Union Station Rail Corridor Improvements

[TOareaFan]

Sure. If you can see, the most of Union rails are already covered. You just have to add one more water-protective layer and put trees on it.

Most likely PwC and Delta would happy to cover new layer costs. Why ? Because the park near their buildings will significantly increase the value of the location. All trees will be bought by citizens. Sure, we will put their names on it.

Why would Delta (simply a Hotel management company/brand hired by BCIMC to manage their new hotel) want to pay for this? Why would PWC (simply a lead tenant in a new office building) want to share that cost? What value would BCIMC gain from having their name on a park?

 

[jwill]

This park would need diesel fume vents along its full length for the foreseeable future, which would make for an unpleasant park during rush hours. There are operational problems as well, with the required structure possibly forcing a reduction in tracks through the throat, and conflicting with all the switches. At this point, the USRC should be kept as flexible as possible. Who knows what the future holds for the rail corridor.

 

[baramburum]

And I don't buy it. How many city parks today make enough to cover their own maitenance costs?

Do you think the Park is the social initiative, rather than just the commercial property ?

If put some stupid monuments here, they would become the attraction. So the city will sell a lot of souvenirs. Also, you can rent space for restaurants. How about small Open-air exhibition space ? Concerts ? There are no problems with monetization. Just hire the right guys and make it cool.

 

[junctionist]

Hate to say it, but the trainshed being a "heritage" piece is one of the saddest excuse for keeping it. What's it supposed to remind us? That everyone else were entitled to having airy spaces while we're stuck with it?

AoD

It reminds us of the age of steam, which has a lot of romance associated with it. Toronto has a very rich history of steam railways that I would never want to lose because it's another dimension of history that's interesting and goes back a long way. The cities without these historical threads are generally less interesting, no matter how impressive their modern architecture and present day reality may be.

The trainshed does have some aesthetic merits such as its interesting trusswork. The way the trusses meet the support columns with arches is elegant and evocative of the late 19th and early 20th century. The trainshed could make very good impressions if the actual structure was fully painted and restored. But I would also go for more attractive lighting than the generic and trashy industrial lighting used now. I would add architectural lighting to accent the arches and trusses. The concrete platforms look cheap; I'd replace them with granite in an interesting mosaic. With some restoration and enhancement of finishes, it could be a great space.

That said, I like the new component. A combination of the airy, more monumental shed seen in the renderings and a restored and enhanced Bush shed would be the most sophisticated and impressive solution in realistic terms. It would be a structure that could impress both with soaring contemporary style and by showcasing a unique history.

 

[k10ery]

Hate to say it, but the trainshed being a "heritage" piece is one of the saddest excuse for keeping it. What's it supposed to remind us? That everyone else were entitled to having airy spaces while we're stuck with it?

AoD

Not sure what you're getting at. They're already planning a green roof, which is just a park that I'm not allowed to visit. I think baramburam's idea is great. A 7 acre park at the foot of Bay St., almost for free? Sign me up.

 

[EnviroTO]

The financial question is the right one. Here they is the story about railroad baron Collis P. Huntington, who visited Eiffel Tower just after its completion. When an interviewer for a Paris newspaper asked him for a critique, he said: “Your Eiffel Tower is all very well, but where’s the money in it?” According to one estimate,more than $120 billion worth of Eiffel Tower souvenirs has been sold since 1897.

Give me a break. You are proposing a park. We already have a tower. Who is going to buy souvenirs of a park when there are so many larger attractions around? Who is going to go into this park when it is above where all the people would be. They can't get enough walk through traffic in the SkyWalk to keep a Gateway Newsstand open.

Green initiatives are very popular.

Yes, so maybe it would be better to put a windmill over the railway tracks. The point of green roofs isn't the colour green, it is reduction of surface runoff into storm sewers. The railway is a permeable surface. Heck they could put dirt and sod over the gravel for far less.

There are two Financial areas right now, so, the City must build parks anyway.

Huh?

Sky park is very non-expansive solution , well, and very effective. Also it is cool and attractive. The City will definitely would save a lot of money.

I like expansive parks. You hold a different idea about what "saving money" is. You think saving money happens by spending millions on a park you need to take stairs or an elevator to get to and which has no real potential to make money, when the same person can walk two blocks south to the waterfront which is far more of an attraction and could make that same investment in dollars generate a much large benefit.

The best global example, probably would the the Atocha train station in Madrid. They build very expensive tropical park inside the train station, and have never regretted about it.

That was a re-purposing of an existing historic building. They wouldn't have built that new and it isn't a park, it is the central court of the building. Calling that a park is like calling the fountain at Eaton Centre a lake and geyser.

 

[interchange42]

News Release
New Union Station Signalling System Means Improved Service for Transit Riders

November 3, 2014

Ontario Improving Public Transit, Creating Jobs

Ontario is making it easier for commuters to take public transit and is relieving congestion in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton Area (GTHA) with improvements to the entire signalling system within the Union Station Rail Corridor.

Replacing the Union Station Rail Corridor signalling system is part of Metrolinx's signalling and train control improvement program, and the next phase of a revitalization that will improve service reliability, eliminate track bottlenecks, increase train speeds and reduce operating costs.

Upgrades to the 80-year-old signalling system will ensure GO Transit can prepare for the anticipated doubling of ridership over the next 10-20 years.

Building smarter, more integrated transit is part of the government's economic plan for Ontario. The four part plan is building Ontario up by investing in people's talents and skills, building new public infrastructure like roads and transit, creating a dynamic, supportive environment where business thrives, and building a secure savings plan so everyone can afford to retire.


QUICK FACTS

Work to upgrade and install the new signalling system will begin in 2015 and is expected to be completed by 2019.
The project is valued at $365.5 million. Ontario and Metrolinx are contributing $273.5 million to the project with the Government of Canada contributing up to $92 million through the Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund.
The Union Station Rail Corridor, running from the Don River in the east to Strachan Avenue in the west, is about 6.4 km long and contains 40 km of track, with as many as 16 tracks lined up alongside one another in the busiest part of the corridor.
The corridor contains 228 signals that train engineers must follow, as well as 221 track switches that allow trains to change tracks at they move through the corridor.
Three major contracts have been awarded to deliver this project: Signalling (awarded to Alstom Transport), Technical Consultant Services (awarded to Hatch Mott McDonald) and Electrical Enabling Works (awarded to Plan Group).
On a typical weekday, approximately 200,000 GO Transit passengers travel to and from Union Station. GO Transit carries approximately 66-million passengers per year.

 

[interchange42]

If the above is already being discussed in a catch-all thread, I'm thinking that this should be followed in its own dedicated one. (I haven't missed an already existing dedicated thread, have I?)

42

 

[TheTigerMaster]

How does this new signalling system compare to the current one?

 

[innsertnamehere]

thats a surprisingly large contract.. $300 million must buy us a pretty good signalling system.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

thats a surprisingly large contract.. $300 million must buy us a pretty good signalling system.

Hopefully it won't need to be upgraded again with RER or SmartTrack or whatever.

 

[gweed123]

thats a surprisingly large contract.. $300 million must buy us a pretty good signalling system.

I was surprised at that too. I wonder if it also includes some track reconfiguration as part of it (reconfiguring what tracks run directly into what platforms, etc). Also could explain why it's a 4 year project.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Wish it can speed up the approach and departure from Union as well - the first and last 5 minutes of each GO ride is just painful.

AoD

 

[DSC]

This project is presumably dependent on the completion of the earlier GO and Metrolinx projects that have been carried out over the last 4 or 5 years. The 2014 schedule for this project is at http://www.slna.ca/slna-news-pdfs/USRC_Brochure_2014-EN.pdf It appears that the earlier phase is drawing to a close and the new one is about to start. (The 2013 schedule is at: http://www.slna.ca/slna-news-pdfs/USRC Brochure 2013_EN_Final.pdf )

 

[khris]

Why have they waited 80 years to ugprade?!?