Airport LINK to shutter for three months

[chriskayTO]

According to the GTAA, they will be shutting down the LINK train for maintenace starting March 30th and will be closed until July!

Doesn't it seem that this system is too new to require this much maintenance?

http://gtaa.com/en/travellers/airport_information/ground_transportatio/link_train/

 

[nfitz]

No, that isn't normal.

And the thing always seemed a big shakey - it would be interesting to hear the full story.

 

[chriskayTO]

In my mind it always seemed like a bit of an orphan technology to go with. I'm kind of not surprised.

 

[W. K. Lis]

A good reason for the Eglinton LRT to terminate at one or all the GTAA's airport terminals, instead of having the LINK come down to Eglinton.

 

[Komiksulo]

That train always had an incredibly-rough ride for something that ran on such allegedly-smooth guideways. I never understood why. Maybe that has something to do with it?

 

[nfitz]

A good reason for the Eglinton LRT to terminate at one or all the GTAA's airport terminals, instead of having the LINK come down to Eglinton.

Link could never come down to Eglinton with the existing technology. It was never designed for that, or intended to ever have that purpose. The maximum extension possible for the system is in the order of 100's of metres, not 1000's of metres (for a future second T1 station, if they expand T1).

 

[interchange42]

The rough ride has a lot to do with it, and apparently the thing brakes down a fair bit, although they seem to keep that out of the news: as long as one of the two sides is working, nobody says anything I suppose.

42

 

[jks]

I really hope that they at least make it smoother. It is such a rocky ride!

 

[unimaginative2]

The rough ride has a lot to do with it, and apparently the thing brakes down a fair bit, although they seem to keep that out of the news: as long as one of the two sides is working, nobody says anything I suppose.

I'm surprised they can't do just that: repair the two halves separately so that the trains can keep running at half frequency. I hope they built the stations to accommodate a potential technology upgrade, because they're lovely and it'd be a shame if they had to be rebuilt.

 

[chriskayTO]

I hope they built the stations to accommodate a potential technology upgrade

Looking at the infrastructure, I'm not sure that this is possible. Perhaps the stations could be re-used in their current form with maybe some slight modifications to the platforms, but I think any technology change would require new guideways and vehicles. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, please!

 

[jks]

Wasn't the guideway built so that it can accomodate a change to LRT.

 

[Voltz]

Wasn't the guideway built so that it can accomodate a change to LRT.

They claim the line was built to allow for conversion to a self propelled technology, my guess is that means adding an electrical third rail and using self powered cars of the same size as the existing ones, and adding crossover tracks at the terminals.

 

[slickpete83]

now this makes sense , cause when i was driving today , I had to take a de tour as they closed down airport road near american drive , just under where the train passes above

 

[allabootmatt]

LINK is a major head-scratcher for me. GTAA are, to my mind, one of the most impressively forward-looking QUANGOs we have in Canada. The new terminal was built in an entirely logical, modular way that can be added onto to accommodate whatever capacity will be needed through 2050, at least. Pearson now has as many runways as it could possibly ever need. It is also, slowly, doing the right thing on landing fees. And all of this without a cent of public money!

But then there's LINK--an unexpandable, rinky-dink roller-coaster technology rightly shunned by big airports. I don't think there was any doubt, from day one, that it couldn't be permanent. Weird....

 

[Automation Gallery]

But then there's LINK--an unexpandable, rinky-dink roller-coaster technology rightly shunned by big airports. I don't think there was any doubt, from day one, that it couldn't be permanent. Weird....

Just another crappy system pushed on us by the government to avoid spending a little more on a monorail system.