The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[SteelTown]

Today the Mayor of Hamilton during an interview leaked out information that yesterday Queen's Park confirmed that it will finance all day GO Train service to the James St North Station, it'll be completed on time for the 2015 Pan Am Games. There should be a media announcement within a few days. This alone will cost nearly $1 billion.

[Rico Rommheim]

Good Hamilton! Also, the city of Hamilton can claim that a Hamilton-related transportation news event chad the 1000th post of this thread!!


On a different topic, how is hamilton's transportation system, not only do I never hear of this city, I never hear of its transportation system, ever! And I know hamhilton people!

Canada is big country, but it's a very small country. I lived in Montreal for 24 years, and since I know nobody interested in the cfl, I never heard the name Hamilton uttered once. Hamilton, ont, Canada"s forgotten city

[SteelTown]

Currently there's limited GO Train service to Hamilton, the Train goes to the TH&B Station, rush hour service only. Which is an absolute gorgeous Art Deco building. CP owns the tracks and won't allow more GO Train service.

Therefore the province will fund another GO Station at James St North, which will include all day GO Train service. So by 2015 Hamilton will have two downtown GO Stations, which is odd (imagine Toronto with two Union Stations separated within less than 10 minutes from each other). Eventually the plan is to extend the GO Train to the Niagara Region.

As for public transit there are two BRT-lite lines, A and B-Line. Starting next year the City will construct bus only lanes for the B-Line. Eventually the goal is to have LRT for the B-Line, construction will start after the Pan Am Games, 2016 or 2017.

The City just recently opened the new downtown transit terminal, it's the only terminal that has heated asphalt.

[suburbanite]

I always like hearing good new like this about Hamilton. Such a great city that has been the victim of many unfortunate circumstances.

I just hope all these new trains going to Hamilton will bring some much needed economic stimulus to the area. I really wish more tech companies would move to Hamilton to help make the transition to a tech/service based economy that Pittsburgh has been successfully doing for the past 20 years. With Macmaster and Waterloo so close I don't understand why more companies wouldn't have their headquarters in the city.

[armorand93]

Osborne Station



Note the D40LF

[The_Architect]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Currently there's limited GO Train service to Hamilton, the Train goes to the TH&B Station, rush hour service only. Which is an absolute gorgeous Art Deco building. CP owns the tracks and won't allow more GO Train service.

Therefore the province will fund another GO Station at James St North, which will include all day GO Train service. So by 2015 Hamilton will have two downtown GO Stations, which is odd (imagine Toronto with two Union Stations separated within less than 10 minutes from each other). Eventually the plan is to extend the GO Train to the Niagara Region.

I used to commute to Hamilton for work and it was a pain in the ass.. (Go to Burlington, bus to Aldershot, bus to Hamilton GO). Glad to see the trains are going to start going to the train station more now.

I assume the station they would be going to is the Go station at Hunter and Hughson? That would be James St. S. Or do you mean the Liuna station at James and Murray? That station is fantastic and very underused imo.

Liuna Station

Hamilton Go

[SteelTown]

There's going to be TWO GO Stations. GO Trains will serve both Stations. The TH&B Station, at Hunter St, will have rush hour GO Train service and GO Bus. The new James St North Station, near LIUNA Station will have all day GO Train service.

The City or GO Transit is gonna have to figure out how to connect both Stations. I'm hearing they'll have shuttle buses connecting the two Stations.

[The_Architect]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

There's going to be TWO GO Stations. GO Trains will serve both Stations. The TH&B Station, at Hunter St, will have rush hour GO Train service and GO Bus. The new James St North Station, near LIUNA Station will have all day GO Train service.

The City or GO Transit is gonna have to figure out how to connect both Stations. I'm hearing they'll have shuttle buses connecting the two Stations.

That's great to hear.

If they ever get the A-Line LRT built (the one that goes from the harbour to the airport), that would connect both stations. Until then a shuttle would be most likely.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Wharn

So I heard instead of just removing the least used routes, or the ones that make the least sense, the TTC has decided to make cuts to the busiest routes instead. All that can be said, really, is... BRILLIANT! Absolute sheer brilliance! London Transit should adopt the same logic, and cut the main routes to run every half hour, ending at 9:00pm, so that all routes across the city appeal to the communist ideal by being equally underfunded.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/11/24/...reetcar-bus-routes-affected-by-cutbacks/

The worst one to make cuts to is the 505 Dundas streetcar. If anything, that route needs more service. While I was staying in Toronto I had to use that streetcar and sometimes had to wait over 5 minutes for a streetcar that was full. Meanwhile numerous 510 Spadina streetcars would pass by, some with barely anybody on board.

There may be a valid argument with regards to streetcars however; I have read that an increasing number of streetcars are out of service for repairs at any given time. It is going to be a couple of years before new streetcars are added to the fleet. However in the meantime there is no reason buses can't be used to supplement streetcars.

Someone on CBC.ca commented that instead of making cuts to busy routes, they should get rid of the 6 Bay bus as it is only a block from Yonge Street. I agree; I can't figure out the purpose of the route when there is a subway line only a block away.

[LeftCoaster]

^This seems like the kind of discussion that would be just perfect for the Toronto subthread... come on by, we're lonely!

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=5509243#post5509243

[1331Massi]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

So by 2015 Hamilton will have two downtown GO Stations, which is odd (imagine Toronto with two Union Stations separated within less than 10 minutes from each other).

Central Station and Windsor Station in Montreal. 3 blocks away from each other, and the new Lucien-l'Allier station is on the other side of the Bell Centre.

[sonysnob]

Signage along Toronto's Highway 7 obviously promoting the construction of the VIVA Rapidway (busway):

[haljackey]

I am wondering if some of you transit buffs may be able to weigh in on a discussion currently underway in the transit thread for London:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=150990&page=9



Regarding the Highway 7 expansion, I would much rather have seen LRT added to the median rather than BRT. Or will LRT be built in the 407 Transitway?

[caltrane74]

Glass canopy at Union might be the first thing completed in the Billion Dollar makeover.



When the lower concourse and shopping levels are complete, Union Station will become a far more interesting place to hang out.

[le calmar]

Originally Posted by 1331Massi

Central Station and Windsor Station in Montreal. 3 blocks away from each other, and the new Lucien-l'Allier station is on the other side of the Bell Centre.

Except Windsor is no longer in service.

[1331Massi]

On the other side of the block, there is Lucien-L'Allier, so 3 3/4 blocks away from each other.

[Rico Rommheim]

I've always been disappointed with the fact that Montreal's train companies never invested in a singular "union" station like other large north American cities.

What would be nice is if they moved the bus terminal on berri to central station. Central station is already near the suburban bus terminal and is connected to the metro and Lucien lallier train terminal.

[Travis007]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nati...-jewel-in-torontos-crown/article2310330/

Union Station remake aims to be another jewel in Toronto’s crown

IAN HARVEY
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 9:21PM EST

The remaking of Union Station is set to refresh the venerable but dowdy transit hub by 2015. Its crown will be a spectacular $50-million, 70,000-square-foot atrium of steel and glass that will float like a luminous cloud 50 feet over the train tracks.

The overall renovation will see a new concourse and offices with more light, exits and space in anticipation of the 50 million passengers a year who use the 180 GO trains, 35 VIA Rail trains and 400 GO buses daily. Those passenger volumes are expected to hit 80 million per annum by 2035.

The designers of the new atrium, Zeidler Partnership Architects senior partner Tarek El-Khatib and his team, say they were inspired by the existing windows at Union Station, which opened in 1927 and is a designated a heritage building.

Eventually Mr. El-Khatib and his team came up with a bold and innovative concept, eschewing the ubiquitous arch for a square, flat canopy held up by elegant steel columns slanting vertically.

There will be a total 220,000 square feet of glass making up the top and sides, which hang down to create sidewalls and louvres that will vent diesel fumes.

There will also be a green roof component and an array of solar panels that will generate electricity to offset the power consumed by the thousands of LED lights that will be embedded in the canopy. At nighttime its glow will be visible for miles, including to those on the Gardiner Expressway, in office towers and condominium high rises downtown and passengers on airplanes in and out of the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and, sometimes, Lester B. Pearson International Airport.

In all, there are some 4,500 glass panels about to be installed, each some seven feet square, and each one having a slightly different opaqueness to give it a “dappled” look in daylight.

The atrium will be constructed over seven stages with the first-stage trusses going into place now through spring, with the glass to follow. Construction is expected to finish in 2014 with the overall project wrapping up a year later.

[SpongeG]

evergreen line is in pre-construction phase now, full on construction starts in a couple months - will be up and running by 2016

• Video Link

[caltrane74]

Mayor Ford has come to his senses!!!

Eglinton Line will run above ground in Scarborough!!!

2 billion is cash to finish off Sheppard Subway and build finch Bus rapid Transit!!!

Bus rapid transit can be upconverted to LRT later.

Yay!!