12-12-2016, 05:22 AM
(12-11-2016, 09:58 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: Having looked through the Kitchener and Regional capital budgets for 2017-2026 I find it odd that no additional underpass/overpasses will be constructed across the GEXR line (Strange/Park/Duke/St Ledger/Lancaster). I would have thought that at least one would be on the books for the 10 year window or maybe even two (one every 5 years).
Worse yet it looks Lancaster is to be completely rebuilt Union to Victoria in 2020 meaning if it is not fixed now it would not likely be replaced for 30 years.
I think that is short sighted. With the positioning of the GO layover facility being east of the multi-mode hub and Kitchener being the end of the line it means every train has to cross Duke/St Ledger/Lancaster twice each trip. At the moment that isn't bad with 4 round trip GO, 2(?) VIA, and 2(?) freight trains, but if you start adding hourly GO service or better the number increases rapidly and severely interrupts the flow of pedestrian, cyclist, transit, and vehicles using these roads and increases the number of potential opportunities for crashes (cross-products). Lancaster is already pushing the suggested threshold for a grade separation with the current levels of rail and vehicle traffic; all day service with put it well over the threshold. Also, I think the trains could run faster if there weren't so many level crossings as well making the trip times to Toronto a little shorter. If HSR ever comes to fruition these changes will need to be made regardless so why not get ahead of the game (other than if HSR is a go then the province and feds might pay for the new bridges).
I also did not see any items in the capital budget (or leisure facilities master plan) for leisure facilities downtown. More and more people are living downtown, but there are no proper indoor tracks, swimming pools, community kitchen, maker space, gymnasiums, etc. for these new residents to use (unless their condo comes with it, but that doesn't build community) and residents will need to leave the core to access them. Currently all the proposed investments are in new or refurbishing facilities in the suburbs; this needs to be rebalanced to keep downtown attractive.
While I see your point about Lancaster, I think it’s far from clear that a separation at Duke is required. People can (will be able to) use King or Weber. Also, I don’t see why HSR would require grade separations in these locations. They are close to the station and the trains can simply run at non-“H” speeds through there. This is why regular HSR is usually better than maglev and other exotic technologies (and incidentally the same major reason why LRT is more popular than monorail). Additionally, with two-way GO service, you are back to one train movement per scheduled train because the train can simply reverse at the station to begin its return journey — no need to visit the depot except at the end of the day.
The real problem at Lancaster is the long crossing occupancies by switching activities. Trains just going through like the GO trains are much less of an issue.