[Richard White]

As a follow-up to my earlier post about having grass between the rails and the lack of drainage etc etc. After the slight rainstorm we had this weekend, there were huge puddles in the empty troughs between the rails. I hope they have a plan for this....

When the concrete is in place it will run off onto the street and into the drains.

You only need to worry about snow.

 

[ViveleCanada]

Just a random thought here. What are the chances that Toronto Transportation will comply with instituting transit signalling on the Crosstown? The fact that they don’t care about the current streetcar routes says they won’t change. But can Metrolinx via MTO stickhandle Toronto Transportation into bending their moribund culture?

@reaperexpress does a fantastic job at explaining why the priority for our current streetcar system seems so shoddy. its more of the nature of stop spacing and the fact that our streetcar lines criss cross one another.

King Street already has Transit Signal Priority (TSP), as does every other streetcar route. The only exceptions are a handful of major intersections including Queen/Queensway, Spadina, University and Yonge.

Adding more streetcars will make the system even less effective, not more. The main issue is that passenger loading times are variable (making it virtually impossible for the system to accurately estimate when the light needs to be green), but a secondary issue is that there are so many streetcars that they start conflicting with each other. Green lights can't be extended forever, so a streetcar could be denied priority by another streetcar passing through in the other direction.

To manage the extremely-frequent service, the solution is conditional priority. Streetcars which are too close to the one in front would be denied priority, in order to space them out, and to increase the chance that other streetcars actually get priority. And with fewer priority activations, we might be able to get priority at those intersections currently lacking TSP.

Given the geographic/ service differences, it seems probable that the transport department will have the ability to be more aggressive on priority for Eglinton.

 

[Tunafish13]

When the concrete is in place it will run off onto the street and into the drains.

You only need to worry about snow.

How sure are we that it is going to be concrete fill? In other similar areas further east they have just filled it in as necessary, its these spaces where they have left these purposeful gaps which makes me think that there will be grass or astroturf infill

 

[cplchanb]

When the concrete is in place it will run off onto the street and into the drains.

You only need to worry about snow.

Do they have any snow melting cables or hydronic piping in the slab?

 

[smallspy]

How sure are we that it is going to be concrete fill? In other similar areas further east they have just filled it in as necessary, its these spaces where they have left these purposeful gaps which makes me think that there will be grass or astroturf infill

There will be solid fill of some sort. They wouldn't encapsulate the rails in rubber if they were to be left exposed.

Dan

 

[Richard White]

Do they have any snow melting cables or hydronic piping in the slab?

I highly doubt they would provided a snow plow can clear it.

 

[Kyle Campbell]

I highly doubt they would provided a snow plow can clear it.

Actually a snow storm will be a very interesting challenge in how they deal with it. Especially if partially greened, then you can't use a plow. If you don't run the trains through the night you'll end up with a situation like the Confederation Line where trains for stuck during testing last year. Given the independent right of way City road clearing might actually impede the crosstown. Outside of the tunneled section it might be a real mess

 

[Richard White]

Actually a snow storm will be a very interesting challenge in how they deal with it. Especially if partially greened, then you can't use a plow. If you don't run the trains through the night you'll end up with a situation like the Confederation Line where trains for stuck during testing last year. Given the independent right of way City road clearing might actually impede the crosstown. Outside of the tunneled section it might be a real mess

The problem with heated ROWs is that they are expensive to operate. Electricity is not cheap.

 

[sixrings]

The problem with heated ROWs is that they are expensive to operate. Electricity is not cheap.

We could remedy it by instead building it underground.

 

[Richard White]

We could remedy it by instead building it underground.

Of course! That would be infinitesimally cheaper!

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Snow has only problems at the track switches. Light rail vehicles and streetcars can go through 20cm of snow.

For streetcars, if it wasn't for the cars (especially the ones without snow tires), they could travel the streets vey easily. Their "cowcatchers" will plow the tracks if they run all night.

The real problem are the motor vehicles double-parking onto the streetcar tracks on the shared roads.

 

[Richard White]

Snow has only problems at the track switches. Streetcars can go through 20cm of snow, if it wasn't for the cars (especially the ones without snow tires). Their "cowcatchers" will plow the tracks if they run all night. The real problem are the motor vehicles double-parking onto the streetcar tracks.

Years ago my fathers friend was driving streetcars along Gerrard Street when people were parked on the road alongside snowbanks blocking tracks. After a lengthy wait and a caravan of streetcars forming TPS and TTC Inspectors suggested they proceed. The end result was a myriad of car mirrors taken off and sideswiped vehicles. The thinking at the time was that they knowingly parked where they did, TTC Service was severely impacted and there was not enough trucks available to tow the cars in a reasonable amount of time.

Not something that would be done now but it worked. He was driving the lead car and by proceeding through he not only cleared the snow from the tracks but pushed the cars safely out of the way.

 

[Kyle Campbell]

Snow has only problems at the track switches. Light rail vehicles and streetcars can go through 20cm of snow.

For streetcars, if it wasn't for the cars (especially the ones without snow tires), they could travel the streets vey easily. Their "cowcatchers" will plow the tracks if they run all night.

The real problem are the motor vehicles double-parking onto the streetcar tracks on the shared roads.

I'm thinking of intersections. I'm going to be optimistic and assume Line 5 gets proper signal priority, but it will definitely all fall apart in a decent snowfall as traffic starts blocking intersections

Did they plan anyplace to short turn trains at the end of the tunnel, so that surface delays don't severely affect the most heavily used sections in the tunnel?

 

[Ozman]

Yes they have a storage track just east of Laird Station and west of the Brentcliffe (Glassworks) portal which is the end of the tunneled section. So short turns are entirely possible. In fact the plan is to short turn every second train there all the time as the headways will be so much lower in the tunnel than for the at-grade section.

 

[robmausser]

We could remedy it by instead building it underground.

Yeah because the stations underground on the subway lines are so warm....not.

I freeze my butt off every night after work in Osgoode Station in the winter. This myth of underground stations being a solution to cold weather needs to stop.