The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[CityTech]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Ottawa O-Train. In red and green are the existing and Stage 2 lines (2001-2025), totaling 64 kilometers and 41 stations.

In orange (Barrhaven, 10 km and 7 stations) and purple (Kanata, 11 km, 8 stations) are Stage 3. If all goes according to plan, the entire network as currently invisioned should be completed by 2030, assuming a non-stop building phase. The network would total 85 kilometers and 56 stations.


https://www.otrainfans.ca/forum/topic/29...-steps/page/2/?tab=comments#comment-1674

The Barrhaven and Kanata extensions are up in the air, IMO. Funding for them might not arrive, especially as the city is insistent that the provincial & federal governments fund them entirely. While this is a fair request given the city paid a lot more than one-third for the first two phases, I think it will fall on deaf ears.

Also, I highly doubt the last half of the Kanata line will be built. The business case falls apart dramatically as you go past Terry Fox.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

One wonders given the number of failures during the first two months of operation and it doesn't seem to be improving much.

The availability rate is on par/just slightly below other Canadian metro systems though. There were many more outages in Montréal in the last week than in Ottawa but people are just used to it. It really shows the issue of having only one trunk line downtown versus two.

[CityTech]

I did read that Ottawa's Line 1 has so far exceeded (and not by a small margin) the availability rate of TTC Line 1.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by CityTech

The Barrhaven and Kanata extensions are up in the air, IMO. Funding for them might not arrive, especially as the city is insistent that the provincial & federal governments fund them entirely. While this is a fair request given the city paid a lot more than one-third for the first two phases, I think it will fall on deaf ears.

Also, I highly doubt the last half of the Kanata line will be built. The business case falls apart dramatically as you go past Terry Fox.

I don't necessarily agree with the entire project as proposed, but the business case has little to do with the chances of this getting built. It's all political posturing. The southern and western suburbs can be considered battlegrounds, therefore it's in the interest of both the Conservatives and Liberals to support these extensions.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by p_xavier

The availability rate is on par/just slightly below other Canadian metro systems though. There were many more outages in Montréal in the last week than in Ottawa but people are just used to it. It really shows the issue of having only one trunk line downtown versus two.

I have commented about lack of redundancy on the Ottawa board for quite some time. We could have had a second line through downtown but killed it in 2006.

How do Montrealers deal with subway closures? It has been chaotic in Ottawa because most people can't get to their destinations on-time when their is a shutdown. Instead of beefing up parallel services, they cut almost all of them making it very difficult to enter or exit downtown Ottawa without using the Confederation Line.

[White Pine]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I have commented about lack of redundancy on the Ottawa board for quite some time. We could have had a second line through downtown but killed it in 2006.

How do Montrealers deal with subway closures? It has been chaotic in Ottawa because most people can't get to their destinations on-time when their is a shutdown. Instead of beefing up parallel services, they cut almost all of them making it very difficult to enter or exit downtown Ottawa without using the Confederation Line.

At risk of beating this to death, The two lines were never proposed concurrently, and so we would not have had two lines. we would have had a stupid little streetcar through downtown and a line of buses with most of the city in tow.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by White Pine

At risk of beating this to death, The two lines were never proposed concurrently, and so we would not have had two lines. we would have had a stupid little streetcar through downtown and a line of buses with most of the city in tow.

There is no reason we couldn't have done both as the first project was due for completion in 2009-10 and construction of Confederation Line didn't begin until 2013. What we are now spending on Line 2 would have paid for the original version of Line 2 including double tracking. As has been mentioned on the news in the last day, we are now paying 30% extra because of labour shortages in the construction trades. This is a cost of building Line 1 and Line 2 extensions at the same time.

Nevertheless, this point was brought up because of availability issues on the Confederation Line, and we are now on the fourth straight day with train service interruptions.

[OCCheetos]

Since the city's early proposals indicate Fallowfield station should be elevated and since the LRT will be elevated over the VIA tracks as part of the grade separation project, I can see them trying to sell the entire project (LRT and grade separation) as all or nothing since there's no cost-effective way to build an elevated BRT station at Fallowfield as a stand-in until the LRT is built while also elevating the BRT over the VIA tracks (since they would ideally like to reuse structures..) And with the importance of the grade separation project, that might give the city some leverage to get the entire funding package.

Who knows about Kanata though.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I have commented about lack of redundancy on the Ottawa board for quite some time. We could have had a second line through downtown but killed it in 2006.

How do Montrealers deal with subway closures? It has been chaotic in Ottawa because most people can't get to their destinations on-time when their is a shutdown. Instead of beefing up parallel services, they cut almost all of them making it very difficult to enter or exit downtown Ottawa without using the Confederation Line.

People usually head to the other open line. If two lines are problematic like in the recent weeks, there's a special bus service set up like in Ottawa. Also the mentality is that if you're late because of transit, it's not a big deal. I remember when I worked at the federal government in Ottawa, I was expected to be exactly on time at the same hour everyday, this just don't happen in Montréal. The STM will hand out tardy slips if requested.

[Coldrsx]

City launches new Valley Line West LRT procurement



November 12, 2019

The City of Edmonton is launching a new procurement process for the Valley Line West LRT project.

The 14-kilometre extension from Downtown to Lewis Farms will be delivered using a design-build-finance (DBF) model. This type of contract requires the successful bidder to undertake the design and construction of the Valley Line West project and provide partial private financing. Once fully complete, the full 27-kilometre Valley Line will provide a reliable continuous light rail transit service connecting major destinations between southeast, downtown and west Edmonton.

The City chose the new procurement strategy after engaging with construction industry stakeholders to better understand changes in the market’s capacity to build the Valley Line West LRT. The City will procure light rail vehicles separately and is currently exploring options related to that approach.

“Our goal has always been to deliver the Valley Line West LRT project in a manner that provides Edmontonians with the best value for their money and we’re confident our new procurement strategy will achieve that,” said Bruce Ferguson, Branch Manager for LRT Expansion and Renewal.

Through competitive procurement, the City ensures fair and rigorous competition among experienced participants in the design and construction industry. The City expects to launch the new procurement process with a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) early in the new year. The successful proponent will be selected by the end of 2020 and the project is expected to be completed by 2027.

The new procurement strategy comes after two of the three shortlisted teams withdrew from the previous procurement process in July. The City temporarily paused procurement to fully understand the changing market conditions and evaluate its options before relaunching with a new approach.

The Valley Line West procurement strategy report will be presented to Executive Committee for information on November 18.


For more information:
edmonton.ca/valleylinewest

Media contact:
Mariam Ibrahim
Communications Advisor
Communications and Engagement
780-496-5088

[J.OT13]

Meanwhile in Ottawa, drinking fountains don't do well in winter.

https://twitter.com/CBCOttawa/status/1194649145845440513

Hurdman Station's outdoor drinking fountains.

[ssiguy]

How can Edmonton proceed with it's LRT West extension with the provincial cutbacks which have effectively cancelled Calgary's Green Line?

[Coldrsx]

Funding was postponed/delayed, hence the way forward with something akin to bridge financing.

[Dengler Avenue]

https://www.bramptonguardian.com/news-st...-for-brampton-hlrt-extension-on-horizon/

Hmm, why does this sound politically charged to me?

For context, the current mayor of Brampton used to be ONPC’s leader until an alleged sex scandal ousted him in early 2018. Many believed it was an insider job.

I suspect personal vendetta because I’ve always thought it’s been agreed upon that Hurontario LRT will go to Downtown Brampton to connect to the Kitchener Go Line. I can be wrong though.

[savevp]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Hmm, why does this sound politically charged to me?
job.

Although it would be completely unsurprising if this were merely vengeance, I reckon it's simply the fallout from Brampton rejecting the funding when it was available. Regardless of who the mayor is, the funding was reallocated once the last council decided not to take it.

[lrt's friend]

Maybe I am not looking hard enough, but it is so strange that we hear nothing about the Patrick Brown sex scandal anymore. Politics can be such a dirty blood sport. No wonder, I cannot stomach voting for the PC party.

[WhipperSnapper]

Wrong thread. Still have to LOL at it.

[White Pine]

If I were a government inclined to reduce spending, Brampton LRT would be the easiest thing to cut. I could just say "The money was there and you decided you didn't want it, so tough", and just like that, maybe a billion dollars off the deficit lol.

[Dengler Avenue]

http://www.metrolinx.com/en/docs/pdf/board_agenda/20191122/20191122_BoardMtg_Kitchener_IBC.pdf

Initial business case for Kitchener Go Line (Ontario) has been published.

[Reecemartin]

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