The clearance underneath the 407 bridge is almost 250 feet. There is tonnes of room for a subway, and more tracks than CN would know what to do with.There doesn't seem to be any room for two subway tracks and a third track on the Bala sub under the 407 bridge.
You're right, the ROW is not 250 feet.
OK. But to rephrase my point /question
But it shouldn't have happened. Staying on Yonge costs less and doesn't bring up questions of favours for developers. It should be that simple. That's just one of the complaints.
Before I answer that......think about how that would look, exactly. And then look or think about any new grade separation and consider how much - or little - space there is between the tracks and the structure.
If you want some further reading, I know of one rail-adjacent mixed use application that has a “Railway Safety and Development Viability Assessment” in its supporting documentation.
That's just it, for a greenfield installation it's easy because you can build in the protections from the outset.
I couldn't help but notice many railway bridges don't have any kind of fencing, presumably because if a train went off the track far enough to fall off the bridge, a fence wouldn't stop it.
Considering the weight and forces involved, a fence would not do anything. A wall would have to be quite robust - and thus, quite heavy - in order to do anything, and so would come with its own set of drawbacks.
