TTC: Streetcar Network

[Richard White]

TTC expects downtown streetcar service to resume Wednesday night

There will be no service between King Street West at Spadina Avenue east side and King Street East at Church Street east side, the TTC said.

www.thestar.com

This seems to be happening alot lately.

I wonder if it is a systemic thing or external to the TTC's control.

 

[DSC]

Second derailment at Church and King. I witnessed another one in May 2023.

The TTC have plans to FINALLY rebuild this intersection but not until 2025 I think. It has been scheduled and postponed several times so this is probably yet another example of the foolishness of constantly postponing maintenance. (I think latest postponement was cause Queen was closed (by Mlx)...

 

[DSC]

The TTC have plans to FINALLY rebuild this intersection but not until 2025 I think. It has been scheduled and postponed several times so this is probably yet another example of the foolishness of constantly postponing maintenance. (I think latest postponement was cause Queen was closed (by Mlx)...

EDIT:

Project Track Replacement (Special Track)
Location
KING ST E
Near: CHURCH ST FORMER TORONTO
Details
Replacement of the streetcar tracks/rails and the underlying support materials. Work may include resurfacing or reconstruction of the adjacent road/traffic lanes.
Construction Timeline
Q3 2025 - Q4 2025
Status Active
Last Updated Jan 15, 2024.

 

[drum118]

The TTC have plans to FINALLY rebuild this intersection but not until 2025 I think. It has been scheduled and postponed several times so this is probably yet another example of the foolishness of constantly postponing maintenance. (I think latest postponement was cause Queen was closed (by M

Time for TTC to install the correct switches regardless the cost to get rid of the stop and go as well one car crossing the intersection. This will speed up quality of service and run like other system around the world..

One derailment is one thing, but far too many for TTC in the past with the old fleet as well the new fleet

 

[T3G]

This has been discussed on this forum at least 4 or 5 times in the last two years: installing new switches will not help anyone, because the problem is in the outdated NAS switch operating system. But though NAS should have been turfed off ages ago, I would not place bets on its replacement doing anything to eliminate those safety rules. North Americans are completely neurotic about safety; once a safety rule is put in place, it is very, very hard to get rid of, and there is no end of unlikely but theoretically possible catastrophic events that the TTC could use as a justification for keeping the rules going. Stop/check/go, for example, was instituted due to accidents caused by operator speeding about 20 years ago, and those accidents would not have been prevented by having a differing switch operation system, as they happened due to operators approaching switches set in the incorrect direction faster than any system would have been able to reset them.

The only way you'd achieve any improvements on the streetcar network is if someone very high up stopped being afraid of their own shadow. And new hardware certainly will not do anything to stop trams from slowing down when passing through intersections.

Further reading:

TTC: Streetcar Network

The TTC had expected to restore streetcar service along The Queensway, west of Roncesvalles Ave., on Sun., Sept. 3. However, further time is required to complete the installation of poles and overhead cables, and to conduct testing and commissioning of the new infrastructure. (Not Surprised)...

urbantoronto.ca

TTC: Streetcar Network

The TTC had expected to restore streetcar service along The Queensway, west of Roncesvalles Ave., on Sun., Sept. 3. However, further time is required to complete the installation of poles and overhead cables, and to conduct testing and commissioning of the new infrastructure. (Not Surprised)...

urbantoronto.ca

Streetcar Tracks on Adelaide

I'm dying for this to wrap up - Adelaide being down to one lane past York has been an absolute nightmare... Everyone squeezing through at Yonge is the worst.

urbantoronto.ca

Streetcar Tracks on Adelaide

I'm dying for this to wrap up - Adelaide being down to one lane past York has been an absolute nightmare... Everyone squeezing through at Yonge is the worst.

urbantoronto.ca

 

[kotsy]

Streetcar service was a bit mangled again tonight. This time one broke down in the Dufferin loop causing a massive back up.

 

[nfitz]

Random but it's crazy to see how long some of the streetcar tracks have been in the road despite being abandoned in the 50's or 60's

It is. Those tracks in that photo on Strathmore into Woodbine station were abandoned in 1968 - but were constructed new in 1966 for the temporary terminus. So perhaps the most recently constructed abandoned track around.

Walking down Neville Park Blvd one can still find a some of the abandoned Neville Park Wye still embedded in the roadway too

Gosh, I've never noticed that, even when walking along Queen! Looks like that was only abandoned in 1989.

 

[DSC]

It is. Those tracks in that photo on Strathmore into Woodbine station were abandoned in 1968 - but were constructed new in 1966 for the temporary terminus. So perhaps the most recently constructed abandoned track around.


Gosh, I've never noticed that, even when walking along Queen!

View attachment 581369

Yes, UT has several photos of bits of track 'arising from the dead". Perhaps the oldest were some track remnants on Frederick north of Front but I think they were (all?) removed a few years ago when there was a watermain break. (There used to be loops on both Frederick & George Streets between Front and King.

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

When I lived in the Mount Pleasant and Davisville area there were still bits of track starting to emerge from the asphalt along Mount Pleasant, the old Moore Park Loop and St. Clair Avenue East. I wonder if that track was rebuilt sometime between 1966 and abandonment in 1976. I definitely recall the Rogers Road trackage that was rebuilt not long before abandonment in 1974 lasting well into the 1990s, maybe even the early 2000s. The other section of track that might still be there is some remnants along Wychwood and I'm also pretty sure some might still exist under sections of Dupont/Davenport Road. And when I used to pick up my Dad's car from Lansdowne Division a lot of track leading into the carhouse was still visible up until that division closed in 1996.

 

[nfitz]

Yes, UT has several photos of bit of track 'arising from the dead". Perhaps the oldest were some track remnants on Frederick north of Front but I think they were (all?) removed a few years ago when there was a watermain break. (There used to be loops on both Frederick & George Streets between Front and King.

I suspect there's probably more old track hidden under the asphalt than most would suspect, it was starting to rise through Danforth at one point ..., west of Coxwell I think.

I've never seen it on Frederick (though there are some interesting looking cracks in the asphalt that you can see in Streetview from 2007 to 2021). But for a while you could see rail appearing on Sherbourne south of Front (which would be other other side of those loops into the old yards). I don't think it survived the 2015 rebuild though, when they installed the bike lanes.

 

[Jonny5]

I suspect there's probably more old track hidden under the asphalt than most would suspect, it was starting to rise through Danforth at one point ..., west of Coxwell I think.

I've never seen it on Frederick (though there are some interesting looking cracks in the asphalt that you can see in Streetview from 2007 to 2021). But for a while you could see rail appearing on Sherbourne south of Front (which would be other other side of those loops into the old yards). I don't think it survived the 2015 rebuild though, when they installed the bike lanes.

It's been about ten years since I was up there in person, but I recall then track poked through at St. Clair and Mount Pleasant in a few places.
I wouldn't be surprised if this perfectly curved crack in the asphalt recorded last year by Google Maps is related to that old track underneath with a new coat of paint over it again, as that's exactly where the streetcar would have made the east to north turn (lane markings long ago revised).

Link where if you go back in time you can clearly see the track there ten plus years ago.

 

[turbanplanner]

It's been about ten years since I was up there in person, but I recall then track poked through at St. Clair and Mount Pleasant in a few places.
I wouldn't be surprised if this perfectly curved crack in the asphalt recorded last year by Google Maps is related to that old track underneath with a new coat of paint over it again, as that's exactly where the streetcar would have made the east to north turn (lane markings long ago revised).

Link where if you go back in time you can clearly see the track there ten plus years ago.

View attachment 581481

I'm honestly amazed the city lets contractors pave over bricks, tracks and whatever else without properly demolishing the surface

 

[DSC]

I'm honestly amazed the city lets contractors pave over bricks, tracks and whatever else without properly demolishing the surface

Since we are looking at TTC tracks that have been buried for 30+ years before they really show, I think it is not unreasonable to (sometimes) just pave over them. The paving over of bricks (unless they are rotten) is exactly like paving over a concrete base so it makes perfect sense to do that. Look at https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threa...-streets-in-toronto.15607/page-9#post-1948705 for examples of formerly bricked streets that were asphalted over and have lasted for decades.

 

[IRT_BMT_IND]

There were tracks on Rogers Road until at least 1998, according to old usenet posts. The track is visible in aerial photos from the 90s, but not 2005 aerial photos, so the track would have been removed sometime between 1998 and 2005.

Interestingly the same photos show the track east of Old Weston Road was removed probably within a year of the line closing, leaving a disconnected segment (which apparently was fairly new track) in place for ~25 more years.

 

[nfitz]

There were tracks on Rogers Road until at least 1998, according to old usenet posts. The track is visible in aerial photos from the 90s, but not 2005 aerial photos, so the track would have been removed sometime between 1998 and 2005.

They were certainly there when I used to drive it regularly in 1994. Looked in pretty good shape too.