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

[DC83]

Not only that, the McNab bus terminal itself is a joke. The City really needs to look into acquiring that land adjacent to James street and build a proper bus terminal (ie: one with a large center platform). The current bus terminal really is inadequate.

Don't get me started!! McNab terminal is itself a 'polar vortex'; It's a Wind Tunnel, and when it rains oh lord you better hustle into that 100 capacity 'shelter' aka security guard post.
They had the opp to place the Terminal AT the TH&B GO Centre, but the Taxi Lobby blocked that from happening, so a few buses ended up inside the GO Stn (1 King, 2 Barton, 3 Cannon) while all the Mountain-bound routes got stuck with the hell that is McNab Transit Terminal -- which didn't have a functional clock for 2 years after opening.

Now, IF the City/HSR adopt BLAST sooner rather than later, I would anticipate all Mountain Routes terminating at the planned Mohawk College Transit Hub which would render McNab Terminal obsolete *praise the lord*.

So we may only have another 2-4 years at that ungodly transfer node.

 

[DC83]

The Hamilton Spectator newspaper has published my Opinion piece about where to install the B-Line LRT lanes.

The online version is:

http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/5697244-a-case-for-running-two-lrt-lanes-on-king/

Great Piece!!

We need to educate Hamiltonians on why two-way traffic flow is actually better for getting around Hamilton.

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

ICYMI: A Metrolinx graphic of the project.

 

[mdrejhon]

Nice infographic! Where'd you find it?

Some comments:

--- They should extend the LRT from Eastgate Square to Centennial GO Station (Confederation Station?) as it would make a nice rapid-transit loop in Lower City.
Especially when all-day 2-way service comes to Hamilton. It presents a 2nd option for a quick crosstown commute -- 5 to 10 minute ride between Stoney Creek and West Harbour, depending on speed limit.

--- I see an LRT maintenance facility off the CN rail corridor. I guess they would have to tow (or even run, with a waiver) LRTs onto the railroad corridor for that short distance, or install an LRT-specific siding with no connection to the CN mainline.

--- The distance between Nash and Parkdale is a big extreme (2km). There probably needs to be a Pottruff station there; there is a cluster of apartment towers there with people potentially biking in from the north/south residentials, and it can be a kiss-n-ride dropoff near the Red Hill Valley Parkway. But there could be logistical and safety issues on seamlessly integrating a station at this location.

--- Also, good idea to have a Walnut Street station -- right in the middle of International Village. This will make it easier to turn it into a bike/pedestrian-only boulevard, especially if Main is made a 2-way street (which is still on the table, hopefully - see diagram below)

Future Conversions aren't currently planned, but are kept as a future consideration. The LRT will reopen the door for 2-way conversion of Main & King, and possibly the addition of bike paths in selected sections.

 

[rdaner]

Thanks for posting the one way conversion map. Useful information.

 

[drum118]

I always hate driving in Hamilton because of these one way streets.

It will cut down on the freeway driving that takes place today by the race drivers.

 

[junctionist]

Driving on those wide one-way arterials can be wonderful. The traffic signals are perfectly synchronized so you can drive across the entire downtown core on Main Street and only get green lights. I've never seen traffic lights synchronized so well, though I was driving on a Saturday afternoon with moderate traffic and not at rush hour on a week day.

But I think it's worth sacrificing some of that convenience to revitalize the city and make transit fast and efficient. There's far more value in a dense and livable city than a struggling city whose main goal is to make driving as convenient as possible.

 

[Tuscani01]

But I think it's worth sacrificing some of that convenience to revitalize the city and make transit fast and efficient. There's far more value in a dense and livable city than a struggling city whose main goal is to make driving as convenient as possible.

Not to mention, driving through a city is what you DONT want people to do. You want them to spend time in the city.

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

Nice infographic! Where'd you find it?

Metrolinx's Transit Expansion page.

--- They should extend the LRT from Eastgate Square to Centennial GO Station (Confederation Station?) as it would make a nice rapid-transit loop in Lower City.

Already in the 15-year plan.

--- I see an LRT maintenance facility off the CN rail corridor. I guess they would have to tow (or even run, with a waiver) LRTs onto the railroad corridor for that short distance, or install an LRT-specific siding with no connection to the CN mainline.

That definitely caught me off guard. I thought it was for GO, but that's already in the works elsewhere. Wonder what the rationale is, couldn't find land off of one of the lines?

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

ICYMI: A Metrolinx graphic of the project.

Some Thoughts:

- Like with Mark, my first thought was that Eastgate should connect with Centennial GO in the future. Like this, you can create multi-directional demand on the LRT.
- The LRT has very nice stop-spacing, much better than Sheppard or Finch. This Hamilton LRT will be more rapid-transit like than other LRTs in the GTA. Which can only be a great thing for Hamilton.
- It is nice to see that the A-Line is planned to go past the GO Station to what looks like Burlington Street. Though they didn't note any stops on the A-Line aside from West Harbour GO?

 

[Adjei]

I don't get why they have a stop at Stevenson on the Finch LRT. It's too close to the Albion stop. Not too many people use that stop with the current Finch bus. Also one of Pearldale/Duncanwoods stops should be dropped. They are too close together. The Driftwood stop should also be dropped. It's too close to the Jane stop.

 

[ShonTron]

The Maintenance facility looks like it is the site of the former HSR Wentworth garage, which is now used by GO and by Hamilton works vehicles (all HSR buses seem to be stored/maintained at the Mountain Garage).

I'm really curious as to how the light rail vehicles will access the maintenance facility; there aren't many properties along the shortened King Street corridor suited to this purpose (perhaps the old Whirlpool lands near Longwood?)

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

I don't get why they have a stop at Stevenson on the Finch LRT. It's too close to the Albion stop. Not too many people use that stop with the current Finch bus. Also one of Pearldale/Duncanwoods stops should be dropped. They are too close together. The Driftwood stop should also be dropped. It's too close to the Jane stop.

Without derailing (heh) the thread too much, I think it is pretty clear the Finch and Sheppard LRTs are more replacements or upgrades to the present bus service than an attempt to deliver a truly rapid transit line to those areas.

This Hamilton LRT looks more like an actual rapid transit line designed to be a trunk route of the entire city. With the A-Line now a part of the funding mix, the transit network in Hamilton will look almost like an LRT version of Toronto's Line 1 and Line 2. This is beginning to be evident in the image in DonValleyRainbow's last post. The Hamilton LRT will be more comparable to Ottawa's light rail rapid transit system than to other surface LRTs in the GTA.

Needless to say, I am more optimistic for Hamilton than most other municipalities in the Golden Horseshoe.

 

[mdrejhon]

is, couldn't find land off of one of the lines?

As a Hamiltonian here, there appears to be no land along the shortened B-line for a maintenance facility, unless you demolish active businesses. The nearest industrial land to the LRT corridors, appears to be the CN corridor, which is wide enough to be expanded to 4 tracks -- so in theory there could be an LRT-specific track just to bring trains to the facility.

My working theory is that they plan to send LRT vehicles along the CN mainline corridor, to bring them to the facility. Perhaps on the Metrolinx trackage that will be built between West Harbor and Stoney Creek.

Ottawa has special permission (Transport Canada waiver, IIRC) to run their LRTs on freight track via time separation. Freight trains during night, LRTs during day. So there's precedent. LRTs could run to the facility whenever GO trains aren't running, and since the non-FRA trainset (LRTs) are non-revenue-opereating, it would theoretically not be impossible to get a waiver from Transport Canada.

The gotcha I think of is the catenary since it needs to be fairly low, but perhaps:
- LRTs will be towed by a small engine
- LRTs will have a small battery for a bit off-line operation.
- LRT specific track.

This appears to be an engineering that Metrolinx probably hasn't solved yet. If they could build the whole A-Line tomorrow, there is plenty of candidates up the mountain. But without that, we're probably stuck with routing LRTs via the CN mainline to access the Hamilton industrial lands for a maintenance facility. One engineering challenge will be a rail ramp from James Street down to the CN mainline, though it can be fairly steep grade (up to 8 percent).

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

I don't know how heavily it is used, but if there is going to be freight/LRT mixing, I think the Southern Ontario Railway would be a better candidate for running to/from the maintenance facility. There is an old unused ROW that goes east out of the site to Sherman Ave, and then it is used east of there but again I don't know how much.