Millennium Line - Evergreen Extension | Completed

[Millennium2002]

I would accept that reasoning if it weren't for the fact that transit is never perfectly timed... buses can come in late or arrive early depending on the road conditions. If a bus occupies the middle bay and then another one wants to park at the end of the loop, then what?

Glancing at other transit exchanges in the region, this is the only off-street exchange with this apparent problem...

EDIT:
- Joyce Station also has this problem, but there's a long term plan to expand the exchange across the street...
- If counting on-street exchanges, then it also exists at White Rock. But that situation appears to be due to the fact that the adjacent strip mall wanted to retain its parking...

[Trainguy]

17 August 2016
Slick New SkyTrain Cars
Hit the Tracks

Vancouver British Columbia - New Mark III SkyTrain cars will soon roll into service on the Expo Line.

TransLink officials say passengers will notice larger windows, including a bigger front windshield, as well as a quieter ride and more space for bikes, wheelchairs, strollers, luggage, and standing riders.

Each car has 30 seats, three fewer than the previous generation, and passengers can walk from car to car the length of each train.

In addition to a map of stations that lights up indicating where a train is, a feature of Mark II trains, a new illuminated sign at the end of each train will indicate the destination, similar to what exists on Canada Line trains.

The new SkyTrain cars were built by Bombardier in Ontario and have undergone extensive testing in recent months.

A total of seven four-car Mark III trains will eventually be in service.

TransLink paid $90.7 million for the 28 new SkyTrain cars in part to ensure extra capacity to serve the 11 kilometre Evergreen Line, once it opens early next year linking Lougheed Station in Burnaby with Port Moody and Coquitlam.

Jeff Nagel.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by allan_kuan

... But that situation appears to be due to the fact that the adjacent strip mall wanted to retain its parking...

Likely the case here, too.
Morguard owns Burquitlam Plaza to the rear with the Shoppers Drug Mart.

[jollyburger]

I guess it's safer to stick the stopover bay on that side so drivers have a better view of the crosswalk (versus having buses stop at the curb which might be a little more smooth in terms of navigating)

[WarrenC12]

Is only one Mark 3 trainset in operation now?

Does anybody know if this will mean more cars in service during rush times before the Evergreen Line opens, or just more trains waiting at the OTC?

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Is only one Mark 3 trainset in operation now?

Does anybody know if this will mean more cars in service during rush times before the Evergreen Line opens, or just more trains waiting at the OTC?

Good question. They are still refurbishing the original trains right? Maybe they will just make up for the temporary lost inventory until the refitting is complete. Possibly in conjunction with the opening of Evergreen to have them all refitted?

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by MIPS

This is the biggest thing against the SRT. Excluding union meddling, semi-automation and various bugs in the system initially the RoW is simply not designed for the technology. Forget the MK II and Mk III the MK I as ambitious as its turning system is almost can't handle the first turn out of Kennedy and the turnaround on the other side of the station is abandoned because it's simply too tight a turn. Hell the technology doesn't even need a turnaround.

It's a legacy of the original CLRV/ALRV idea that was planned.
In theory you could still upgrade the system but the solution would be to demolish the Kennedy platform and turn and build inline with the track in the parking lot.
You'll never see it happen simply because the GTA is nothing but politics and it's a Harris-free Zone.

Harris may still be a four-letter word, but your anger should be directed at Davis, since this was his pet project in the early 1980's that was pushed on Hamilton (and rejected), then on Scarborough. Province guaranteed to cover any cost over-runs because the under-construction Scarborough RT (designed for the advanced LRV streetcars) had to be re-designed and re-built for the new ICTS cars instead.

Four years late and almost double the original cost, the revamped Scarborough RT opened in 1985.

see:
http://transit.toronto.on.ca/subway/5107.shtml

and:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_3_Scarborough

(laughed to see the photo of the low-level LRV platform that was buried under the high-level ICTS platform as part of the renovation)

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Is only one Mark 3 trainset in operation now?

Does anybody know if this will mean more cars in service during rush times before the Evergreen Line opens, or just more trains waiting at the OTC?

I suspect as the new Mk III trains are put in service, the oldest MkI cars will be sent for rehab or become "yard queens" that are only used when absolutely necessary.

Each new MkIII train can bump 6 MkI cars to the back of the picking order, and you'd want to run the MkIII's as much as possible in the first year so anything that breaks is still under warranty.

It's fortunate that the Evergreen extension may not open until 2017, so there will be more MkI cars through their mid-life refurb before the extra capacity is needed at that time.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

That depends on the streetcar. Surrey's current straight-down-the-middle LRT plan is probably going to increase gridlock, so that's actually worse than doing nothing.

I just got back from Calgary, and while there I found out they are building a new LRT line from the SE edge (Seton and South Health Campus) up to Inglewood and then tunneling through downtown to 2nd St, under 2nd St and Prince's Island, under Sunnyside and the bluffs, then under Center Street to 20th Ave N.

From 20th Ave N to Beddington Tr, the LRTs will be running between the road traffic lanes. For 50 blocks Centre St becomes a single-lane road (in each direction). At least he road is a wide boulevard north of Beddington Tr because the planners anticipated some form of rail transit through Country Hills and further north.

It will be quite the learning curve for generations of Calgary drivers who are used to the LRT trains being isolated from the general traffic. Now they'll have to share Center St with the trains, half of the Center St traffic will be pushed somewhere else because of the loss of traffic lanes, and many side streets will lose their easy left-turn access to/from Centre St (can't cut across the tracks).

And I thought Calgary traffic was S#!T last week ...

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

It's fortunate that the Evergreen extension may not open until 2017, so there will be more MkI cars through their mid-life refurb before the extra capacity is needed at that time.

I don't know how many Mk1s have been refurbished, but it seems reasonable that they can take more off the line and have them all done by the time Evergreen opens. Then at least everything on that line will feel somewhat new.

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I don't know how many Mk1s have been refurbished, but it seems reasonable that they can take more off the line and have them all done by the time Evergreen opens. Then at least everything on that line will feel somewhat new.

Just because you have spare capacity to take them offline doesn't mean you have the ability to increase the number of trains being refurbished at one time, though.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Jebby

Just because you have spare capacity to take them offline doesn't mean you have the ability to increase the number of trains being refurbished at one time, though.

Of course, but if this is a one-at-a-time effort, it would be horribly inefficient.

[Sheba]

I managed to get a short ride on a Mark 3 today. I asked the Skytrain staff riding it how many of the trains there are now and was told two in service plus another one in the yard for training.

Apparently on the news last week with the first Mark 3 ride they made a bit of an 'issue' about how it was starting before Evergreen is open. Uhm how is it that people still think the Mark 3's will be travelling that section??? I've had to keep telling my friend (who told me about the news report) that yes they're getting new trains so they have enough when Evergreen opens, but that doesn't mean Evergreen is getting the new trains. I thought it was a pretty well known fact that Expo would primarily be getting them.

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Of course, but if this is a one-at-a-time effort, it would be horribly inefficient.

I'm not sure how much capacity they have to increase the refurbishment rate of the Mark Is. It has a lot to do with the space they have to store them as well as the skilled labor required. And don't forget money...

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Apparently on the news last week with the first Mark 3 ride they made a bit of an 'issue' about how it was starting before Evergreen is open. Uhm how is it that people still think the Mark 3's will be travelling that section??? I've had to keep telling my friend (who told me about the news report) that yes they're getting new trains so they have enough when Evergreen opens, but that doesn't mean Evergreen is getting the new trains. I thought it was a pretty well known fact that Expo would primarily be getting them.

Most people probably don't even know that the Evergreen Line will become the Millennium Line, or that they use the same trains on the Expo/Millennium Lines and different ones on the Canada Line.

[urbancanadian]

Originally Posted by Sheba

I managed to get a short ride on a Mark 3 today. I asked the Skytrain staff riding it how many of the trains there are now and was told two in service plus another one in the yard for training.

Apparently on the news last week with the first Mark 3 ride they made a bit of an 'issue' about how it was starting before Evergreen is open. Uhm how is it that people still think the Mark 3's will be travelling that section??? I've had to keep telling my friend (who told me about the news report) that yes they're getting new trains so they have enough when Evergreen opens, but that doesn't mean Evergreen is getting the new trains. I thought it was a pretty well known fact that Expo would primarily be getting them.

I don't watch the local news much anymore because of how poor the reporting has become. But it doesn't surprise me. Few stories just report the facts anymore - they need to add a little controversy wherever possible.

When the media got to tour the trains, nearly every news headline I saw was about how there would be less seats on the new trains - as if they were removing half the seats. Personally I thought there were many more interesting topics to discuss.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Of course, but if this is a one-at-a-time effort, it would be horribly inefficient.

MkI trains are made up of married pairs of cars.
Both cars would be taken out of service, refurbished, and returned to service as a married pair again.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by Jebby

Most people probably don't even know that the Evergreen Line will become the Millennium Line, or that they use the same trains on the Expo/Millennium Lines and different ones on the Canada Line.

Perhaps the problem is too many people saying "Evergreen Line" instead of "Evergreen extension" or "Evergreen extension of the Millennium Line".

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

Perhaps the problem is too many people saying "Evergreen Line" instead of "Evergreen extension" or "Evergreen extension of the Millennium Line".

Evergreen should just be scrapped. It's a crappy name and just confuses people to add that to the M-Line.

[Meraki]

Originally Posted by Jebby

Evergreen should just be scrapped. It's a crappy name and just confuses people to add that to the M-Line.

But that make the mayors of the Tri-Cities cry that they aren't special snowflakes.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/transli...+name+evergreen+line/10118559/story.html

"Though he said he understands TransLink's intent to keep the name consistent with the Millennium Line, he said that name for that line has never made sense.
The mayor suggested SkyTrain lines could be renamed for their actual destinations."

Expo Line wasn't built for Expo. Millennium Line wasn't built to open in 2000 (though the plans had all your stations as well which got cancelled). What do we call this? The Richard Stewart Whining Line?