Canadian LRT/RT projects U/C

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

Actually all rails and electricity cables are being removed. The current line is 25kV AC and the REM will use 1500V DC. So nothing is being kept from the Deux-Montagne line after conversion is complete.

only the Deux-Montagnes Line runs in the Mont-Royal tunnel. There is only one small ventilation shaft in the tunnel = no diesel locomotives. The tracks and 2400 V DC catenary were installed by September 1918. The REM can use the tunnel because the AMT owns the tracks. a very important detail.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

only the Deux-Montagnes Line runs in the Mont-Royal tunnel. There is only one small ventilation shaft in the tunnel = no diesel locomotives. The tracks and 2400 V DC catenary were installed by September 1918. The REM can use the tunnel because the AMT owns the tracks. a very important detail.

No, the Mascouche trains also runs through it, with bimode locomotives.

The whole electric system was remade in the 90s to support 25kV DC, there is no 2400V DC anymore. The CDPQ Infra will need te rebuild the whole electric system.

The CDPQ Infra will buy the tunnel, and tracks (to be fully redone), from the AMT.

[Ontario1]

https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/l/...50987366_n.mp4

[SteelTown]

Guess we can put Hamilton's LRT as under construction...

LRT crew scanning and drilling to prepare for construction

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilt...ning-1.3718938

It's a milestone of sorts — the first time crews are drilling into the ground for Hamilton's planned light trail transit (LRT) system.

Engineers are moving along the LRT route, scanning the ground to mark the exact locations of utilities running underneath. When they want to get a better look, they're drilling bore holes, said Andrew Hope, Metrolinx's director for Hamilton LRT.

This work will help Metrolinx determine which utility lines need to be moved to build the $1 billion system, Hope said. The workers with T2 Utility Engineers started Aug. 2 and will finish this spring.

"Until you open up the road, there are always hidden surprises," he said. But "this is the best you can do without tearing up the road."

Metrolinx is paying for the work as part of the $1 billion budget, as well as any complications that arise from it, Hope said. Under the memorandum of agreement with the city, Metrolinx will also pay to relocate utility lines or pipes that the city doesn't already plan to replace. The city pays if it wants to do any upgrades.

The city website says the work will cause occasional lane closures from Kingsmount Street to Longwood Avenue between now and Oct. 11.

[Beedok]

Well, soil testing at least. Good to see progress despite city hall being unable to agree on anything.

[caltrane74]

Ontario cities are pretty weak.

Last week the province/Metrolinx decided to expand the Dufferin Street bridge with work to begin immediately and last 1 year for GO RER implementation and addition track.

[caltrane74]

Looks like they are getting ready to extract the Tunnel boring machines from Yonge-Eglinton.

The tunnels have been dug, I guess.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Looks like they are getting ready to extract the Tunnel boring machines from Yonge-Eglinton.

The tunnels have been dug, I guess.

I still don't get why there is still more than 5 years of construction left though. Even for the Vaughan Subway Extension, why is it taking so long? The Laval metro extension took less than half of that time to build!

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

I still don't get why there is still more than 5 years of construction left though. Even for the Vaughan Subway Extension, why is it taking so long? The Laval metro extension took less than half of that time to build!

It's the way it's being built. The stations are only built after the tunnel is bored. Basically, they drill and pour the headwalls (essentially the structural envelope) for the station first, then they drive the TBM through it, and only after that's done do they dig out the "station box" - the pit in which they build the actual station - and start building the station.

This video explains it (starting at 2:19):

• Video Link

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

It's the way it's being built. The stations are built after the tunnel is bored. Basically, they only drill and pour the headwalls (essentially the structural enveleope) for the station first, then they drive the TBM through it, and only after that's done do they dig out the "station box" - the pit in which they build the actual station.

This video explains it (starting at 2:19):

They might rethink how it's done! With such costs and long delays, it's amazing no one has checked for corruption!

In Laval, they dug the stations while the tunnel was being bored so they would save time.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

They might rethink how it's done! With such costs and long delays, it's amazing no one has checked for corruption!

In Laval, they dug the stations while the tunnel was being bored so they would save time.

Right. But the big difference between Laval and Eglinton is that Laval only had 3 stations, while the tunneled portion of Eglinton has 12.

I'm not sure if this is what they did in Laval, but when Toronto built the Spadina subway extension - where there were relatively few stations - some station boxes served as the place where they would launch and extract TBMs. The distance between the stations was large enough that you could do this efficiently. This also meant you could excavate a station box at the same time that you could tunnel with the TBM (as long as the station was fully excavated by the time the TBM reached the station, you were fine).

Obviously with 12 stations, some just several hundred meters apart, it would be incredibly inefficient to dig the boxes, extract the TBMs and then relaunch them only to repeat this a few hundred meters down the road ten more times.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Right. But the big difference between Laval and Eglinton is that Laval only had 3 stations, while the tunneled portion of Eglinton has 12.

I'm not sure if this is what they did in Laval, but when Toronto built the Spadina subway extension - where there were relatively few stations - some station boxes served as the place where they would launch and extract TBMs. The distance between the stations was large enough that you could do this efficiently. This also meant you could excavate a station box at the same time that you could tunnel with the TBM (as long as the station was fully excavated by the time the TBM reached the station, you were fine).

Obviously with 12 stations, some just several hundred meters apart, it would be incredibly inefficient to dig the boxes, extract the TBMs and then relaunch them only to repeat this a few hundred meters down the road ten more times.

My comment was more that, even after the tunnels were bored (with 4 machines nonetheless), there is still more than 5 years of construction left!

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by Beedok

Well, soil testing at least. Good to see progress despite city hall being unable to agree on anything.

When it comes to Hamilton things like this should be out of City Halls hands all together. I hear from my Hammer friends that nothing gets done there at a decent pace. I can't wait to see the LRT in Hamilton. Your transits name will makes sense again.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

My comment was more that, even after the tunnels were bored (with 4 machines nonetheless), there is still more than 5 years of construction left!

I'm not a construction project manager, but I think that the Eglinton line is probably the most complex rapid transit project built in Canada in decades. It's certainly the most expensive.

Apart from building 12 underground stations, you're doing this in a rather dense urban environment, and two of those stations are underground transfer stations to existing subway lines. 5 years seems like a pretty reasonable time frame.

The last time Toronto built a subway line through a pre-war neighbourhood and with as many stations was in the early 1960s. Back then, you could do things like expropriate a house for $25,000, kick out the tenants [because people who lived in the inner city usually were renters back then] without a fuss and dig a giant trench.



For better, or for worse, we can't build things that way anymore.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

My comment was more that, even after the tunnels were bored (with 4 machines nonetheless), there is still more than 5 years of construction left!

Spadina has had around 5 years since tunnelling was done before it will open.

[miketoronto]

Cities build who metro systems in the time it takes Toronto and many North American cities to open small segments of subway lines.

It should not be taking this long to build any of this.

Even other projects like rail electrification. Auckland electrified and upgraded track in a fraction of the time it is going to take Toronto to do the same on just part of the GO network.

It does take long here. Not as long as NYC, but long. And this should be addressed.

[ssiguy]

Toronto tenders transit projects like Montreal tenders it's roads.

I do think, however, that the longer time on the GO lines is due to lack of money at the moment and not the issue of the electrification itself. Of course electrification could start tomorrow if Toronto decided to put one plug nickel of it's own money into the pot.

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

When it comes to Hamilton things like this should be out of City Halls hands all together. I hear from my Hammer friends that nothing gets done there at a decent pace. I can't wait to see the LRT in Hamilton. Your transits name will makes sense again.

I sometimes wonder why we still have municipal governments. So many seem woefully corrupt, incompetent, or both.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

Cities build who metro systems in the time it takes Toronto and many North American cities to open small segments of subway lines.

It should not be taking this long to build any of this.

Even other projects like rail electrification. Auckland electrified and upgraded track in a fraction of the time it is going to take Toronto to do the same on just part of the GO network.

It does take long here. Not as long as NYC, but long. And this should be addressed.

Typical miketoronto post in comparing some far flung smaller city to Toronto while ignoring the costs of these projects.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Beedok

I sometimes wonder why we still have municipal governments. So many seem woefully corrupt, incompetent, or both.

In many ways the are being replaced by authorities and agencies that are dedicated to specific activities.