Atlantis
Active Member
A few photos from today.
|
|
|
GO Transit: Union Station Shed Replacement & Track Upgrades (Zeidler)
Long Island Mike
Senior Member
Right now, the layout at Union station is:
PLATFORM_track_PLATFORM_track_PLATFORM_track_PLATFORM_track_PLATFORM
A more efficient layout would be:
P L A T F O R M _track track_P L A T F O R M _track track_P L A T F O R M.
The platform would be considerably wider than what we have today, allowing for very wide staircases and/or dual direction escalators, as well as elevators that wouldn't take up the entire platform width, allowing passengers to navigate around it. The ease of pedestrian movement and circulation allows dwell times on the platform to be significantly reduced.
While you increase platform width substantially, you also get rid of a redundant platform and space the tracks closer to one another, so there isn't a reduction in track capacity.
Here is an example from Germany which has basically the same loading conditions as what we see at Union station. That is, it's also a bi-level train with two doors per car and a low platform height. Look, people are even leaving with bicycles - something that is impossible to do given the tiny staircases at Union right now.
_20.3.2009.JPG)
EDIT: The setup that Neil showed in the Netherlands is ideal, and as Reaperexpress mentioned, the goal of GO in the future should be to have shorter, more frequent multiple unit trains rather than 12-car behemoths pulled by a locomotive. The current (and unfortunately future) setup of Union station is very poor at accommodating that kind of service.
HD and Everyone: I read your post and I had to reply and mention that Toronto Union Station was originally designed for intercity passenger
rail-remember GO Transit did not begin service until 1967 and after that GO only was assigned tracks on the N side-I believe just 5 tracks
were exclusively GO's until the 80s when GO Rail ridership began its steady increase...
The track layouts with platforms on both sides allowed trains to unload on one side while riders boarded from the other side...
I always found how Union's under-track concourses were separate as such to be an interesting design...
Building newer tracks to be paired on the edge of the station was a good move-but to totally re-align all tracks to be in pairs today
would be a expensive proposition meaning the entire track/platform area station wide would need to be totally replaced let alone
the major extra track work that would be necessary on both approaches to Union...and we can't forget the canopy would need total
replacement also...
We must all remember that Toronto Union Station was "inherited" from earlier days and as much as we would like to modify its physical
plant we have to live with what we have...I think TUS has adopted being the major commuter destination that it has become well and I
recall how GO added their separate concourse in the middle of the Summer of 1979 which was a major improvement during my first-ever
Toronto visit then...it showed to me how GO was "coming of age" as a major Commuter Rail carrier and also remembering that the first
H-S bilevel equipment went into service that year...another GO milestone...
I totally agree that the improvement of electrifying GO's busiest routes will improve service on those routes-the Lakeshore Route
from Oshawa to Hamilton being the top priority...Electric MU trains can operate at higher speeds and more frequently...
Thoughts from LI MIKE
Last edited:
EnviroTO
Senior Member
What are they doing on the roof of Platform 26-27? I thought all work was done there. I can't imagine that it is a staging area considering it isn't at ground level.
drum118
Superstar
I was surprised to see that when I was shooting the roof.
I would say off hand that they are making this a green roof like the rest of the shed.
rdaner
Senior Member
I wonder if the skyline will be visible through the completed canopy?
whatever
Senior Member
Holy crap. I wonder if they have enough steel up there. What were they planning for? Trains eventually running on top of the canopy?
Nick.
Banned
yeah i was thinking that as well, looks pretty shitty compared to the renders so far.
Northern Magus
Active Member
AFAIK that's the intent.
Northern Magus
Active Member
MetroMan
Senior Member
Dan416
Senior Member
The Union Station shed replacement reminds me of Transit City: transit done on the cheap, staying behind the curve.
astroturf
New Member
The steel beams should be painted white ....to go along with the airy looking feeling.
whatever
Senior Member
The white would look better... on day one. That steel is going to get so filthy so quickly they probably went with the darker colour so that it won't be as noticeable between cleanings.
Actually, that glass is going to get pretty rough pretty quickly, too. And the caulking, and the gaskets, and the trim... I wonder what kind of maintenance they're expecting to do on it.
Actually, that glass is going to get pretty rough pretty quickly, too. And the caulking, and the gaskets, and the trim... I wonder what kind of maintenance they're expecting to do on it.
EnviroTO
Senior Member
It is like Transit City... focusing the bulk of the money on things that actually matter, like moving more people, because Ontario is not strongly socialist in its voting patterns, nor a dictatorship or communist state, nor in an economic boom.
junctionist
Senior Member
Architecture and design does matter. We satisfy our functional needs through new infrastructure, but we have the opportunity to use architecture to build our profile as an important metropolitan centre, to develop our culture and an overt legacy of economic achievement, and to produce a clear record of what we were capable of at this point in time.