Millennium Line - Broadway Extension: Planning & Pre-Construction

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by Reecemartin

Since the system is completely automated is there actually any advantage to having an OMC there? Seems to me that expanding the one on the Evergreen Line makes more sense.

Why the need for an OMC there?

Why not an elevated storage yard / overnight maintenance & cleaning yard like Falcon in Coquitlam?

It can be elevated over part of the BNSF South Yard, although the BNSF rail tracks may have to be shifted to accommodate the Skytrain pillars.

the storage yard also doesn't need to be many of tracks wide, since the length can stretch almost a 1/2 KM from VCC to the new Great Northern Way Campus station.

Hmmmm .. simple calc shows a single 1/2 KM storage track there can hold 40 MkI cars (as 6x 6-car trains ) or 25 MkII / III cars (as 6x 4-car trains ... or 5x 5-car trains - a boy can dream, no?)

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[officedweller]

Given that VCC-Clark Station was delayed over access rights from BNSF, I highly doubt that you'd be able to easily negotiate an expanded RoW for a yard in the False Creek Flats (even if there is a spur switch located there).

In addition, having a yard close to one end of the line (@ Falcon) allows earlier / later first and last train service to that end of the line.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

He says as Big Bertha is being sold for scrap...

What is being scrapped is the cutting head itself.

Not surprising since the cutters and teeth are always the parts get most damaged during the bore. Some TBM projects build in maintenance schedules to stop the machine and back away from the cut face so the cutter wheels and teeth can be replaced with new parts before resuming the bore.

The TBM used for the Canada Line had it's cutting head removed at the Waterfront retrieval pit, dis-assembled to be trucked back to the Olympic launch pit and refurbished for the second bore. The rest of the TBM was rolled back through the just-built tube from Waterfront back to the Olympic launch pit, shifted over to begin the second bore, the refurbished cutting head was re-attached to the machine, and the second bore to Waterfront was begun.


Once the cutting head has been detached from Big Bertha and cut into manageable 20T pieces for scrapping, the rest of the 300 foot long machine will be dis-assembled and removed from both the launch and retrieval pits.

For its next project, Big Bertha can have a new cutting head attached (and likely scrapped at the end of that project too) specially designed for the geology it will be boring through. The rest of the machine can be refurbished and reused many times for many projects until it also becomes too expensive to repair.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by Reecemartin

I think we are referring to the same yard in Co.

Because that's quite expensive and with an automated system Im not sure I really see the point, couldn't we just store trains in the tunnel or on tail tracks at Arbutus?

I suspect the the extra cost of building a 3-track 1/2 KM elevated section (the Inbound and Outbound service tracks plus a parallel storage track north of them) along Great Northern Campus would be cheaper to build than a pair of storage tunnels west of Arbutus.

I wouldn't be surprised to see space after Arbutus Station for a lay-up train on each track west of the station, but not enough tunneling (which would stretch most of the way to MacDonald) for storing 10 -12 trains west of Arbutus.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

what is the purpose of that 3rd track by VCC-Clark? I've always wondered...

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

I wouldn't be surprised to see space after Arbutus Station for a lay-up train on each track west of the station, but not enough tunneling (which would stretch most of the way to MacDonald) for storing 10 -12 trains west of Arbutus.

It'll be interesting to see where the exit pit will be.
If the bore were under 10th Ave, there's a nearby park past Arbutus.
If it's under Broadway, could they have it on Broadway itself?

[dpogue]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

what is the purpose of that 3rd track by VCC-Clark? I've always wondered...

Currently it's where trains turn around. Not sure why exactly, but they use that spur track instead of the inbound.
Further along it is a covered area with a staircase to the ground and a small crane. It's intended as a spot for storing maintenance equipment and loading/unloading supplies.

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

what is the purpose of that 3rd track by VCC-Clark? I've always wondered...

One half of a future pocket track that for some reason only serves inbound traffic.

[officedweller]

It is odd that the pocket track is on the side.


https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Monte+C...!8m2!3d49.2682335!4d-123.0937304!6m1!1e1

[Marshal]

Perhaps they would remove it when extending (?). Or, it allows for large scale access (equipment) with cranes.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

it almost looks like it is designed as a spur for something, but it does get fairly low to the ground. we need someone who was on that project to tell us. one of those oddities.

[xd_1771]

The Millennium Line was supposed to be a multi-phase project, with the next phases supposedly being what is now the Evergreen Extension and then the Broadway extension.

It does seem like that spur was built as a provision to potentially connect to an OMC in that area....

[cornholio]

I thought they talked once about a connection between the Expo line and Millennium line in that area to allow train movements between the two. Could be a spur to link up to Expo line for train shuffling. OMC yard in that area is also a possibility.

Also the millennium line directly west of there is supposed to drop to at grade until it goes into a trentch and then tunnel at North Fraser Way Campus.

Its not easy though finding documents from that time though.

[dpogue]

Originally Posted by xd_1771

The Millennium Line was supposed to be a multi-phase project, with the next phases supposedly being what is now the Evergreen Extension and then the Broadway extension.

It does seem like that spur was built as a provision to potentially connect to an OMC in that area....

At one point there was a lot of planning (at the City of Vancouver level at least) based on the assumption that the rail yards would be moved and the land sold off. In recent years the rail companies have made clear that is not going to happen.

So it's possible there was a design to build an OMC on the site of the rail yards, with the assumption the land would be available.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by dpogue

Currently it's where trains turn around. Not sure why exactly, but they use that spur track instead of the inbound.
Further along it is a covered area with a staircase to the ground and a small crane. It's intended as a spot for storing maintenance equipment and loading/unloading supplies.

The trains do NOT turn around there.

The westbound trains enter the spur, pause for the sanity check and then reverse direction traveling east across all the switches from the spur, across the inbound track to the outbound track, and then continues to the eastbound platform to pick up passengers.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by dpogue

At one point there was a lot of planning (at the City of Vancouver level at least) based on the assumption that the rail yards would be moved and the land sold off. In recent years the rail companies have made clear that is not going to happen.

So it's possible there was a design to build an OMC on the site of the rail yards, with the assumption the land would be available.

I think you're probably right.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

it almost looks like it is designed as a spur for something, but it does get fairly low to the ground. we need someone who was on that project to tell us. one of those oddities.

I haven't noticed that the spur, nor the mainline tracks, has a lower elevation to the ground west of VCC. They all need to stay elevated over Glen Dr that provides access to the VPD training center.

The future extension will eventually be lowered to ground level as it runs west, since there will be a new station at the NW corner of the Great Northern Way campus near (and parallel with) Thornton St. This station is the transition between the elevated section to the east and the new Broadway tunnels to the west to UBC.

[flipper316]

They were drilling/testing at Main and Broadway when I drove by there at like 6:30 pm today.

[Feathered Friend]

Originally Posted by flipper316

They were drilling/testing at Main and Broadway when I drove by there at like 6:30 pm today.

http://vanmapp1.vancouver.ca/roadahead/events/details/43ca3818-c005-49c0-85c8-0ac5bdeb9df0

Event: Private Contractors Environmental Investigation at W Broadway
Location:
W Broadway between Main St and Manitoba St
Expected Schedule:
Mar 31, 2017 - Apr 15, 2017
Status: Approved
Description:
Traffic at both sides of W Broadway between Main St and Manitoba St will be reduced to two lanes in each direction (24 hours), Monday to Sunday to facilitate environmental investigation. Minor traffic disruptions can be expected.
Posted: Mar 29, 2017
Updated: Apr 3, 2017 12:50 PM
City Contact: Sarah Wilson 604.873.7353 [email protected]

Looks like they'll be on that stretch until the end of the week.