So I've been pondering one of the biggest strengths and weaknesses of Metro Vancouver transportation and it is I would say the linear nature of the developed areas, and the multi-nodal nature.
I recently was in London, and last year in Vienna, and was able to view the crossrail project in London and enjoy the completed Lainz and Wienerwald Tunnels which are large city crossing rail tunnels. This got me thinking of how a single line multi-track tunnel could solve several of Vanocuver's transportations woes in one (expensive) solution.
A tunnel, double tracked at least, running from downtown to the edge of Surrey, hitting major town centres along the way, providing for HSR speeds but also capacity for local train service with pullouts for commuter rail stations allowing faster regional trains to pass at speed.
This would check three boxes:
- Commuter rail to Langley, Abbotsford and beyond
- Relief line for the Expo line, which will hit capacity in a couple decades
- A way to get Cascadia HSR into the city core
I see a very sensible routing as follows:
Red is the shared use "MetroTunnel"
Black is commuter rail
Blue is the HSR spur down to the border
It's a roughly 27km tunnel, so it would be very expensive, but the problems solved by it and the flexibility it would provide to transportation in the lower mainland would be incredible.
The line would be follow the Grandview cut to Victoria then run U/G until 168th St, where it would go above grade and branch into as many options as make sense (Commuter Rail to Chilliwack, Commuter Rail to South Surrey, HSR to Seattle/Portland etc.) or any other number of options.
I think you could rationalize some of the construction costs by utilizing cut and cover and running at grade where possible.
My thoughts on construction methods are:
Green is surface or some form of above grade
Red is a bored tunnel
Blue is a cut and cover tunnel
Blue Stations are a Commuter Rail / Expo relief stations
Red Stations are combined HSR and Commuter Rail / Expo relief stations
What do you guys think?