SkyTrain Station Renovations

[Mac Write]

it was in late 2009 I think after all the new Mark II's were in service and only 4-car Mark II's were running. I was on Mark II 4-car trains prior and it was cool having the standing there looking out over the track without the mesh there. and being on the train when it stopped and looking out the window with no mesh. Those were the days.

[Spork]

Originally Posted by Waders

Construction at Joyce station seems to be moving quite fast. The 'green' zone is now a big hole. Looks like this is where the temporary staircase will be built.

Indeed it is. There are a number of construction trailers, two sets of scaffolding stairs to the far east of the station (pretty far away from the station, actually, and a scaffolding catwalk around the outside of the guideway. How sure are we that they won't be extending the platform in this run? These two scaffolding elements seem to point to that possibly being the case.

[Waders]

Originally Posted by Spork

Indeed it is. There are a number of construction trailers, two sets of scaffolding stairs to the far east of the station (pretty far away from the station, actually, and a scaffolding catwalk around the outside of the guideway. How sure are we that they won't be extending the platform in this run? These two scaffolding elements seem to point to that possibly being the case.

I don't think the platform will be extended in this project. In fact once the new escalator is built, it will not be possible to extend the platform on the east side (see page 7 rendering in Information Boards) document.
Platform extension can probably be done on the west side. The existing elevator on the west side will be rebuilt in a future project. So that would be a good time to incorporate the design to allow the platform extension.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Mac Write

it was in late 2009 I think

it was before that because on google street view in 2007 the mesh is there at Joyce-Collingwood.

on another note, you can see the remnants of a truss-arch at Joyce-Collingwood station where the end of the mesh is, even in the 2007 street view. weird, it looks like it was removed at some point.

[Millennium2002]

I see many Expo Line stations with the exposed truss mounts... which makes me believe that they were roughed in during construction.

EDIT: found a few photos via Google which appear to support my hypothesis. One of which shows a GMC Fishbowl @ Metrotown Station. But I don't think I can cross-post them due to possible copyright sensitivities.

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by allan_kuan

EDIT: found a few photos via Google which appear to support my hypothesis. One of which shows a GMC Fishbowl @ Metrotown Station. But I don't think I can cross-post them due to possible copyright sensitivities.

Reposting pictures is not a copyright violation...It falls under fair use.

[Kisai]

Originally Posted by Jebby

Reposting pictures is not a copyright violation...It falls under fair use.

It's better to actually link to the source. Fair use is only invoked where you add something to it, not merely download and repost.

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by Kisai

It's better to actually link to the source. Fair use is only invoked where you add something to it, not merely download and repost.

That's actually not true. Transformative or productive use of copyrighted works is only one of the many allowed uses under the fair use doctrine.

Fair use allows you to comment, criticize, report on a copyrighted work.

Things such as commercializing the work, for the most part, do not fall under fair use.

Posting a picture of a project/development/building/etc on a message board dedicated to commenting, criticizing, researching, etc those types of things, with no commercializing of the work, most definitely fall into the fair use category, especially if the original author is credited.

[Kisai]

Originally Posted by Jebby

That's actually not true. Transformative or productive use of copyrighted works is only one of the many allowed uses under the fair use doctrine.

Fair use allows you to comment, criticize, report on a copyrighted work.

Things such as commercializing the work, for the most part, do not fall under fair use.

Posting a picture of a project/development/building/etc on a message board dedicated to commenting, criticizing, researching, etc those types of things, with no commercializing of the work, most definitely fall into the fair use category, especially if the original author is credited.

The point was that the images had been removed because either:
a) the author of the images requested it
or
b) the rules of the forum specifically say to cite the copyright ownership

When posting images in the forum which are not your own you are required to provide credit to the originating website of each image.

To properly credit an image please include, above or below the image, the name of the photographer or creator of the image, plus the URL to the webpage the image originates from.

To which the poster said "I found it on Google" and not citing the source itself.

[yuanh]

Originally Posted by Jebby

Totally disagree.

I'm with you. The hoop trusses are really eye-sore, they should not be designed that way in the first place.

[officedweller]

WRT the trusses:

An early rendering of Vancouver’s Advanced Light Rapid Transit System (ALRT) now known as SkyTrain, prepared by Manfred Stein of Architektengruppe U-Bahn in 1982.
This is believed to represent Nanaimo Station. The ALRT was a joint venture with Allen Parker & Associates of Vancouver.

http://illustratedvancouver.ca/post/3404898928/an-early-rendering-of-alrt

See U-Bahn Vancouver under "projects"
http://agu.at/

Axonomeric drawing of Nanaimo Station:


http://agu.at/

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by allan_kuan

I see many Expo Line stations with the exposed truss mounts... which makes me believe that they were roughed in during construction.

They were. All the Expo Line stations from Broadway to New Westminster were built with at least two hoop segments or a similar length of framing on the platform missing but the foundations in place and the supports roughed in. The idea is we ran the system with two and four car trains for a few years and the unsheltered portion could remain unused and when we actually did need to start using six car sets and the MK II's we would pay to renovate all the stations at once to extend the canopy end to end. That never happened so these days we only see new hoops built and the canopy extended when it becomes critical for an overall renovation of a station. This is why some of the at-grade stations like 29th Avenue seem so oddly constructed with one end of the platform being completely finished and the other end a concrete walkway and chain link fence.
When the Surrey extension, the Millennium Line and the Evergreen line were built, the stations were nowhere near as modular in construction (the Millennium line being so literal to this that no two stations are the same) and frankly the idea was stupid so they built the canopy end to end.

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by officedweller

WRT the trusses:

They don't look so bad there. Could be the fact they're painted black or maybe because they actually are an interesting architectural detail and the station is covered in glass.

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by Kisai

The point was that the images had been removed because either:
a) the author of the images requested it
or
b) the rules of the forum specifically say to cite the copyright ownership


To which the poster said "I found it on Google" and not citing the source itself.

Fair use does not require the author's permission. The author can demand that an image is removed, but if it's use falls under the fair use doctrine they have no legal recourse.

[Sheba]

Metrotown Station upgrades update

They're obviously behind schedule - the center stationhouse was supposed to ready to open this spring. "Continued construction of three new elevator shafts in the Centre Stationhouse, which are expected to be open towards the end of 2016."

There are some night pics (no credits listed on the Buzzer Blog)

Up and over! The new double elevator shaft being lowered into place at Metrotown Station.


Double elevator shaft being hoisted into the air.


Double elevator shaft being lowered into place.


Double elevator shaft being secured, prior to crane lift.



Crew member guiding hoop truss into place.


Hoop truss being secured to station.


Hoop truss being lifted into place.

[MIPS]

No surprise it's behind. We've all known that was going to happen the moment they opted to keep the station completely open during the work.

[BCPhil]

Originally Posted by MIPS

They were. All the Expo Line stations from Broadway to New Westminster were built with at least two hoop segments or a similar length of framing on the platform missing but the foundations in place and the supports roughed in. The idea is we ran the system with two and four car trains for a few years and the unsheltered portion could remain unused and when we actually did need to start using six car sets and the MK II's we would pay to renovate all the stations at once to extend the canopy end to end. That never happened so these days we only see new hoops built and the canopy extended when it becomes critical for an overall renovation of a station. This is why some of the at-grade stations like 29th Avenue seem so oddly constructed with one end of the platform being completely finished and the other end a concrete walkway and chain link fence.
When the Surrey extension, the Millennium Line and the Evergreen line were built, the stations were nowhere near as modular in construction (the Millennium line being so literal to this that no two stations are the same) and frankly the idea was stupid so they built the canopy end to end.

I don't think it was stupid. It was very 80's.

Modularity was the theme of the 80's and Transportation was the theme of Expo 86. So it was brilliant on their part to build a showcase transportation system that was advanced yet practical. By having identical stations you reduced architectural costs and made it easier to source common materials in bulk. If something broke, it was easy to replace.

Most systems if you build 80m platforms, you use 80m trains from day one. That way you can schedule them less frequent and use fewer drivers. You also need fewer cab cars if you marry longer trains. But because it is automated, you can run short, frequent trains, even in the early years, at no additional operational cost, AND save on construction cost. With the savings, you can pump that money into buying more trains or extending the line 1 station further than you otherwise would have with the same budget. And on game days (or during events like Expo) you can run longer trains, then go back to the 2 car trains during regular service. Most subways you can't change the length of trains at all, ever.

If it wasn't for the odd fear of automation (from the public scared of losing their lives and from unions scared of losing jobs) Skytrain should have been much more popular around the world. Skytrain isn't obsolete, the world just wasn't ready for it, much like Electric cars from the 90's, or the Apple Newton.

[officedweller]

Thanks for posting!

[MIPS]

I don't think it was stupid. It was very 80's.

Modularity was the theme of the 80's and Transportation was the theme of Expo 86. So it was brilliant on their part to build a showcase transportation system that was advanced yet practical. By having identical stations you reduced architectural costs and made it easier to source common materials in bulk. If something broke, it was easy to replace.

I wasn't referring to it being stupid in those terms. The modularity was indeed absolutely spectacular (like literally, the parts must of been cheaper by the dozen to make). I was referring to the fact that there was a lot of speculating what would happen later and assumptions that whoever was in charge in the future would actually commit the time to expanding out and completing the stations. Even in ten years (1985-1995) an economy changed, the provincial government changed, priorities changed and so was how money was going to be spent and so in the end it took almost 25 years before even one station (Commercial-Broadway) was fully extended and another five years before it would begin on another. I doubt they were expecting it to take THAT long when they conceived the idea.

Now pardon me as I fall off the soap box.

[WBC]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Metrotown Station upgrades update

They're obviously behind schedule - the center stationhouse was supposed to ready to open this spring. "Continued construction of three new elevator shafts in the Centre Stationhouse, which are expected to be open towards the end of 2016."

So they are 6-9 months behind schedule on phase 1. Epic...At this pace we are looking at what...3-4 years to upgrade the station...Personally this does not bother me much even though I am using the station...However, this kind of constant inability to even remotely stick to schedule is just adding fuel to the fire for Translink critics...I can understand Evergreen line - tunneling is always tricky...I can maybe understand issues around Compass (although the solution with 1 zone bus plan could have been done a long time ago, which leads me to believe that there were other problems), but station renovations (and Metrotown is not the only one) being far behind schedule is a bit silly. It shows that either you cannot plan or that you are publishing unrealistic schedules and thus trying to bamboozle the public...I am not sure which one is worse...