Eglinton Crosstown line

[John Oke]

came across this video today of what appears to be two people trespassing into Crosstown Tunnels, can’t tell where along the line 

[GTAmissions1]

An infographic regarding testing of the light rail vehicles. 600 kilometres of simulated service which is similar to the streetcars which also have to pass through the same amount of distance without failures before giving final acceptance. If a major issue is found within that 600 kilometres, the issue must be addressed and the clock resets.

75 percent of the track has been installed. It will take a while before all the track and overhead is installed for full testing of the cars. 

 

[GTAmissions1]

All surface level station shelters have been installed. Sloane (just before Victoria Park) is just awaiting final touches per this tweet attached here. 

 

[GTAmissions1]

Progress update for Eglinton Station (Eglinton/Yonge) has been posted: 

 

[drum118]

 

Quote

 

On May 3, 2021, the overhead catenary system (OCS) between Laird Drive and Kennedy Road will be energized. Once energized the OCS cables are electrified and dangerous if encountered. It is never safe to go near the OCS. Please obey signage and stay away from all overhead cables.

The OCS installed above the LRT tracks and powers the Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs). Power is delivered from traction power substations located along the alignment to the LRVs via the OCS cables.

 

 

[MRD10]

Powering up Eglinton East

From the blog, and a few twitter posts I have read, my understanding is 6 LRV's will be trucked to the eastern overground portion of Crosstown. But where will the be loaded off to? Was the Crosstown designed to accommodate an loading in this portion? Where will they be stored? 

[Bus_Medic]

36 minutes ago, MRD10 said:

Powering up Eglinton East

From the blog, and a few twitter posts I have read, my understanding is 6 LRV's will be trucked to the eastern overground portion of Crosstown. But where will the be loaded off to? Was the Crosstown designed to accommodate an loading in this portion? Where will they be stored? 

These guy do this stuff daily.

https://www.andersonhaulage.com/our-fleet/

As for storage, I guess inside the portals at Kennedy or Don Mills, maybe even a temporary tent structure anywhere along the line. They used them to finish stations in inclement weather, they could also string a couple together to park a train in.

[nfitz]

1 minute ago, Bus_Medic said:

As for storage, I guess inside the portals at Kennedy or Don Mills, maybe even a temporary tent structure anywhere along the line.

In the portal west of Leslie it would seem.
 

 

[Doppelkupplung]

On 5/10/2021 at 8:31 PM, Bus_Medic said:

These guy do this stuff daily.

https://www.andersonhaulage.com/our-fleet/

As for storage, I guess inside the portals at Kennedy or Don Mills, maybe even a temporary tent structure anywhere along the line. They used them to finish stations in inclement weather, they could also string a couple together to park a train in.

I can’t even imagine what a move like that would cost per set.

[Bus_Medic]

1 hour ago, Doppelkupplung said:

I can’t even imagine what a move like that would cost per set.

@Ten grand.

[Doppelkupplung]

[Bus_Medic]

7 hours ago, Doppelkupplung said:

Paltry sum compared to late penalties from delayed testing and acceptance.

[drum118]

Light Rail Vehicle Delivery and Testing between Laird Dr. and Kennedy Rd.

May - December 2021

Starting May 25, six (6) Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs) will be moved from the Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility (EMSF) to the LRT tracks (guideway) at Rosemount Dr. via truck transport. The LRVs will be delivered one at a time, on May 25, 26, 27, 31 and June 1 and 2.  Once delivered, The LRVs will be connected to the overhead catenary system which powers the vehicles via traction power substations located along the alignment.  The LRVs will then travel west at a slow rate of speed to the underground storage area.  For the first LRV, crews will walk with the vehicle to validate clearnaces between the vehicle and LRT infrastructure. A Paid Duty Officer will be present as the LRV passes through each intersection.

What to Expect Vehicle Delivery LRVs will be delivered to Rosemount Dr. and Eglinton Ave. E. via transport truck.  Eglinton Ave. will be reduced to one westbound through lane and one westbound right turn lane east of Rosemount Dr., and one eastbound through lane and one shared eastbound through-right turn lane west of Rosemount Dr. while the LRVs are offloaded.

LRV Route Map

LRV Off-Loading

Testing and Commissioning    Testing and commissioning will take place in three phases beginning June 2021:    Clearance and static testing will take place in June and includes a walking inspection of LRVs operating between 0 – 5km/hr Dynamic testing will take place from July to September and includes testing coupled vehicles, increased speed testing, brake tests, concurrent vehicle testing, and communications and signal systems testing  TTC Driver Training will follow and includes operational training for TTC personnel who will be responsible for operating the LRT once it is in service.    The OCS is energized. At 750v this means the cables are electrified and dangerous if encountered. It is never safe to go near the overhead cables.   The LRVs will cross traffic lanes at intersections between Leslie St. and Kennedy Rd. following dedicated transit signals. Drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians must continue to follow the existing traffic signals and signage and stay alert to where and when left turns and U turns are and are not permitted.

Hours of Work LRV delivery will take place on May 25, 26, 27, 31 and June 1 and 2, 2021 Clearance and Static Testing will take place in June 2021 Dynamic Testing will take place from July to September 2021. Testing will take place between 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Work may be rescheduled due to weather conditions or unforeseen circumstances. The contractor may not always work during the permitted hours but may do so at its discretion. This work may take longer or shorter than expected.   Traffic Details Lane closures will be in effect on at Eglinton Ave at Rosemount Dr. on May 25, 26, 27, 31 and June 1 and 2, to accommodate LRV delivery. There are no traffic changes associated with phases 1,2 or 3 of testing Nine (9) left turn prohibitions are already in effect along Eglinton Ave. E. between Laird Dr. and Kennedy Rd. as part of the final traffic configuration of Eglinton Ave. to accommodate the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. Emergency vehicle access on Eglinton Ave. and cross-streets will be maintained. North and South bound through movements will be prohibited at Eglinton Ave. and Rosemount Dr. during each delivery.  Left-turn movements will be restricted in all directions during each delivery.    Pedestrians and TTC Details There are no changes to existing pedestrian routes or TTC stop locations on Eglinton Ave. between Laird Dr. and Kennedy Rd. for phases 1, 2 or 3 of testing. Obeying transit signals, LRVs will share the right-of-way with pedestrians, drivers and cyclists at intersections Other Impacts Due to the nature of this work, at times there will be noise around the work area.

[drum118]

Eglinton Crosstown LRT to cost more and take longer, after builder scores legal victory

[Cityflyer]

1 hour ago, drum118 said:

Eglinton Crosstown LRT to cost more and take longer, after builder scores legal victory

Anyone thinks Line 6 will open at the same time as Line 5? Or maybe even faster than Line 5. LOL

[Andythagiant]

Car 6252 car is the first car to be delivered to the east end for testing. It’s sporting a wrap advertising the testing of the line.

[TTCNLFBT]

6252 was seen being delivered to Rosemount.

 

[TTCNLFBT]

Delete.

[bus_7246]

The third car made its way from the Eglinton MSF at around 9:30am. Car 6250 or 6256 I think (it was hard to tell as the bus I was on passed as the car was being driven towards Industry St)

[TTCNLFBT]

1 hour ago, bus_7246 said:

The third car made its way from the Eglinton MSF at around 9:30am. Car 6250 or 6256 I think (it was hard to tell as the bus I was on passed as the car was being driven towards Industry St)

6256.

[Wayside Observer]

Justin Trudeau government’s support for underground Eglinton West LRT undermines climate change fight, say critics  (alternate link)

The thrust of this article is about where the carbon breakeven point of the Eglinton West LRT sits.

The idea there is that a public transportation project like Eglinton West is going to replace fuel burning buses with electric vehicles, get some people driving cars off the road and onto public transportation etc. and generally lower carbon emission, all well and good.  However, building it is going to incur some carbon emission in terms of exhaust from fuel powered construction equipment but the big one's going to be the carbon footprint of the construction materials used and the article singles out the two big ones which are the concrete and steel, and to some degree operating will have some carbon footprint too since we aren't in a zero-carbon electricity jurisdiction.

The breakeven point occurs sometime in the future when the carbon emission saved by the project meets and then exceeds the carbon emitted to build it and going underground vs. at grade shifts the carbon breakeven point significantly due to the quantity of materials used.  Obviously staying on the surface moves the breakeven point up much sooner with far less footprint due to the much lower quanitity of materials used.  Steve Munro's also long pushed for surface based on shorter construction time and lower financial cost.  It's also fairly easy to stay on the surface for the most part due to the land available from the scrapped Richview expressway.  I agree, it's faster, cheaper, more environmentally friendly and opens sooner to stay on the surface so win, win, win, win on all sides there except "Subways! Subways! Subways!".  We build them where we don't need them.  We don't build them where we do.  That's if we build them at all.  Yeah.  Toronto.  The city that works.  Jeez.  That slogan got thrown out for good reason.

As for Trudeau's enviro cred on the public transportation file?  Maybe he takes phone calls from Greta or radio hosts that can do a good Greta impression but he sure moved fast to scratch the public transportation tax credit three months into the 2017 budget year.  So yeah.  Probably about the same as his pro-feminist cred given the sex abuse scandals in the military he keeps trying to squash parliamentary investigation of.

Anyhow, thinking more about the construction materials, one of the things we saw starting when the Scarborough RT was built was a move away from rock ballast and wooden sleepers in exchange for concrete slab roadbed in open areas except for maybe the subway extension up to Downsview before it went into tunnel north of Wilson Yard.  The TTC always did concrete roadbeds in subway tunnels.  The streetcar track on Queen's Quay, The Queensway, same deal a couple of years ago, same deal on the LRT lines.  The crushed rock ballast won't have nearly the carbon footprint of concrete and the wood ties themselves are actually a renewable resource so maybe we should reconsider using that method of track construction if getting carbon footprint down has moved that high in importance.

I'll let you guys debate the political correctness trap I laid for myself in the previous paragraph.  Wooden sleepers?  How British.  That's colonialism.  Wood ties?  That's American.  Either way, I'm getting in trouble.  Damned if you do, damned if you don't, and someone's probably already started a campaign to rename QQ and The Queensway...

[Bus_Medic]

Ask the Hawaiians, Panamanians, Puerto Ricans and Filipinos wether the terms “American” and “colonial” are mutually exclusive.

[Wayside Observer]

2 hours ago, Bus_Medic said:

Ask the Hawaiians, Panamanians, Puerto Ricans and Filipinos wether the terms “American” and “colonial” are mutually exclusive.

Bikini Atoll.  Colonialism meets the nuclear option.  The results were and are truly devastating.

So why split it where I did?  It's actually a bit of foam there.  I was talking with someone about a railroad crossing sign which traditionally has always been a railway crossing here due to the influence of British English in the Commonwealth countries and there's a couple of interesting places where you can where the language started to split.  Americans call it a railroad but UK and Commonwealth countries have always called it a railway.  Everyone says "right of way" whether or not it's a railway or railroad right of way that's being discussed but it never got split to the point of anybody in the United States calling it a "right of road" to make it consistent with railroad.  Anyways, those thoughts having been in mind I split it across the differing UK and US nomenclature for track construction and made the rest of it fit.  It's actually a lot more than sleepers vs. ties, there's different nomenclature for a lot of the parts and the physical construction used to differ quite a bit.

On the subject of UK imports especially as pertaining to Eglinton Crosstown.  Flexities?  No.  Just no.  That is not what comes to mind when I hear the phrase, "Blackpool tram".

[smallspy]

16 hours ago, Wayside Observer said:

Anyhow, thinking more about the construction materials, one of the things we saw starting when the Scarborough RT was built was a move away from rock ballast and wooden sleepers in exchange for concrete slab roadbed in open areas except for maybe the subway extension up to Downsview before it went into tunnel north of Wilson Yard.  The TTC always did concrete roadbeds in subway tunnels.  The streetcar track on Queen's Quay, The Queensway, same deal a couple of years ago, same deal on the LRT lines.  The crushed rock ballast won't have nearly the carbon footprint of concrete and the wood ties themselves are actually a renewable resource so maybe we should reconsider using that method of track construction if getting carbon footprint down has moved that high in importance.

How about the maintenance impacts of using ties-in-ballast versus slab-track? Once needs periodic maintenance to maintain alignment, clean fines, etc. The other doesn't. And that maintenance is provided with diesel-powered equipment, so it's not like it's zero-sum.

 

Dan

[Wayside Observer]

2 hours ago, smallspy said:

How about the maintenance impacts of using ties-in-ballast versus slab-track? Once needs periodic maintenance to maintain alignment, clean fines, etc. The other doesn't. And that maintenance is provided with diesel-powered equipment, so it's not like it's zero-sum.

I know.  It's wishful thinking, but it would be nice if it was zero sum because it'd make the mathematical evaluation a lot easier if you could pin it down to either a zero sum or another fixed numerical value in the end instead of multiple variables that move around.  And that's why I said we should consider it.  I think it merits further investigation.  More frequent maintenance with diesel powered equipment vs. less frequent maintenance but heavier work also with diesel powered equipment plus a lot of concrete that ends up being broken up and replaced with a lot of concrete, and making the clinker that's a key ingredient to concrete is a very, very carbon heavy process.  Is concrete manufacture plus the diesel maintenance equipment emissions associated with that type of construction more heavy or less heavy than diesel powered maintenance equipment use with ballasted track over the same period of time?  It's a good question and I don't have the answer.

Additionally, and this is going to further complicate analysis of what's really a multiple input multiple output system, that answer's probably going to change over time especially over the period that's the time scale for LRT infrastructure lifecycle maintenance because everything's decarbonizing but at different rates.  Power equipment probably will shift away from being run on diesel in many cases over the next decade or so and the concrete industry is currently working on the clinker problem.  They know that as carbon gets priced, that hits their input costs which increases customer pricing and at some point there's going to be a risk of substitution happening where it's possible if customer pricing becomes uncompetitive and that means lost sales which they do not want.  So it isn't just an issue of which is least carbon intensive at build time today and at maintenance time today, but depending on who gets their carbon footprint down more or less and is it sooner or later could make that answer flip around at different points in time going forward.

All of which goes back to the point I raised in the original post - where does the carbon breakeven point lie?

Having read through the chunks of the 2021 federal budget that were of interest to me, carbon emission is being taken very seriously at the federal government level, at least for now, to the point that it almost bumps price in place as being an overriding consideration in places.  Given that degree of importance being placed on it, is it worth coming in a bit behind on maintenance cost and inconvenience and changing construction method to come out ahead on carbon output from an environmental perspective when we design transit projects?  Maybe.  I don't know.  From a financial perspective in terms of being able to secure federal funding for it?  Maybe.  I don't know.  At least that one would probably be easier to answer since you'd be able to compare any given project example against any given funding program's eligibility requirements.