SkyTrain Station Renovations

[madog222]

Originally Posted by ilikeredheads

there will never be Canada Line Extension. Single track already prevents that.

The single track could be replaced relatively easily in the scheme of an extension. With this development the track would need to jump to the west side of No 3 and the station rebuilt. Half a station on either side of No. 3 would work if the current switch is reconfigured.

Or we could have just built it properly the first time.

[cganuelas1995]

Originally Posted by ilikeredheads

there will never be Canada Line Extension. Single track already prevents that.

They could always do the unthinkable and demolish/double track that part of the guideway. Shouldn't be too hard or take too long, right?

[officedweller]

Agreed. They'd just have to temporarily relocate the terminus to Lansdowne Station.

[waves]

Are the support columns strong enough to support double tracking? Or would they need to rebuild those? If they are strong enough might they only have to lift up the single track portion of the track off the columns and replace it with the double track? - They could then potentially use the single track section on another spot of the extension

[ilikeredheads]

The columns for the single track are narrower so I doubt it can support the extra weight. Relocating the terminus to Lansdowne is stupid because the majority of passengers transfer to buses at Brighouse. You'd have to reroute all those bus routes or you are forcing a lot of people make an extra transfer.

For the moment, let's say twinning the tracks isn't as complicated as it sounds. Good, now you have deal with a much bigger problem, Brighouse Station. The current layout means the second platform would have to be supported above No 3 Road. That means shutting down that section of the road and redirecting all traffic and bus routes. There is also no way current City Hall will approve having something above No 3 Road since they are the reason we have single track in the first place. Connection from the station house to this second platform would also provide quite a challenge and I only see 2 options.
1) an overpass from the current platform to the new one. Due to limited space, it'll lack escalators yet 2 additional elevators will be required for accessibility. Capacity of current platform will be reduced, which is not a good thing considering how busy it is during rush hour. However, can the current structure even support all the extra weight?
2) Build a new station house on the west side of the No 3 Road. First, this assumes that Richmond Centre would even allow it in the first place since it would be on their property. However, having a second station house without any connectivity to the first one will create a lot of confusion for passengers. Tap into the wrong one and you have go all the back and goto the other one across the street. This is one of the drawbacks for having side platforms instead of an island one.

All of this will require tremendous amount of money, money that would be better spent elsewhere. More importantly, people here need to realize that Canada Line was never designed to be extended to anywhere, and doing so will be an expensive, highly disruptive, and prolonged nightmare. It's pure fantasy.

[cganuelas1995]

Originally Posted by ilikeredheads

All of this will require tremendous amount of money, money that would be better spent elsewhere. More importantly, people here need to realize that Canada Line was never designed to be extended to anywhere, and doing so will be an expensive, highly disruptive, and prolonged nightmare. It's pure fantasy.

Should've build it with a double track in the first place, even if it will never ever be extended.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by cganuelas1995

Should've build it with a double track in the first place, even if it will never ever be extended.

#OlympicLegacy

[flipper316]

Originally Posted by ilikeredheads

The columns for the single track are narrower so I doubt it can support the extra weight. Relocating the terminus to Lansdowne is stupid because the majority of passengers transfer to buses at Brighouse. You'd have to reroute all those bus routes or you are forcing a lot of people make an extra transfer.

For the moment, let's say twinning the tracks isn't as complicated as it sounds. Good, now you have deal with a much bigger problem, Brighouse Station. The current layout means the second platform would have to be supported above No 3 Road. That means shutting down that section of the road and redirecting all traffic and bus routes. There is also no way current City Hall will approve having something above No 3 Road since they are the reason we have single track in the first place. Connection from the station house to this second platform would also provide quite a challenge and I only see 2 options.
1) an overpass from the current platform to the new one. Due to limited space, it'll lack escalators yet 2 additional elevators will be required for accessibility. Capacity of current platform will be reduced, which is not a good thing considering how busy it is during rush hour. However, can the current structure even support all the extra weight?
2) Build a new station house on the west side of the No 3 Road. First, this assumes that Richmond Centre would even allow it in the first place since it would be on their property. However, having a second station house without any connectivity to the first one will create a lot of confusion for passengers. Tap into the wrong one and you have go all the back and goto the other one across the street. This is one of the drawbacks for having side platforms instead of an island one.

All of this will require tremendous amount of money, money that would be better spent elsewhere. More importantly, people here need to realize that Canada Line was never designed to be extended to anywhere, and doing so will be an expensive, highly disruptive, and prolonged nightmare. It's pure fantasy.

So why are all these idiots saying it's better to extend it to Ladner than build a new bridge?

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by flipper316

So why are all these idiots saying it's better to extend it to Ladner than build a new bridge?

because the public is about as smart as a bag of rocks.

also, this is a station renovation thread people. not a fantasy about Canada-Line replacement that would take billions of dollars...

[Waders]

Well. A new platform can be built on top of the existing one. I am sure engineers can find a viable solution that doesn't break the bank.

[Sheba]

Things haven't changed since I posted this in Dec 2015. Can we please move on and discuss station renovations that are actually happening and leave this in "Transit Fantasies".

Originally Posted by Sheba

Oh yes, extending the Canada Line has been discussed. A couple problems with that...

1) Richmond didn't want overhead Skytrain, they wanted on-ground LRT. Single tracking into Brighouse Station was one the things done to make them less unhappy. The tracks and station would need to be rebuilt to extend the line.

2) There isn't enough demand to run Skytrain from Richmond to Tsawwassen. Sure there would be some peak demand for the ferries, but they're not running on frequencies similar to the Seabus.

I could see the possibility for an on-ground LRT line but it would make more sense to run it east, not south. The cost (and lack of funds) make it a low priority.

[cganuelas1995]

They started paving. Can't wait for it to be open for business!

Was walking. Apologies for the low quality.

[cganuelas1995]

They started paving. Can't wait for it to be open for business!

[cganuelas1995]

delet this

[MIPS]

Man I am really not feeling it with the new white signage.
I did a trip from Waterfront to King George and back with the camera and I see they are starting to swap out some of the old blue signage the entire length of the Expo Line. Call me a stickler for the old days but I don't like it. The platform signs with the station names especially while the contrast is great the text is half the size the old signs. Wayfinding icons also seem to be smaller as well while many of the signs have large amounts of unused whitespace.

[Tetsuo]

Originally Posted by MIPS

Man I am really not feeling it with the new white signage.
I did a trip from Waterfront to King George and back with the camera and I see they are starting to swap out some of the old blue signage the entire length of the Expo Line. Call me a stickler for the old days but I don't like it. The platform signs with the station names especially while the contrast is great the text is half the size the old signs. Wayfinding icons also seem to be smaller as well while many of the signs have large amounts of unused whitespace.

And the most generic T in the world

[Bobert]

My problem with the "T" is that it sort of just blends into the background where ever it is placed. It doesn't seem distinctive enough.

[MIPS]

The exterior signage is another. I for one like the new entrance signs are they are three times larger than the original signs AND they are illuminated once again and I guess the streetside T is good enough. It's somewhere between Toronto's illuminated red/uellow TTC signs at subway entrances and Montreal's black signs with an iluminated white downwards pointing arrow within a circle.
I have seen photos though that showed that at least Burrard and Stadium used to have at the street a tall white pillar with the red/white/blue livery and SKYTRAIN painted on it but what happened to the smaller lamp post mounted wayfinding signs? They used to be all over the place so if you were a few blocks away from a station you got an idea where a station was.

[GlassCity]

I love the T. I think it's much more easily recognizable and distinct. Generic is good because it can be easily learned. And the white signage is good too, it looks much more modern. The blue ones always looked really dated to me.

[MIPS]

The text just needs to be bigger. I think they could make the new signage rollout work so long as the primary goal of it being readable from a distance is achieved.

For reference: (sorry, direct links due to Photobucket being dumb)

Stadium - Chinatown - http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/SkyTrain/IMG_3268.jpg

New Westminster - http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/SkyTrain/IMG_3355.jpg

The new signage all seems to be half as long as the old signs, regardless of how long the station name is. Likewise the "Millennium Line" and "Expo Line" markers are pretty much unreadable at a quick glance because of of its size, not so much from the light reflecting off the sign.