The Great Canadian Transit Thread - Page 115

Chadillaccc · #**2281** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 3:38 AM**

A small photo tour of Edmonton's downtown subway (missing 3 stations) and some of the northern LRT stations.

University

Grandin/Government Centre

Corona

Bay/Enterprise
No photo

Central
No photo

Churchill

Stadium

Coliseum

Belvedere

Clareview
No photo

and also, 2 of Edmonton's 3 new LRT stations...

MacEwan
No photo

Kingsway/Royal Annex

NAIT (this station is temporary, and will be rebuilt in the near future after a long-term comprehensive land use plan of the Edmonton City Centre Airport lands are finalized)

ZeDgE · #**2282** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 3:46 AM**

Cool!

Chadillaccc · #**2283** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 3:56 AM**

Yeah, Edmonton's stations are far larger and much more "metro quality" than the vast majority of Calgary's. Even Southgate and Belvedere stations (both over 30 years old) are larger and seemingly better than Calgary's Crowfoot Station (4 years old)... though Crowfoot is more aesthetically pleasing, with marble and granite floors/stairs, and a very glassy design.

Here's a photo of Crowfoot from Wikipedia.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/CTrainCrowfoot.JPG

Xelebes · #**2284** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 1:26 PM**

Southgate is actually new. Opened in 2009 or so. I think you might be referring to Coliseum?

Chadillaccc · #**2285** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 8:41 PM**

Ohhh, no I didn't realize it had opened that recently. Regardless, it's very nice, large, and well done. But still, my point is that Edmonton's Capital Line just feels more metro-style to me than all of Calgary's lines. I actually had no idea until now that the southern 1/3 of Edmonton's Capital Line wasn't built until 2010! Wow. I'd imagine all of the new lines Edmonton will be building this decade will also conform to that metro-quality appearance.

Just as a comparison for reference... all of Edmonton's Stations are purpose-built to handle 5-car LRT trains, while Calgary's stations are only now in the process of being upgraded to handle 4-car LRT trains. Both cities use the exact same vehicles.

Here is a comprehensive map of the future of Edmonton's system. (only approved, UC, and operational routes are shown. Two other massive connector lines in approval process)

Capital Line - Operational with all extensions Approved
Metro Line - Under Construction with all extensions approved
Valley Line - Approved
Energy Line - Proposed
Festival Line - Proposed

nname · #**2286** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 9:12 PM**

Too bad that the Green (Valley) line will be nothing like the existing lines. It will be using low-floor vehicle with little grade separation and very large number of at-grade intersections. I think just the SE portion of the line have around 30 when I counted them? And that's not even including downtown portion, which will be built at-grade also.

P. Alouishous · #**2287** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 9:40 PM**

Is the existing line in Edmonton completely grade separated? (blue line in that map)

vegeta_skyline · #**2288** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 9:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by nname

Too bad that the Green (Valley) line will be nothing like the existing lines. It will be using low-floor vehicle with little grade separation and very large number of at-grade intersections. I think just the SE portion of the line have around 30 when I counted them? And that's not even including downtown portion, which will be built at-grade also.

Wow that's just brutal, I'm not sure how you can even call that rapid transit.

Chadillaccc · #**2289** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 9:46 PM**

I agree, to a point Vegeta... but then how can one call BRT a form of RT? It will still be in its own right-of-way for most of the route, and have signal priority. I think having the low floor models will be cool at least for the downtown portion. But I think it's a mistake to have this line as the one that connects to West Edmonton Mall and the west side of the city. They should have continued the tunnel from Corona Station west to come above ground and follow a semi-separated ROW for that portion... however, the logistics of that are probably close to impossible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by P. Alouishous

Is the existing line in Edmonton completely grade separated? (blue line in that map)

There are a few intersections at grade unfortunately. But nothing like Calgary where the majority of it is at-grade intersections. Out of Edmonton's 15 operational stations, 6 are subway, and I believe 5 have grade intersections between them.

P. Alouishous · #**2290** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 9:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

There are a few intersections at grade unfortunately. But nothing like Calgary the majority of it is grade-separated. Out of Edmonton's 15 operational stations, 6 are subway, and I believe 5 have grade intersections between them.

Ah, ok, thanks! Do you know off-hand how many of Calgary's stations are grade-separated?
I always thought Calgary's was mostly grade separated once you get out of downtown and the inner city areas.

Chadillaccc · #**2291** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 10:18 PM**

The South Line is almost completely at-grade, most of the Northeast Line is at-grade, half of the Northwest Line is at-grade, and about half of the West Line is at-grade. Every single line has its own dedicated ROW except for 7th Avenue downtown. It's just that most of the system has at-grade intersections except for the Crowchild Trail portion of the Northwest Line, and the underground portion of the West Line.

Thankfully I only ever have to take the Northwest Line... even in the non-separated sections, it still moves very fast. I get on at Centre Street Station in the east end of the Financial Core at about 6:55 pm and arrive at Dalhousie Station in the far NW Suburbs at about 7:17 pm.

nname · #**2292** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 10:39 PM**

But if you count the number of intersections, the west and northwest line only have around 6-7 outside of downtown; the south line have around 10 (not counting the one after the last station). Even the northeast line, which seems to have an endless number of at-grade intersections one after another on the 36th St, only have about half as much compared to Edmonton's proposal!

Chadillaccc · #**2293** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 10:52 PM**

But that is just one line of Edmonton's.... not the entire system like Calgary. Plus Edmonton's Capital Line is and the Metro Line will both be the typical Edmonton metro-quality style of LRT. One crappy line using a different mode doesn't ruin the whole system.

nname · #**2294** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 11:27 PM**

Well, its just weird that Edmonton choose to downgrade rather than continue with the existing model for the newer line, while Calgary is doing the exact opposite...

Chadillaccc · #**2295** Posted **Jun 10, 2013, 11:45 PM**

They're just going with a different mode, because it's going to have to be at grade through downtown, so they want the low floor streetcar type.

Chadillaccc · #**2296** Posted **Jun 11, 2013, 1:50 AM**

I counted on my way home tonight, on the NW Line outside of downtown there are 5 at-grade crossings. But they are all concentrated around the first three stations (Sunnyside, SAIT/ACAD/Jubilee, and Lions Park). The other 5 stations on the line have no crossings at them, neither will the new terminus of the line opening next year.

Metro-One · #**2297** Posted **Jun 11, 2013, 4:37 AM**

Nice to see some pics of Edmonton's underground portion, it really is the most metro feeling LRT I have seen. If they just made the rest of the line fully grade separated, then it would have been a metro...

Anyways, for fun here are some pics I took today of the Canada line from the Oak Street Bridge, overtop of its OMC.

My flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30634635@N03/

Innsertnamehere · #**2298** Posted **Jun 11, 2013, 1:38 PM**

Ottawa is building a system much like edmontons, and will actually be a metro.

Airboy · #**2299** Posted **Jun 11, 2013, 5:33 PM**

On your Map of the ETS lines. The Campbell Road station is actually in St Albert. This would be a joint venture I believe. St Albert is also going to study expanding the line into St Albert. However this will probably not be in my lifetime. As for the low floor line, I to believe this should have been the same style as the existing system. I feel it could have been elevated like BCs line through Richmond. The years we had council not spending money on the LRT set Edmonton’s LRT development way back.

Chadillaccc · #**2300** Posted **Jun 11, 2013, 5:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Nice to see some pics of Edmonton's underground portion, it really is the most metro feeling LRT I have seen. If they just made the rest of the line fully grade separated, then it would have been a metro...

I already see it as a metro, 40% of the current system is underground, and the rest only has a few at-grade intersections. Fortunately for Edmonton, in the future it won't be overly difficult for them to fully grade-separate the Capital Line, I'm not too sure about the Metro Line though. The Valley Line will virtually be impossible to separate at any point in the future, but it's basically a streetcar that stretches 25 km across the city, so I guess it's purpose is to not be separated, but an integrated part of the road network.