The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[mousquet]

^ Oh please, come on, that's enough useless prides all over the world, eh? The Germans have no oil, no natural gas, no uranium, nothing like those that take only little knowledge or engineering to capitalize on by our common Western standards. The German dude was wrong to laugh, but you're even wronger to get hurt. You do not have to get hurt, people who know will understand.

Tu devrais savoir, n'est-ce pas ? Quand tu parles français, enfoiré.

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by mousquet

^ Oh please, come on, that's enough useless prides all over the world, eh? The Germans have no oil, no natural gas, no uranium, nothing like those that take only little knowledge or engineering to capitalize on by our common Western standards. The German dude was wrong to laugh, but you're even wronger to get hurt. You do not have to get hurt, people who know will understand.

Tu devrais savoir, n'est-ce pas ? Quand tu parles français, enfoiré.

si c'est dirigé vers moi, tu comprends aussi que c'était une blague à la SSP section Canada qui aime bien les données per capita. anyway, on revient au sujet.

[VIce]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

you could have said to your friend that Canada has a higher GDP per capita than Germany. lol

Should remind him to check for Bombardier logos on his German trains.

[Innsertnamehere]

Construction is progressing on the Waterloo LRT:


http://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/showthread.php?tid=14&page=16

[1overcosc]

On December 10th, Kingston Transit surpassed the 4 million riders mark for 2014, the first time that milestone was ever hit.

So far, Kingston is on track to record a 12% increase in ridership in 2014. The city's target was 5%. A bit of a relief, the system expansion last year added a whack of service and I was worried it would flop and then be cut. Looks like that isn't happening

https://www.cityofkingston.ca/-/kingston...-2%26p_p_col_pos%3D3%26p_p_col_count%3D4

[The_Architect]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

One of the things that really bugs me with the AMT network is Lucien L'Allier station. Shitty name for a downtown terminus. For starters: they could have called it by the name of the actual street its on, not the one one block over. Or like a nice name like Terminal de l'Ouest, or Terminal Centre-Ville or whatever. But it also is the definition of unambitious, bland, provincial design and scale. That station is a glorified Amtrack "shack".


Screen Shot 2014-12-14 at 3.37.40 PM by rommheim, on Flickr

Do the tracks continue underneath the Bell Centre or is that legitimately the station in front of it?

[Rico Rommheim]

Nope. Tracks stop there. The station is that little grey box adjacent to the tracks.

[SkahHigh]

Building the Bell Centre in between Windsor Station and the tracks was such a mistake... Huge lack of vision here.

But seriously, LuLa could look like a rail terminal if only they covered up the tracks with something nice... The money should be spent there instead of building new autoroute sections.

[Rico Rommheim]

I'm always amazed that a city with such a long history of railroad activity (Canada's first railway, most train companies were HQ'ed here, huge infrastructure projects like Gare Central, Victoria bridge, Mont-Royal Tunnel) ended up turning its back so thoroughly on railroads. I guess our city's decline precipitated this. Building the Bell Centre over the Windsor terminal tracks was essentially a big "Fuck you" to railroads.

[SteelTown]

Update on Hamilton's James St N GO Station, as you can see it's a massive project. I really hope it's completed on time for the 2015 Pan Am Games, doesn't look too promising.

Originally Posted by davidcappi

[Beedok]

It looks like they've mostly stopped digging and are using steel construction. Considering how quickly steel highrises hope into existence I think it's doable. Assuming they don't tunnel into the sewers again or something.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

I'm always amazed that a city with such a long history of railroad activity (Canada's first railway, most train companies were HQ'ed here, huge infrastructure projects like Gare Central, Victoria bridge, Mont-Royal Tunnel) ended up turning its back so thoroughly on railroads. I guess our city's decline precipitated this. Building the Bell Centre over the Windsor terminal tracks was essentially a big "Fuck you" to railroads.

Your right, it's a shame the way Montreal has neglected it's railway hubs. Last May I took VIA to Montreal and could not get over how slow the train has to travel through the city core to the station. When you pull into the station it's dark and dreary and the station itself is very dated and tired looking almost like an old high school gym. Almost the opposite of their Metro.

posted on: http://montrealphotodaily.blogspot.ca/2011/06/montreal-via-rail-central-station.html

[red-paladin]

I feel that certain railway abandonments like for the Bell Centre, and several in Vancouver are not only foolish and bad for the railway businesses, but should have been stopped by the federal government. Yes, there are many lines and branches in the prairies that are legitimate to abandon / redevelop. But to forfeit permanent right of ways in Canada's largest cities? The government should review any urban decommissioning and arrange to set aside the ROWs for the future. Who knows that kind of commuter rail, LRT, Via lines and high speed rail lines could exist 25 or 50 years form now? Future governments shouldn't have to pay for extensive urban heavy rail tunnels because some slash and burn CEOs sold all the extra land and rail assets for peanuts in comparison to what it'll cost to rebuilt a ROW.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by Beedok

It looks like they've mostly stopped digging and are using steel construction. Considering how quickly steel highrises hope into existence I think it's doable. Assuming they don't tunnel into the sewers again or something.

Parking Garages have to be done in concrete from my understanding.

What I believe the plan is however is that for the Pan Ams they will essentially only have the GO platforms operating, the square and the parking garage will not be finished. They are scheduled to be done in 2016 when the layover yard in Stoney Creek opens and train service gets significantly expanded.

It looks like the "phase 1" will be ready, GO can lay down a train platform in a month if it wants. The station looks about as far along as Weston station for the UPx is, and its opening in May.

[SkahHigh]

The concourse at Central Station is pretty nice though... You can't expect the platforms area to be welcoming. It's the same in other major hubs like Penn Station, Chicago Union Station, Grand Central Terminal, etc. That's because it's underground I guess...

[Metro-One]

I always wished that Vancouver had a real multi-platform downtown heavy rail station used by daily commuters. Near where i live in Japan the biggest city is only 400 000 people in the metro, yet its commuter rail station has 9 platforms.....

That said it has no metro system, just heavy commuter rail (like many places in Japan).

Anyways, talking about metros, here is an update of the Evergreen Line in Vancouver:

Originally Posted by adrianroam95

The Evergreen Line Facebook page posted new photos of Burquitlam Station:











Plus a bonus pic of the curve onto North Road:



At Coquitlam Centre, this video from BCNEWSVIDEO shows the progress of guideway construction, as of December 13.

• Video Link

[ssiguy]

I really like how Vancouver has incorporated wood into the Millenium and soon to be open Evergreen SkyTrain lines.

They give the stations a warmth and lessen that sense of sterility that often comes with mass transit stations. The use of wood also makes them more pleasant from the outside and blend in better with neighbouring communities.

[Aylmer]

Originally Posted by SkahHigh

The concourse at Central Station is pretty nice though... You can't expect the platforms area to be welcoming. It's the same in other major hubs like Penn Station, Chicago Union Station, Grand Central Terminal, etc. That's because it's underground I guess...

Why not? You could extend the station hall down to Gauchetière (currently occupied by a pretty horrendous parking garage and 'daylight' the tracks, if you will.

The example that immediately comes to mind is Hamburg's Hauptbahnhof:

But hopefully with a little less clutter.

Or a proposal for New Penn Station:




The current station is small, overcrowded and all-around depressing. If/when Montreal gets HSR and frequent regional rail service, the current station will definitely not have the capacity for so many people - it can hardly handle rush hour today. A new station will have to be built sometime in the next two decades and I look forward to seeing what designs will come out of it.


Also, they NEED to improve the connection with the metro. At rush hour, it's like a mosh pit running through a maze of underground twists and turns to get there. It's unnecessarily unpleasant.

[GoTrans]

Originally Posted by Aylmer

Why not? You could extend the station hall down to Gauchetière (currently occupied by a pretty horrendous parking garage and 'daylight' the tracks, if you will.

The example that immediately comes to mind is Hamburg's Hauptbahnhof:

But hopefully with a little less clutter.

Or a proposal for New Penn Station:

[img]http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/51a6216af92ea13a5803048b/SHoP%20Architects_PennStationInterior1.jpg[/img

Also, they NEED to improve the connection with the metro. At rush hour, it's like a mosh pit running through a maze of underground twists and turns to get there. It's unnecessarily unpleasant.

The lack of direct access to the Metro was a mistake that should have never been allowed to happen. The CP / AMT line should also go in a tunnel under Gare Centrale so that all commuter lines meet and connect to Via Rail.

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by GoTrans

The lack of direct access to the Metro was a mistake that should have never been allowed to happen. The CP / AMT line should also go in a tunnel under Gare Centrale so that all commuter lines meet and connect to Via Rail.

Perhaps one of the greatest infrastructural/transportation mistakes made in this city was to create the metro's central node at Berri-Uqam. It was not, is still not, and will never be the central part of the downtown. To me out would have made much more sense to have a berry-Uqam equivalent placed at Central Station. It would have directly connected to all downtown nodes and amenities.