completed in late November and construction of the concrete base within the tunnel is underway in Port Moody near Seaview Drive.

A concrete base is being constructed to support the Evergreen Line guideway inside the two-kilometre tunnel. Crews are currently placing gravel fill inside the tunnel working from the south to the north end. Once the gravel is in place crews will pour the concrete base.

The next step is building the wall that separates the in-bound and out-bound trains. This will be followed by the installation of utilities, trackwork and power systems.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Residents living near the tunnel alignment may experience intermittent noise and vibration when the gravel is being placed and compacted within the tunnel and when crews pour the concrete base. It’s expected that these activities will take approximately one month for the entire tunnel but the active work area will move northwards quickly and the work near Seaview Drive should take about a week.
Tunnel construction will continue to be a 24-hours-a-day operation, seven days a week.
Crews are working to complete this phase of construction as quickly as possible to minimize disruption to nearby residents.

Link

[nname]

Took a walk near Moody Centre and Coquitlam Central last Sunday. All images were taken by me.


Moody Centre

Station entrance


Above EB track


Stair and escalator access to WCE platform. Elevator and emergency exit is on the other side.


Building west of Moody Centre, with two antenna(?) on top. Not sure what it does?


Looking eastward at switch 211, 212, 213. The building is at the back.


Looking westward at the same location. This is an emergency exit for WCE platform


Construction cam view of switch 208, 209, 210, with the emergency walkway on the far side.



Coquitlam Central

Switch 220, 221, 222 west of the station.


"CTB STOP" - never seen this sign anywhere else in the system, what does that mean?


Spur heading toward Poco. The LIM rail ends below where I was standing while taking this photo on the EB track. I guess that is as far as the train will go. I wonder if they are going to leave the end of guideway open like that...


Above Coquitlam Central station...Someone took a photo at this location a while ago I think.

[dpogue]

Originally Posted by nname

Building west of Moody Centre, with two antenna(?) on top. Not sure what it does?

My guess would be a supervisor office, training/instruction area, and probably a network room for technicians to connect monitoring equipment for troubleshooting.
Same sort of stuff that's on the lower level at Commercial station or Burrard station.

Originally Posted by nname

"CTB STOP" - never seen this sign anywhere else in the system, what does that mean?

That looks like an ATC marker. The only other spot I think you will see them is in the yard by Edmonds, where they have some labels EN1, EN2, and EX1, EX2 for entry and exit points. The pocket tracks don't have these larger markers, but they do have smaller signage at walkway level giving their names (you might see one in the Port Moody pocket?)

CTB is probably "Coquitlam TurnBack".

So now I'm really curious because I think there's a switch number missing... Just like switch 41.

[nname]

Originally Posted by dpogue

So now I'm really curious because I think there's a switch number missing... Just like switch 41.

Reuse a diagram I made years ago and put in the switch numbers:



Doesn't seems to be anything missing... It fit perfectly!

Note: I didn't actually see the sign for switch 221 - only the 220 and 222, so I assumed the one in the middle must be 221

[Meraki]

Originally Posted by nname

Building west of Moody Centre, with two antenna(?) on top. Not sure what it does?

It might be for radio communication for the ground level segments in the area, kind of like the ones on either side of the tracks in the 29th Ave/Nanaimo area on the Expo line.

[Express691]

Originally Posted by xd_1771

They were testing it at a station! I hope I run into it soon then!
(Now I hope that broken bridge somewhere in Northern ON doesn't delay/affect the trains delivery....)

The last 6 sets are being built in Plattsburgh NY

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/10/new-skytrain-trains-vancouver-photos/

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Express691

The last 6 sets are being built in Plattsburgh NY

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/10/new-skytrain-trains-vancouver-photos/

The article says they'll all be shipped by truck - I wonder if the route would be through Canada or the US? You'd think the US would be faster.

[officedweller]

Of interest - this 1995 report mentioned by Nathan Pachal on PriceTags shows the original alignment of the PMC Line through Miller Ravine
(elevated instead of a tunnel). Objections from Port Moody and residents forced the use of a tunnel.
It also shows the alignment along Guildford Way as an alternate route.

[Side Note: Note the comment on page 5 regarding the Lougheed/Broadway Line that grade separation of at-grade LRT @ Willingdon and @ Gaglardi
would have been done in conjunction with grade separating vehicular movements too.]

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/media/...s/Unrestricted/1995/10-Apr-1995/5229.pdf


https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/media/...s/Unrestricted/1995/10-Apr-1995/5229.pdf

[xd_1771]

Here's something that might be vaguely important.

Since some people still believe that the 2008 switch to SkyTrain was a result of bias and/or manipulation (see above), I decided to put my thoughts in what has become my longest blog post so far (the research period spanned over 2 months!) hopefully to address this potential misconception:

The Real Evergreen Line Story

On the way I uncovered that the one-year standstill in the Evergreen Line's progress throughout 2007 was not a funding issue but a design issue. Here's how I put it in the article, read it thoroughly to get the rest:

...This almost certainly indicates that the LRT planning department had run into issues with the design since the 2006 business case had anticipated the start of construction by September 2007.

Instead, in October 2007 the design hadn’t been finished and the planners in-charge “hadn’t decided on exactly the route and exactly the stops.”

Most people are still asking the question of why the province decided to suddenly switch to SkyTrain technology in 2008. I think we should be asking the question about why the LRT design process suddenly stopped for no reason in 2007.

I also found out that the 2006 cost estimates for LRT ($970 million) were probably too low.

[officedweller]

I recall that there were concerns about at-grade running on St John's Street in Port Moody - and proximity to a school in Port Moody.
The 1995 Report stated that LRT on Lougheed would require Lougheed Highway widened to a 6 lane standard - so I wonder if that was also a factor between Ioco and Coquitlam Centre if LRT were to run in-street.

The alignment and options are set out in the BC EAO Draft and Approved Terms of Reference (which is essentially a framework for the EA Application, which does not seem to have been submitted):

http://a100.gov.bc.ca/appsdata/epic/html/deploy/epic_project_home_278.html

[SOSS]

So thankful it was upgraded to SkyTrain instead of LRT.

I do think it's promising that with the LRT version they envisioned possible extension further up past Lafarge Lake. Makes me think that an extension to perhaps Westwood Plateau Village or Burke Mountain is possible but unlikely. Maybe if the owner of Westwood Plateau Village redeveloped into high density (doubt thats even possible with city bylaws) and paid for an extension. I don't think towards Burke anything beyond medium-low density is planed.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by SOSS

So thankful it was upgraded to SkyTrain instead of LRT.

I do think it's promising that with the LRT version they envisioned possible extension further up past Lafarge Lake. Makes me think that an extension to perhaps Westwood Plateau Village or Burke Mountain is possible but unlikely. Maybe if the owner of Westwood Plateau Village redeveloped into high density (doubt thats even possible with city bylaws) and paid for an extension. I don't think towards Burke anything beyond medium-low density is planed.

Does this mean the Surrey LRT may still be come a Skytrain?

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Does this mean the Surrey LRT may still be come a Skytrain?

It sounds like that's a given already for Fraser Hwy.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Sheba

It sounds like that's a given already for Fraser Hwy.

Hopefully - especially given the Edmonton problem.
A Fraser Highway at-grade alignment running diagonal to the grid would cause similar traffic tie-ups as the Edmonton example
- traffic stopped both east-west and north-south for a train to cut across the intersection diagonally.
... and if you decide to elevate the LRT - you may as well go with SkyTrain for connectivity.

[waves]

Originally Posted by nname

Reuse a diagram I made years ago and put in the switch numbers:

This image has me wondering how long down the road we will have to wait for the short one station extension of the Evergreen Line out to Port Coquitlam.

I know that they did plan in into the line so that it was possible: http://www.partnershipsbc.ca/files-4/documents/PBCEvergreen.pdf

I would be curious to see what the designs would look like.

They could change over the Port Moody West Coast Express Station to a Skytrain station and allow the West Coast Express to pass uninterrupted through Poco (Poco passengers using the WCE would simply take the Skytrain one station over to Coquitlam Central Station).

Assuming a cost of 30 million $/station and 97$ million /km of track, this short 2.5 km extension with one station would only be at an extra cost of 272.5 million $. (19% increase in cost from the 1.43 billion $)

It's almost too bad this wasn't included in the initial project because it's likely to cost a fair amount more as a separate project.

[CanSpice]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Hopefully - especially given the Edmonton problem.
A Fraser Highway at-grade alignment running diagonal to the grid would cause similar traffic tie-ups as the Edmonton example
- traffic stopped both east-west and north-south for a train to cut across the intersection diagonally.
... and if you decide to elevate the LRT - you may as well go with SkyTrain for connectivity.

It wouldn't be so bad for King George or 104th, as it'd only block traffic going across. Fraser would be an LRT nightmare.