Hamilton Hamilton Line B LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx

Chris R. said:
For sure. It likely means full-scale utility relocation can occur as soon as possible as a separate contract, which gives me hope of a 2025 start because that's pretty simple. Since the design is "locked" in terms of where it will actually be in the ROW they can do the finalizing engineering around the moved utilities.
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Verster just said contract signed by early 2026, followed by a 1.5-2 year "development phase" before construction. Sooooo shovels in 2028?
 
innsertnamehere said:
Did VIA HSR get an extension to Downtown Hamilton or something? What?
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It's just poor wording. Probably referring to GO improvements.
Similar situation to when that Mississauga MPP misspoke about the new residential development on Lakeshore and said it would be connected to "a new GO station" and everyone thought he was referring to Leaside. But what he really meant was the newly, redeveloped Long Branch.
 
The new renders:
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Uninspired livery. I’d like to believe this is just a placeholder, but look at Eglinton, and Finch, and Hurontario. Previous renders showed the silver, blue, and gold articulated bus livery. That would look a lot better.
 
duffo said:
Verster just said contract signed by early 2026, followed by a 1.5-2 year "development phase" before construction. Sooooo shovels in 2028?
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Not really how I interpreted it. They made it sound like utilities/public works could start much sooner by virtue of them being as separated as possible from the actual transit system. Perhaps they meant for the latter?
 
APTA-2048 said:
Uninspired livery. I’d like to believe this is just a placeholder, but look at Eglinton, and Finch, and Hurontario. Previous renders showed the silver, blue, and gold articulated bus livery. That would look a lot better.
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HSR’s colour scheme is the most generic out there (yellow+blue), and it’s application even moreso. I honestly don’t want to see an LRV with the B-Line swirly pattern; its very 2000s, and not in a cool way- Its cheap and dated.

That’s not to say these LRVs aren’t uninspired, nor a downgrade. But any livery using the local colours should strive to be a step above the rest of HSR.

For my two cents… I find the two ‘heritage’ 150th anniversary liveries very appealing. When applied to modern buses, they really pop. Nothing compares, except perhaps the TTC’s ubiquitous red.

Between the two, the Maroon one is closer to the TTC than not, so I’ll pitch a gold livery, perhaps with ‘Metrolinx Silver’. These retro buses showed me the HSR looks far better when we drop the blue.
 
Chris R. said:
From what I understand this should be quick.

Three big reasons for that;

1) The project is being split into multiple smaller contracts, and so some work can likely get started very quickly.

2) My understanding is that most of the design work was done in-house, meaning that there's limited design to do, but it will be moreso about the logistics and capabilities of the bidders.

3) The consortiums that will be bidding on this project are likely already largely known. Because we've been building LRTs now in the province for over a decade, we now have regular contractors who we will know have the qualifications to build them.
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1) The work packages will require a great deal of coordination. While design aspects on this work package can start before the other packages are awarded, there is significant overlap that needs to happen (i.e. where signals go will influence subsurface utility locations,.TPSS will need to be sized and duct provisions provided which will heavily depend on ROSS decisions).

2) Metrolinx has their Technical Advisor onboard to do some RCD updates, but the level of design is at best 30% and enough to prove that the project can be delivered. If MX had done design in house, they wouldn't be engaging with IO - they'd just go to traditional DB.

3) There haven't been any identical bid teams in any of the last four major LRT RFPs that Metrolinx released. There has also been significant shifts in the market that will mean that JV formation will be unique.
 
I suppose one thing to get excited about while we wait years for this to theoretically start, is that the fact that it's moving forward and with interest rates coming down, we can likely expect an explosion in development applications within 500m-750m of the corridor. I know Brad Lamb was waiting on the LRT being started or a definite thing before starting in his own words over "one billion dollars in development".
 
Sunnyside said:
HSR’s colour scheme is the most generic out there (yellow+blue), and it’s application even moreso. I
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It is difficult to imagine there is any paint scheme out there that is more generic than red + white or black.

HSR's colour scheme isn't generic cause of the colours chosen, but because of its inept application of excessive empty white surface. If they had something like NYC's Cuomo buses (or the inverse, all yellow with blue lining), it would look a lot better.
 
T3G said:
It is difficult to imagine there is any paint scheme out there that is more generic than red + white or black.

HSR's colour scheme isn't generic cause of the colours chosen, but because of its inept application of excessive empty white surface. If they had something like NYC's Cuomo buses (or the inverse, all yellow with blue lining), it would look a lot better.
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This is what I tried to convey by adding ‘it’s application’, haha. Didn’t want to get into the aesthetic weeds, but I’m glad you expanded on it here. Yellow and blue could be and has been interesting before, but the HSR has the small-city-bus default of stripes on white.

In any case, a rebranding would go a long way in modernizing the HSR and the city’s perception. The value of memorable design to one’s image is huge, and the HSR could and should strive for icon status like the TTC/GO.
 
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