- Thread starter JasonParis
- Start date
nightstreak
Active Member
The Queen Street gantry crane tracks are huge and imposing. This west site is going to remain uncovered—no acoustic tent. It’s going to be a fun place to watch the big dig that will go on 24 hours a day for a year.
What’s kind of crazy is that it took over 2 years just to prepare the site to begin digging. I get the regulatory and cultural differences but in China, a whole line would have been built and functioning in about that time frame. See you all in2031… 2035(?)
What’s kind of crazy is that it took over 2 years just to prepare the site to begin digging. I get the regulatory and cultural differences but in China, a whole line would have been built and functioning in about that time frame. See you all in
cplchanb
Senior Member
yup even half the efficiency of china would mean cutting down years of work. right now we are operating at like 5% efficiency....
APTA-2048
Senior Member
So has nothing been really going on here since it was closed off?
urbancog
Active Member
You seem to be advocating that the contractor just digs a hole in the ground without first installing walls to prevent the surrounding buildings from falling into the hole. Perhaps you should leave this to the professionals?
kev1n1m
Active Member
And you seem to think that the walls that have been installed will prevent buildings from falling, when in fact it's a gantry crane that has nothing to do with the surrounding structures. Perhaps we're all a little too naive around here.
nightstreak
Active Member
Who said that?
Metrolinx closed down Queen Street over 2 years ago, notifying the community that it would be shut down for 4.5 years. They started pile driving — what prevents "buildings from falling into the hole"— only months ago. The Eaton Centre site sat practically inactive for much of that time. Now they're saying the excavation and station construction will take 3-4 years.
Over at Osgoode Hall, they hastily cut down 200 year old trees with "no time to plan" an alternative because they said they didn't want to delay the project, and then the site sat empty with zero activity for 2 years.
There's a clear inability to plan and execute a project on time and on budget, severe incompetence at Metrolinx. See the Eglinton Crosstown 14 years —FOURTEEN YEARS– into construction, 5 years behind schedule still with no planned opening date.
So yes, I'd like to leave it to the professionals, not the clown show currently building Ontario transit.
cplchanb
Senior Member
ML is just a festering diseased pit of bureaucracy. Things just don't get done efficiently there and the turnover is extremely high. My business partner has engineering friends there who started working for ML on the ECT and ended up on the other side of the table midway through the project
TOtramz
Active Member
Despite all this, I am still optimistic that the OL will be delivered around "on-time".
1) Digging has been progressing very well on most of the downtown OL stations
2) TBM is being assembled and will likely launch soon
3) Lots of progress on the shared corridor in the east end
4) Although it may not look like much yet, I think the elevated portion will come together very nicely once the hardest part is completed (which I believe are the the pillars)
Feel free to correct me on anything I said, as I am no expert
1) Digging has been progressing very well on most of the downtown OL stations
2) TBM is being assembled and will likely launch soon
3) Lots of progress on the shared corridor in the east end
4) Although it may not look like much yet, I think the elevated portion will come together very nicely once the hardest part is completed (which I believe are the the pillars)
Feel free to correct me on anything I said, as I am no expert
APTA-2048
Senior Member
Aren’t they a year behind schedule on this? There was an article posted recently that said the third track was supposed to be in service by August 2024. And of course the Province and Metrolinx has no update on when it will be done.
nightstreak
Active Member
Not 2 year's worth of work. They did some localized utilities work that could've been done by closing a lane of traffic for a few weeks here, a few weeks there. Nothing in the centre lanes until some time around 1 year into it when they started doing some pile driving with weeks to months of inactivity in between.
In fact, serious work only started occurring after the York Street bypass was up and running. They could've kept the Queen 501 streetcar running until the bypass was ready, all the while doing the utilities work in the curb lanes.
This was a year after Queen Street was closed:
Utilities work had been performed on the sidewalk and curb lanes up until that point. Shutting down Queen St. in May 2023 turned out to be unnecessary. Could have easily remained open another year, maybe longer.
They're behind by 1-2 years on Osgoode and Queen stations according to the Metrolinx engineer at the open house for these stations. Metrolinx's Community (PR) rep was less forthcoming when I asked them directly but the engineer said point blank that it would take 3-4 years to excavate and build these stations from that moment (April 2025), and it had been estimated to take 4.5 to 5 years from May 2023
It's possible that they might catch up (hahahahahahahahaha) but as of now, they're behind schedule. Perhaps they built in enough buffer time (hahahhahahaa) to offset any delays to allow station finishes to occur while track work and testing proceeds. If I have to give them the benefit of the doubt, it's only because legislation passed recently allows Metrolinx to dig 24 hours a day which is going to be the case for these two stations.
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PL1
Senior Member
Back to the West Don Crossing Bridge site. I didn't have time for more shots as I had to pick up something by 5. Anyways, here are a couple looking east from the path. It appears they have the *crane base* installed, and a second pier starting.
Zoom on pier with what I think is a crane base
Rebar for second pier at left
Looking west. They've made a ramp and flattened an area partway up. The top is covered in shiny tarps
Zoom on pier with what I think is a crane base
Rebar for second pier at left
Looking west. They've made a ramp and flattened an area partway up. The top is covered in shiny tarps
TOtramz
Active Member
I believe that all the downtown stations have been constructed in a way that the TBMs can pass through the construction sites (both partially/fully excavated and unexcavated.Not 2 year's worth of work. They did some localized utilities work that could've been done by closing a lane of traffic for a few weeks here, a few weeks there. Nothing in the centre lanes until some time around 1 year into it when they started doing some pile driving with weeks to months of inactivity in between.
In fact, serious work only started occurring after the York Street bypass was up and running. They could've kept the Queen 501 streetcar running until the bypass was ready, all the while doing the utilities work in the curb lanes.
This was a year after Queen Street was closed:
Utilities work had been performed on the sidewalk and curb lanes up until that point. Shutting down Queen St. in May 2023 turned out to be unnecessary. Could have easily remained open another year, maybe longer.
They're behind by 1-2 years on Osgoode and Queen stations according to the Metrolinx engineer at the open house for these stations. Metrolinx's Community (PR) rep was less forthcoming when I asked them directly but the engineer said point blank that it would take 3-4 years to excavate and build these stations from that moment (April 2025), and it had been estimated to take 4.5 to 5 years from May 2023
It's possible that they might catch up (hahahahahahahahaha) but as of now, they're behind schedule. Perhaps they built in enough buffer time (hahahhahahaa) to offset any delays to allow station finishes to occur while track work and testing proceeds. If I have to give them the benefit of the doubt, it's only because legislation passed recently allows Metrolinx to dig 24 hours a day which is going to be the case for these two stations.
Thus this might become an Eglinton station situation where Queen and Osgoode are the 2 most important station but last to finish.
officedweller
Senior Member
smallspy
Senior Member
Maybe yes, maybe no.
How much longer would work that they did at that time take if they had more limited road and site access?
I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know that they have to factor it in to the schedule.
Dan