Streetcar News

[Streety McCarface]

2 hours ago, drum118 said:

Can't see 501 streetcars returning to Humber Loop or Long Branch until at least April or May at this time.

No idea what was to be done at Long Branch loop, but other than rebuilding the waiting area and new roof shingles, saw nothing at all. 4 buses parked waiting to go into service with one departing when I left.

All the overhead is 100% rebuilt up to Park Lawn.

Bike lanes with bump out transit stops has been built on the south side east of McD and not sure where it has stop that will see more work in the spring going east. High curb with large gaps between them have been built to keep traffic off the bikes lanes, but cars can get in these gaps areas easy.

Most of the Lake Shore is complete for the new tracks east of Park Lawn as well allowing traffic to go west of the underpass, but concrete is not pour for the rails west of the underpass for a block and no rails in the underpass.

All of the Queensway ROW is 100% done, with bracket support added to the support poles east of Windermere, but missing overhead as well power line. Poles and brackets are missing west of Windermere Ave to Humber Loop. Construction barriers on the Humber Bridge were being remove with only the eastbound ones to be remove. The last westbound barrier was being removed when I drove by.

The new substation is in place and being wired.

The power line tower in the loop area going east has been removed.

Looks like there is going to be a loop to loop where the old eastbound was or another bypass track going east, but not finish. They were working on the track going into the underpass, with a lot of missing tracks for the whole loop.

This video will show what has been done so far as of Jan 15

At around 0:28...Geeze, those wires are really close to the overpass. Are they going to build a barrier to prevent someone from throwing rocks at them or something?

[Doppelkupplung]

1 hour ago, Streety McCarface said:

At around 0:28...Geeze, those wires are really close to the overpass. Are they going to build a barrier to prevent someone from throwing rocks at them or something?

The underpasses that the TGV passes through have these mesh guards that extend out to prevent any debris from the street flying over, or also to protect the trains and wires from any idiots with too much time. I'd suppose the TTC would apply something along those lines, especially considering how close traffic passes to the edge of the bridge, despite the presence of a sidewalk. Although, there's only so much damage that can be done to a overhead wire with a stone, and even that requires some damn good aim. 

[drum118]

1 hour ago, Streety McCarface said:

At around 0:28...Geeze, those wires are really close to the overpass. Are they going to build a barrier to prevent someone from throwing rocks at them or something?

How long has TTC being running streetcars under that underpass as well having to deal with issues from the overpass?? There is your answer to your question.

As for TVG & overhead, Metrolinx is doing the same thing today for a number of locations, with more to come in time. You will find the mesh along NEC as well at a number of locations for both trains and subways in the US.

[Doppelkupplung]

13 minutes ago, drum118 said:

As for TVG & overhead, Metrolinx is doing the same thing today for a number of locations, with more to come in time. You will find the mesh along NEC as well at a number of locations for both trains and subways in the US.

Especially popular with agencies that make use of overhead catenaries is what I should have said. 

[nfitz]

14 hours ago, Ed T. said:

-7º and 17 ALRVs are out plying Queen Street.

It's not clear if it's now warm enough for them to run, or whether they were simply not sent out on the weekend. I would expect crazy crowding if CLRVs were sent out on ALRV headways. Haven't gone for a ride on a weekend to find out.

I looked just a bit earlier, and I saw 19 ALRVs on 501 - and unusually one on 505 - which I've seen a couple of times now in the last few weeks.

 

So that was 20 in service. I don't think I've seen that many in service for months. Not sure what that means ...

 

4462 was offloaded and arrived at Leslie Barns Thursday. 

And is currently tracking. Presumably parked at Leslie (but tracking in Lake Ontario).

 

If they missing part(s) for 4462 arrived, then presumably it is the same part issue for 4463, that was also originally expected to be shipped before New Years. And presumably it's not far behind.

 

[smallspy]

14 hours ago, Streety McCarface said:

At around 0:28...Geeze, those wires are really close to the overpass. Are they going to build a barrier to prevent someone from throwing rocks at them or something?

It's never been an issue in the previous 60+ years of the loop and overpass. Why would it be one now?

 

Dan

[Streety McCarface]

1 hour ago, smallspy said:

It's never been an issue in the previous 60+ years of the loop and overpass. Why would it be one now?

 

Dan

I thought there were transport Canada regulations regarding electrical lines running under overpasses, especially those accessible to pedestrians. 

[drum118]

53 minutes ago, Streety McCarface said:

I thought there were transport Canada regulations regarding electrical lines running under overpasses, especially those accessible to pedestrians. 

There is no sidewalk there, but there is a Bike lane and 2 lanes of traffic. 

Where I shot the video of the ROW, no room for pedestrians and only shot there once traffic was clear and there was a red light to the west stopping traffic. That is why I did a short shot before I head across the road as the light just turn green. The rest I shot was from the close bike lane.

[smallspy]

1 hour ago, Streety McCarface said:

I thought there were transport Canada regulations regarding electrical lines running under overpasses, especially those accessible to pedestrians. 

And what has your research found on the subject?

 

Dan

[WoodbineSecondExit]

On 1/14/2018 at 1:49 PM, TTCOpITM said:

Also, the 501 schedules are set for Humber Loop next board.

They should be setting the scheduled headways for CLRV operation since they seem to cover the lions share of service hours.

[dowlingm]

If 505 is buses for a bit, but still using the normal platforms at Dundas West and Broadview, does that speed up streetcar ops a touch given that the entry and exit switches shouldn’t need to be operated? (Also the manual switch at Broadview-Dundas won’t require the operator to jump out depending on which car went through last)

[TTCOpITM]

43 minutes ago, dowlingm said:

If 505 is buses for a bit, but still using the normal platforms at Dundas West and Broadview, does that speed up streetcar ops a touch given that the entry and exit switches shouldn’t need to be operated? (Also the manual switch at Broadview-Dundas won’t require the operator to jump out depending on which car went through last)

Slightly, it could be the difference between missing and catching a light. It won't be that noticeable of a difference though. We must still stop momentarily at each facing switch in accordance with procedure.

[drum118]

4460 enter service on 510 today

[Allandale25]

^ What do you mean by "publish the procurement"?

[Doppelkupplung]

Let's focus on getting the rest of the 204 here first....

[Bus_Medic]

Especially since contractual deadlines have degenerated into mere suggestions. 

Two can play that game.

[Transit geek]

2 hours ago, 110B West Pickering said:

Wasn’t it that the TTC has to come to a decision on who they award the 60 additional cars to? 

I would love to see Bombardier win the tender again so that the TTC can reduce costs by maintaining a homogenous fleet. But I want manufacturing of the shells to be done in Europe (where BBD has a much better track record) and maybe carry out final assembly in Kingston instead of Thunder Bay. After all, BBD Mexico is largely responsible for this fiasco of delays.

[Doppelkupplung]

31 minutes ago, Transit geek said:

I would love to see Bombardier win the tender again so that the TTC can reduce costs by maintaining a homogenous fleet.

Uhh...what? I'll be shocked if TTC doesn't ban BBD from bidding again, like the MTA did. And building shells and shipping them from Europe? That'll make things hella pricey. 

The TTC is suing BBD in case you forgot...I don't think they're about to let BBD build some more streetcars for them. I'd bet they'd be looking at CaF or Alstom...or just anyone who is not BBD. 

Also, in case you forgot about this too: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/05/11/metrolinx-to-buy-vehicles-from-bombardier-competitor.html

[dowlingm]

Main Station surface routes to be disrupted to refurb the nearby streetcar tracks and the bus/streetcar loop this summer. Hydro One also doing some work.

http://ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Projects/Station_Improvements/Main_St_Station/index.jsp

[nfitz]

12 hours ago, 110B West Pickering said:

Wasn’t it that the TTC has to come to a decision on who they award the 60 additional cars to? 

Yes, originally. Given they've got Bombardier on the hook for millions in penalties, which the TTC has voted to take in extra cars, there must have been some negotiations going on. So who knows. But it would have to be pretty soon I'd think, with the lead time that is necessary for Bombardiers subs, etc.

 

10 hours ago, MiWay0310 said:

Let's focus on getting the rest of the 204 here first....

Then it would delay production of the next 60, in the meantime, all those well-trained production line start vanishing, and you shut down one line permanently, which will double the production time.

 

No, you do as soon as you can, now that Bombardier has proven they can at least spit out about 60 a year.

 

9 hours ago, MiWay0310 said:

Uhh...what? I'll be shocked if TTC doesn't ban BBD from bidding again, like the MTA did. And building shells and shipping them from Europe? That'll make things hella pricey. 

The TTC is suing BBD in case you forgot...I don't think they're about to let BBD build some more streetcars for them. I'd bet they'd be looking at CaF or Alstom...or just anyone who is not BBD. 

Also, in case you forgot about this too: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/05/11/metrolinx-to-buy-vehicles-from-bombardier-competitor.html

TTC would be fools not to get the 60 from Bombardier. It would take years for anyone else, Alstom included, to design the new car, create a prototype, test it, start-up production. Good grief, the contracting alone took about 3 years last time. I'd be surprised if we'd be seeing them all before 2028).

 

And that's just timeframe. TTC will look like fools if Bombardier pulls off 2019, and they then spend double for 60 more cars from someone else, which won't arrive for years. Next time we do an order, we can worry about punishing people. The next subway train procurement is just starting. Maybe this time they don't sole-source it to Bombardier. (the streetcars remember were an open bid - most didn't bother bidding because they didn't think they could beat Bombardier - but TTC threw out ALL three bids as none were compliant (Bombardier decided to propose rebuilding the track network with softer curves, rather than design a low-floor car that could do the curves). Ironically Alstom could have had the whole thing, if they'd actually bid in the first place, with a compliant vehicle. On the second round, Bombardier was 2/3 the price of Siemens.

 

5 hours ago, dowlingm said:

Main Station surface routes to be disrupted to refurb the nearby streetcar tracks and the bus/streetcar loop this summer. Hydro One also doing some work.

http://ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Projects/Station_Improvements/Main_St_Station/index.jsp

Oh, I meant to go to that meeting. Gosh, and I was close by too. I was scratching my head how they could possibly move the taxi stand to Barrington, without making a new pedestrian entrance somewhere, or changing the the vehicle circulation massively.  Let's see:

 

506 shuttle bus, but to Victoria Park for 4 months. Sometimes I wonder if it might make sense to lay tracks that way - or perhaps on Danforth.  23 Dawes to Woodbine Station - LOL - with only 2 platforms, 4 routes, and the very frequent summer service on the 92, where there's often 2 buses in the station already - that's going to be an interesting summer. I wish I'd been there to ask that.

 

They are out of their minds. They want to move the taxi stand to Barrington - and the pedestrian pathway change is to simply make it wider, but along the south side, instead of the north?

 

That's almost 200 metres of walking if you come in on the wrong bus, or a streetcar. Surely people will just walk to Danforth and hail something, or call an Uber. The completely unpragmatic approach they take sometimes ...

 

And no mention of trying to fix the very dangerous northbound Danforth/Main stop? This is the chance. There needs to be an island (and there's plenty of space). They need to work on the existing island at Gerrard and Main as well, for the LFLRVs. But they are looking at adding a refuge island for jay walkers?

[smallspy]

3 hours ago, nfitz said:

They are out of their minds. They want to move the taxi stand to Barrington - and the pedestrian pathway change is to simply make it wider, but along the south side, instead of the north?

The moving of the taxi stand is quite silly without some sort of additional access to it (time for a second exit?), but the moving of the pathway has been requested by the neighbourhood for quite a few years. The current one is felt to be unsafe.

 

Dan

[nfitz]

1 hour ago, smallspy said:

The moving of the taxi stand is quite silly without some sort of additional access to it (time for a second exit?), but the moving of the pathway has been requested by the neighbourhood for quite a few years. The current one is felt to be unsafe.

The pathway moving, in itself, is fine. And probably good. I just assumed when I heard they were moving the stand to Barrington, that they'd figured out a way to put a crossing to it, to walk 20 metres instead of 200 metres.

 

Bonus, the pathway will now be accessible - so all those who need accessibility can now o the 200 metres to the taxi, instead of walking out the front door ...

[ttc rider]

Regarding the 60-car add-on order: is there even funding to proceed with it?

Last time I checked, that project was "below the line" i.e. unfunded. And considering how badly Bombardier has bungled this order, I doubt there is much political appetite at the moment to give them more business, although it is crystal clear that going with an alternate manufacturer is a much worse strategy in the long run.

[Ed T.]

26 minutes ago, ttc rider said:

Last time I checked, that project was "below the line" i.e. unfunded. And considering how badly Bombardier has bungled this order, I doubt there is much political appetite at the moment to give them more business, although it is crystal clear that going with an alternate manufacturer is a much worse strategy in the long run.

I would think "in the short run" would be much more accurate. In the long run, it may be that any competent outfit would produce streetcars at a much better pace than Bombardier. In the short run, though, we're stuck because no alternate producer can give us a customized streetcar to the TTC's specs...in the short run.

[nfitz]

1 hour ago, ttc rider said:

Regarding the 60-car add-on order: is there even funding to proceed with it?

No - other than TTC wanting to take Bombardier penalty payments as extra cars.