Allandale25
Senior Member
Going to be fun to watch them tie in this new 4th track where it meets the Barrie Line in the south. Some interesting construction picture opportunities. cc @crs1026
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- Thread starter drum118
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Going to be fun to watch them tie in this new 4th track where it meets the Barrie Line in the south. Some interesting construction picture opportunities. cc @crs1026
crs1026
Superstar
LOL You got me off my butt today. These images show that the fourth track grading and sound walls are pretty much complete from Bloor station down to Dundas.... but progress stops dead there. Grading south/east of there is not really started and the machinery has been parked for quite some time now.
There is some very dodgy and ancient timber in the steep old retaining wall between the Weston and Newmarket Subs, I imagine it will be a fair bit of work to replace that. And no sign of any further grading or sound wall installation on the Newmarket Sub south/east of the flyover. The space where a second Barrie track will go remains a recreational area for dogs and ML flagmen. (The area while not an active work zone, still has to be patrolled, which might not be needed if work were completed.....there's a needless expense for you)
There is some utility work being done south/east of Queen, which is usually a precursor to getting the track bed laid, but all in all, with no mobilisation apparent here, any celebration of track laying progress by ML is mostly window dressing.
With a lack of bridges to shoot from, the drone operators will be needed to check out other parts of the corridor from Strachan to Bloor.
- Paul
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Allandale25
Senior Member
^ Who needs a personal trainer or a gym membership when UT needs its fix of transit and train pics? 
cplchanb
Senior Member
id take that with a heavy grain of salt. they laid down many sections of track on the stoufville line and then they abandoned them indefinitely. its still sitting there not fully connected.
WB62
Senior Member
I’ve been waiting for the day that sketchy wooden wall collapses, it looks so bad
Metroscapes
Active Member
Also refer to how long they piled ballast for the second track through Guelph, and installed track at Guelph Platform 2 without tamping.
Aplus23
Active Member
So i am assuming the concrete ties are better for various reasons, what are those reasons?
ProjectEnd
Superstar
Every single one except capital cost (and even that is debatable given the lifespan of a concrete tie vs wood).
Aplus23
Active Member
So durability
Longevity
Stuff like that...
Is it a quicker install? smoother ride? Quieter?
ProjectEnd
Superstar
Smoother, stabler (with regular trackbed maintenance, which we don't generally have), quieter, longer-lasting, able to hold higher speeds, etc.
But wood and creosote are cheaper and Canada has a lot of it (and our trains don't move fast enough to make this an issue), so here we are.
smallspy
Senior Member
Not quite.
Concrete ties have a longer theoretical lifespan, it's true. And they generally require less ongoing maintenance, as they are heavier and thus resist movement from the passing of trains much better.
But they are more expensive to purchase, as you point out. They are more expensive in terms of maintenance as well, as machinery is required for their installation or replacement - a 3-man crew can replace many wooden ties in a day with nothing more than hand tools.
And because concrete ties are much more rigid than wooden ties, they transmit more vibration to the ground and trains, which needs to be mitigated with special measures such as rubberized vibration mats. Another cost to endure.
Another issue, which is honestly a lot more rare but has proven to be a thing - concrete ties can fail if they are not made properly. MBTA and Amtrak have been replacing hundreds of thousands of concrete ties over the past 10 years because of this.
In high-use areas, yes concrete ties generally win out due to their reduced maintenance requirements. Cost reduction over their lifespan is a bit of a trickier thing to calculate, as there are many places where they are used on CN and CP solely to reduce the maintenance requirements, but are scheduled to be replaced in a similar manner to wooden ties.
Dan
CapitalSeven
Senior Member
Producing concrete ties also emits a lot of carbon dioxide. Remember when Canadians still cared about that?
crs1026
Superstar
True, but dead harvested trees don't cleanse carbon, lumbering is intrusive, and creosote is nasty stuff, especially if ties are burned at end of life.
The comparisons being made were on a different and more direct level, and more general environmental issues while valid are a different discussion that needs to be scoped appropriately.
- Paul
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cplchanb
Senior Member
so what happened on the stoufville line from this weekend's shutdown? any meaningful progress on the line?
PShells
New Member
I didn’t see any new track laid this morning. I’m unsure if it’s a cognitive bias where I’m looking for changes that didn’t actually occur, but ballast north of Milliken station is a different colour (light vs. dark grey). Perhaps there was some preparatory work done ahead of the November construction closure.
The advertisement Metrolinx released on Facebook and YouTube stated they were “fixing and repairing” track this weekend, but I don’t want to overweight the script of an advert from the communications team.
I believe the weekend was to perform maintenance on the newly activated western track between Kennedy and Agincourt. The track and ballast appears “dusty” suggesting there was work done to it before it’s brought into service. Also, there was two pieces of small equipment left on the “shoulder” of the rail corridor.
The railroad equipment that was formerly stored on the western track at Lawrence SRT station is no longer there. Update: The equipment is being stored on the unused eastern track north of Milliken station.
Other updates
Finch-Kennedy Grade Separation
Piling is about to begin.
LSE Corridor
It may be cognitive bias (again), but the t-wall construction to rebuild the berm seems to be progressing at a quicker pace than last year.
However, I don’t see how the third (or fourth) tracks will fit between USRC and LSE corridor until East Harbour is complete. If additional tracks aren’t operational until the Queen/Dundas/Logan bridges is there capacity to increase service on the LSE and Stouffville lines?
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