here’s a highly charitable and conspiratorial take on the whole shed thing:

Someone at metrolinx really wants to push the organization into EMU/BEMU adoption and is leveraging the shed to do so.

The admission that they are considering EMUs for lakeshore now is really interesting.
If this came directly from a keynote speaker who as i read is a VP of electric infrastructure at MX. This could be a "theyre not going the direction i want". that being EMUS as originally proposed in the 2018 business case.
 
EMUs aren’t double height cabs and can be a bit shorter? Just guessing.

Until right now the plan was for electric Locos hauling the existing car fleet as far as I know. A shift to EMUs means shorter trains.
Which would also exclusively mean single-level EMUS
This sounds more like someones grudge than anything, like if this is real. Just cancel everything and start over.
 
So this post is confusing, because as far as im aware this train shed electrification issue was solved almost 5 years ago now
This was part of the heritage impact from the platform 20/21 changes. So it's not like they cant touch the heritage stuff

Did they discover this just doesnt work?
That would be something weird that popped up so late.

Even weirder is how this is litterally in the EPR TPAP from 2017
Page 67-75

The one problem with metrolinx is they dont publicize any information, people only find out with community notices. Which causes people who say random stuff to be taken as truth like the Eglinton station water leaks for the crosstown.

It's always interesting to read topics resurface after many years. I recalled posting this in 2017.

 
RM is someone who is in the know.

AoD
I do not find exceptionally credible the thought that Metrolinx, rather than releasing information to the public at large, would release it to one transit influencer, who would then be free to disseminate it as necessary rather than being held to a strict non disclosure agreement.

If he has been told that information from someone in the organization, it will be from someone who did not have the clearance to go public with that information, and more likely may be inaccurate or hearsay. I cannot imagine that someone high up who would have the complete picture would jeopardize their career by leaking information to... well, not even the press.
 
I do not find exceptionally credible the thought that Metrolinx, rather than releasing information to the public at large, would release it to one transit influencer, who would then be free to disseminate it as necessary rather than being held to a strict non disclosure agreement.
Who here said that Metrolinx released information exclusively to RM Transit? This was announced at the TRACCS Rail Industry conference. RM wasn't even the first person to talk about this, he piggybacked off another persons post.
 
Who here said that Metrolinx released information exclusively to RM Transit? This was announced at the TRACCS Rail Industry conference. RM wasn't even the first person to talk about this, he piggybacked off another persons post.
I haven't done a deep dive on the topic to see who said what, I'm just going by what was posted here, and what was posted on here was a blogpost by RM, and subsequent posts attributing the allegation to him.
 
I haven't done a deep dive on the topic to see who said what, I'm just going by what was posted here, and what was posted on here was a blogpost by RM, and subsequent posts attributing the allegation to him.
You don’t need to deep dive to understand the context of this discussion, nobody here mentioned Metrolinx giving exclusive information to RM transit
 
9 different standards and a mix of odd one-off signs, each prioritising information differently, using different icons and fonts, displaying accessible information in various ways, and inconsistently excluding French.

This is such a failure to me.

No wonder why this station is so hard to navigate:

You_Doodle+_2025-05-21T07_26_02Z.jpeg
 

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9 different standards and a mix of odd one-off signs, each prioritising information differently, using different icons and fonts, displaying accessible information in various ways, and inconsistently excluding French.

This is such a failure to me.

No wonder why this station is so hard to navigate:

View attachment 652940

The best part is - all of them are bad.

AoD
 
I'll be annoying about my China trip and chime in on this.

Something that I don't think people realize about China's subway growth is that everything is uniform in every city, so if you take one subway in one city you know how to take the subway in every city. Same stations, same wayfinding, same general design and setup. It makes using the subway and trains in general much easier than it otherwise would be. Beijing and Shanghai have older systems and so they're a bit unique, but newer systems are all identical, right down to the platform gates and seats they have on the cars.

We can't do that here for a number of reasons, but especially at a place like Union it would make sense to have uniform wayfinding. Even as someone who has lived here for a number of years I find that I occasionally get lost in Union - I know how to get directly to VIA, or directly to GO, but ask me to go from VIA to GO and I might get lost. It hasn't helped that it's perpetually under renovation, but a clear set of wayfinding signs and in-station mapping would go a long way. If locals get lost I can't imagine how frustrating it is for tourists or people visiting.

Spoilered below are some things I saw that I think we could utilize to some degree.

At larger railway stations, intercity stations, they will heavily utilize floor wayfinding. Here is Beijing West Station, which emphasizes cardinal directions on the floor as the station has a large North Square and South Square for boarding intercity trains.
IMG_7625.jpeg
IMG_7626.jpeg


Arrive at Shanghai Songjiang Station and....these look familiar.
1747834410003.png


Seemingly every station in the country uses numbered/lettered exits which makes it incredibly easy to wayfind which way you're going.
IMG_8028.jpeg


These are aided by helpful maps at station concourse level orienting you on what is where.
IMG_7808.jpeg


IMG_8067.jpeg

All wayfinding and announcements throughout the country are bilingual Chinese and English. They don't need to be in English, especially in smaller cities where literally nobody speaks it, but it was helpful for me specifically.

Gaode (AMap) has built-in station exit mapping for subways and intercity stations, so when a transfer station has twelve possible exits you can figure it out, and it will indicate which station exit is best for your journey. Japan had this in Google Maps which was especially helpful for finding accessible entrances with elevators if you have more than one item of luggage on you, as Japan does not have many escalators in their stations. Japanese wayfinding is also good but their stations are the opposite of standardized, and so every station feels like an adventure figuring out what is where. Not nearly as intuitive as the newer Chinese stations.
IMG_7904.jpg


IMG_7885.jpeg


Every subway station I visited in five different cities had washrooms, usually on the concourse level. This station had a novelty: platform-level washrooms.
IMG_8214.jpeg
 

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I'll be annoying about my China trip and chime in on this.

Something that I don't think people realize about China's subway growth is that everything is uniform in every city, so if you take one subway in one city you know how to take the subway in every city. Same stations, same wayfinding, same general design and setup. It makes using the subway and trains in general much easier than it otherwise would be. Beijing and Shanghai have older systems and so they're a bit unique, but newer systems are all identical, right down to the platform gates and seats they have on the cars.

We can't do that here for a number of reasons, but especially at a place like Union it would make sense to have uniform wayfinding. Even as someone who has lived here for a number of years I find that I occasionally get lost in Union - I know how to get directly to VIA, or directly to GO, but ask me to go from VIA to GO and I might get lost. It hasn't helped that it's perpetually under renovation, but a clear set of wayfinding signs and in-station mapping would go a long way. If locals get lost I can't imagine how frustrating it is for tourists or people visiting.

Spoilered below are some things I saw that I think we could utilize to some degree.

At larger railway stations, intercity stations, they will heavily utilize floor wayfinding. Here is Beijing West Station, which emphasizes cardinal directions on the floor as the station has a large North Square and South Square for boarding intercity trains.
View attachment 652950View attachment 652951

Arrive at Shanghai Songjiang Station and....these look familiar.
View attachment 652953

Seemingly every station in the country uses numbered/lettered exits which makes it incredibly easy to wayfind which way you're going.
View attachment 652954

These are aided by helpful maps at station concourse level orienting you on what is where.
View attachment 652955

View attachment 652959
All wayfinding and announcements throughout the country are bilingual Chinese and English. They don't need to be in English, especially in smaller cities where literally nobody speaks it, but it was helpful for me specifically.

Gaode (AMap) has built-in station exit mapping for subways and intercity stations, so when a transfer station has twelve possible exits you can figure it out, and it will indicate which station exit is best for your journey. Japan had this in Google Maps which was especially helpful for finding accessible entrances with elevators if you have more than one item of luggage on you, as Japan does not have many escalators in their stations. Japanese wayfinding is also good but their stations are the opposite of standardized, and so every station feels like an adventure figuring out what is where. Not nearly as intuitive as the newer Chinese stations.
View attachment 652956

View attachment 652957

Every subway station I visited in five different cities had washrooms, usually on the concourse level. This station had a novelty: platform-level washrooms.
View attachment 652958

They probably have some sort of national standard. We can't even get systems in the same city to adopt a uniform signage standard.(heck, some can't even adopt a uniform signage standard intra-system).

AoD
 
Yeesh the water damage in the Great Hall is awful:

View attachment 653511

And they reclad the roof above the Great Hall during the last round of renovation (though if I recall correctly, all they did was laying blueskin over the existing copper roof and then putting new copper on top). Like how?

AoD
 

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