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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

Metroscapes said:
The orange (I'm presuming conduit) tubes are new, and there's a bunch of locates on the ground that seem relatively fresh.
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In the world of utility locates, orange means telecomm cables. So possibly this is utility installation or relocation in advance of them letting the work for the new track. The Sep 2025 Capital Outlook has two work packages scheduled for RfP in 1Q2026:
  • Kitchener Line Extension | Guelph Subdivision Package 4: Track and signals work, platform work, grading, drainage, and utility relocations in support of Kitchener GO service extension
  • Kitchener Central Transit Hub: Construction of a GO station that is part of multimodal transportation hub in the Waterloo Region. Construction of track realignment, switch, station platforms, tunnels and associated civil works
All the other packages {Acton extra track, Georgetown extra through-track, Mods to Mount Pleasant station, Breaslau passing track extension} have there schedules TBD.

Can anyone comment (@reaperexpress ?) on whether it's possible to add more service on the KI line West of Mount Pleasant with just the Guelph second platform and the new Kitchener station layout in service?
 
Theoretically a train every two hours across the whole line together with short trips between Kitchener and Guelph for roughly hourly service on that section. A couple of trains would have to skip Georgetown to account for the offset between local and express slots. Of course still with gaps during the peaks (last time I did this exercise, the earliest possible arrival in Kitchener from Toronto would have been around 10:15 and the last departure before the PM peak around 15:45) and depending on the mood at CN.
 
reaperexpress said:
Most of the cost and complexity of the Danforth Station reconstruction is due to the cancellation of the Scarborough Junction grade separation. If Stouffville and Lakeshore had a combined corridor with express and local tracks, they could just put the fourth track where the island platform currently is, avoiding the need to change the south side of the pedestrian tunnel.

View attachment 680943
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This may be a dumb question, but if all the preparation for a fourth track in the LSE corridor occurred north of the current tracks how does adding a new south platform/track to Danforth GO align to the fourth track?
 
Sept 11
Long Branch with more up on my site
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The area under the tracks is totally dug out and excavating the area on the south side.
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PShells said:
This may be a dumb question, but if all the preparation for a fourth track in the LSE corridor occurred north of the current tracks how does adding a new south platform/track to Danforth GO align to the fourth track?
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All that’s needed is to cut eack track and make a slight shift - Track 1 east of Danforth will be connected to the new north track, Track 2 east of Danforth connects to existing Track 1, etc

- Paul
 
Allandale25 said:
I can't remember. Are they also adding a 4th track here (green annotation on @drum118's photo)? cc @smallspy @crs1026 @Northern Light @reaperexpress

View attachment 681750
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They're not adding a 4th track or platform as part of the current project. I hope they're protecting for one at least, I haven't noticed one way or the other.

This is another case where it would have been cheaper for them to build the station for quad track with two side platforms (same as the old Exhibition layout and planned Park Lawn layout), avoiding the cost of that island platform on the express track used by trains that don't stop there anyway. The station is only 2km beyond the current end of quad track (just west of Mimico) so quad-tracking through Long Branch would be a low-hanging fruit for capacity and flexibility improvements on LSW.
 
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reaperexpress said:
They're not adding a 4th track or platform as part of the current project. I hope they're protecting for one at least, .

This is another case where it would have been cheaper for them to build the station for quad track with two side platforms (same as the old Exhibition layout and planned Park Lawn layout), avoiding the cost of that island platform on the express track used by trains that don't stop here anyway. The station is only 2km beyond the current end of quad track (just west of Mimico) so quad-tracking through Long Branch would be a low-hanging fruit for capacity and flexibility improvements on LSW.
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Thanks. Where is the quad tracking west of Long Branch going to start again?
 
reaperexpress said:
They're not adding a 4th track or platform as part of the current project. I hope they're protecting for one at least, I haven't noticed one way or the other.

This is another case where it would have been cheaper for them to build the station for quad track with two side platforms (same as the old Exhibition layout and planned Park Lawn layout), avoiding the cost of that island platform on the express track used by trains that don't stop there anyway. The station is only 2km beyond the current end of quad track (just west of Mimico) so quad-tracking through Long Branch would be a low-hanging fruit for capacity and flexibility improvements on LSW.
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There is enough room to add a 4th track but require adding a bridge over the creek. If I am not mistaken, Browns Line bridge is either a tight fit for 4 tracks or need to be rebuilt for it as it been too long since I shot it and looked at it to say which is right. There is enough room for 4 tracks from Long Branch to Burlington. You can get 4/5 tracks to Aldershot that has to be share with CN.

Any 4th track west of Long Branch would start west of the creek to the point there is room for 5 tracks up to Port Credit
 
drum118 said:
There is enough room to add a 4th track but require adding a bridge over the creek. If I am not mistaken, Browns Line bridge is either a tight fit for 4 tracks or need to be rebuilt for it as it been too long since I shot it and looked at it to say which is right. There is enough room for 4 tracks from Long Branch to Burlington. You can get 4/5 tracks to Aldershot that has to be share with CN.

Any 4th track west of Long Branch would start west of the creek to the point there is room for 5 tracks up to Port Credit
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I was told once that 4 tracks to Long Branch would require a new Browns Line Bridge, fairly pricey undertaking. Plus an additional bridge over Etobicoke Creek.

Quad tracks west of Port Credit into Clarkson will require a lot of work and br a tight fit with residential neighbourhoods backing onto the tracks, plus the ravines etc.

West of Clarkson the possibilities of adding a full time fourth track are far more possible, with both the room, and in some places, existing infrastructure that could be reconfigured, revitalized, repurposed.

Signalling upgrades would be called for.

And electrification? Or at least infrastructure where it makes sense as these changes would be made.

Also Bayview. Do you extend these alterations/improvements through to the Bayview Junction (at considerable cost and multiple ownerships) and then around the corner into West Harbour and beyond?

The possibilities are large, the appetitive, well maybe more bite sized?
 
PShells said:
This may be a dumb question, but if all the preparation for a fourth track in the LSE corridor occurred north of the current tracks how does adding a new south platform/track to Danforth GO align to the fourth track?
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Badly right now, but you can see the space appear to the west of the station. Presumably they'll have to shift the tracks a bit to line up.

The ROW itself is over 40 metres-wide enough for 6 tracks, so it's not a real problem. And then widens more east of Woodbine, presumably because of the industrial there, and the old yard from Main to Victoria Park and CN/GTR's "quarry" lands east of Victoria Park, and north of Gerrard. (why extracting sand was called a quarry I don't know ...).
 
I'm not aware of any immediate plan to add a fourth track west of Canpa - but it's a no brainer if one extrapolates the potential for growth in service along LSW.

The stretch from Canpa to Port Credit would take a lot of money, in grade separation and bridge construction... west of there, there is much more land width, but many of the existing grade separations and bridges are only three tracks wide at the moment.

However, there is a lot that could be done with better signalling to improve the throughput of those three tracks. A fourth track from Clarkson to Oakville and again further west might be enough for a decade or two.

- Paul
 
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