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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

^Today is a busy news day.... today is also the virtual meeting for the next set of consultations for the Secondary Plan Christie Lands at Park Lawn.

I won't go into the whole site plan, but you can find the consultation materials here.

The key takeaway for this thread is a) it is apparent that should the project be approved, the new Park Lawn GO station will be one of the first things to be built, because b) no residential units can be constructed until the GO station is approved and funded.

The current plan is to have the Secondary Plan for the project area put to City Council in March 2021.

There's still lots of controversy to be argued out regarding the project, but this is a far clearer path towards a Park Lawn GO Station than has been the case previously.

- Paul
 
Does anyone know the maximum grade that a GO Train can handle?
 
GO got a mention in the provincial budget; but few material details.

Modernizing the GO Transit Rail Network

The Province is making strides towards transforming the GO Transit rail network into a comprehensive rapid transit network — changing the way residents travel across the region. The GO Rail Expansion program will provide two-way, all-day service every 15 minutes over core segments of the network and will nearly double annual ridership by 2055. Early infrastructure and rail corridor work is underway to support the implementation of the GO Rail Expansion program.


  • Procurement is underway to select the team to design and build the GO Rail Expansion On‑Corridor Works project, including new fleet, delivering electrification, additional grade separations, track work, signals and new junctions, as well as operating and maintaining the entire GO Transit rail network.
  • Despite the COVID‑19 pandemic, the Province continues to move forward with construction on more than 20 GO Rail Expansion early works projects, including:
    • Major improvements and enhancements at Rutherford and Scarborough GO Stations and improvements to station and parking infrastructure at Agincourt, Milliken and Unionville GO Stations; and
    • The Davenport Diamond Rail Grade Separation project on the Barrie GO line, which will improve safety and connections in the community.
  • In August 2020, the Province achieved a major milestone in the transformation of the Kitchener GO line, by completing the excavation of the first tunnel under Highways 401 and 409, which will accommodate two additional tracks, future signaling and communications infrastructure to help increase capacity and support more frequent rail service. Completion of the second tunnel is expected in December 2020.

2020 Ontario Budget | Chapter 1C

2020 Ontario Budget — Ontario's Action Plan: Protect, Support, Recover
budget.ontario.ca budget.ontario.ca
 
Allandale25 said:
"GO Rail Expansion" RER becomes GRE.
Click to expand...
You'd think some government consultant would have been hired by now to give it a catchy name to sell it to the public, but instead we've gotten the "You only get this reference if you've been to Paris" GO RER name, and now the "So vague that it just sounds like the lines have gotten a little bit longer" GO Rail Expansion. It's truly wild that such a transformative transit project is basically completely flying under the radar because neither the Liberals or the PCs seem to realise how big of a deal it is.

It's almost like Metrolinx is just kinda doing this of their own accord and the government of the moment is like "yeah okay whatever"
 
crs1026 said:
^Today is a busy news day.... today is also the virtual meeting for the next set of consultations for the Secondary Plan Christie Lands at Park Lawn.

I won't go into the whole site plan, but you can find the consultation materials here.

The key takeaway for this thread is a) it is apparent that should the project be approved, the new Park Lawn GO station will be one of the first things to be built, because b) no residential units can be constructed until the GO station is approved and funded.

The current plan is to have the Secondary Plan for the project area put to City Council in March 2021.

There's still lots of controversy to be argued out regarding the project, but this is a far clearer path towards a Park Lawn GO Station than has been the case previously.

- Paul
Click to expand...
I went through all the comments in the "share your thoughts" section and made sure I gave every comment asking for surface parking a 1 star, lol. Quite a few comments asking for GO station parking, which would be absolutely terrible for urban realm if realized.
 
TossYourJacket said:
You'd think some government consultant would have been hired by now to give it a catchy name to sell it to the public, but instead we've gotten the "You only get this reference if you've been to Paris" GO RER name, and now the "So vague that it just sounds like the lines have gotten a little bit longer" GO Rail Expansion. It's truly wild that such a transformative transit project is basically completely flying under the radar because neither the Liberals or the PCs seem to realise how big of a deal it is.

It's almost like Metrolinx is just kinda doing this of their own accord and the government of the moment is like "yeah okay whatever"
Click to expand...

I would be hugely surprised if there wasn’t a highly paid branding consultant in the background somewhere. No way the incoming government would have let the Liberals’ brand (RER) stand. The brand result is certainly a lacklustre one, and that may indicate where GO sits in Ford’s priorities.... the four subway projects are his flagship, the rest is mundane.

That’s not necessarily bad, because GRE/RER/whatever is slowly plodding forward, and lots of thing that could have been dropped are getting done. “Fly under the radar” is a very sensible strategy for a potentially controversial public agency when public reaction may be mercurial.. Wynne’s Liberals were more productive at sexy but empty promises, Ford is not aggrandising but is slowly and more quietly doing stuff. I’m not a Ford lover, but I have to admit he’s getting the job done.

- Paul
 
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Noticed GO Trains were not lining up with the accessibility platform at the new Kennedy GO Platform to the point the locomotive was stopping south of it in both directions. Other than construction going on for the evacuation of the tunnel dirt for the Crosstown Line, saw no reason for it.

Don't know why The Eglinton Crosstown team was inspecting the new GO platform today, unless they got stuck building it. Real odd of them looking at things and taking photos of it.

The old platform is gone other than the elevator that is out of service. Excavation well underway for the new tunnel stairs and elevator.

The new West platform can be built north of the accessibility platform that will connect to the finish section there and end under the SRT ramp.

Kipling entrance from TTC is getting a cheap makeover with material being glue to the stair well walls, walls where the sale desks used to be, new floor tiles, ceiling as well the framing of the platform columns and entrance.

The elevators are in place for the platform to the Regional Hub and no idea if they are working. Still a lot of flashing outstanding.

Photos to follow.
 
TossYourJacket said:
You'd think some government consultant would have been hired by now to give it a catchy name to sell it to the public, but instead we've gotten the "You only get this reference if you've been to Paris" GO RER name, and now the "So vague that it just sounds like the lines have gotten a little bit longer" GO Rail Expansion. It's truly wild that such a transformative transit project is basically completely flying under the radar because neither the Liberals or the PCs seem to realise how big of a deal it is.

It's almost like Metrolinx is just kinda doing this of their own accord and the government of the moment is like "yeah okay whatever"
Click to expand...
The general population has no idea how transformative it is either, especially people who live in the downtown area, who still think of GO as something that's really only relevant to the suburbs. The good thing about it flying under the radar is that it doesn't become a political football. And there's less risk of it getting cancelled because a new party wants its own legacy project. It just keeps progressing, started by one party and continued by another, largely unaffected by politics. I wish more transit projects worked that way.
 
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