01-17-2016, 06:54 PM
(01-17-2016, 12:58 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: Instead they should just shut up and build LRT lines all over the place.
It's funny to me that in recent years, LRT has just become this magic "this will solve all of our problems" pill. Light Rail has a very specific niche. It does not work in every single application. There are a multitude of other transit technologies which can (and do) work better, depending on the application. You can't just blindly say that LRT should go everywhere. Subway/Heavy Metro, Light Automated Metro, Automated Guideway Transit/Peoplemovers/Monorails all have their place in the selection matrix, too, and should be carefully debated.
(01-17-2016, 02:12 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: My understanding is that the Mark 3 trains would not fit through the tunnel between Ellesmere and Midland.
...if they buy off-the-shelf MK III vehicles, and don't enlarge the tunnel.
So, you can either:
-Enlarge the tunnel for $100 million. Whoop-de-do.
-Get Bombardier to make shorter trains. Spend a bit on some engineering and boom, it's done. Every train is built from scratch. Nothing is truly "off the shelf". Toronto already bought custom streetcars. Every Streetcar and Subway vehicle they buy is custom because of their stupid non-standard track gauge!
Quote:Also, the hope is/was to extend the line to Malvern, and to run an integrated network with LRT lines on Sheppard, Eglinton, and Morningside/Kingston. As such, continuing to maintain one relatively short line as ICTS doesn’t really make sense.
Yes, I get that. But extending the existing technology using an elevated guideway would have meant no lanes of traffic are disrupted and would have been much safer than at-grade Light Rail. Not to mention the service speed would be much quicker, operating overhead instead of in traffic.
Quote:That being said, the subway plan for Scarborough is utterly idiotic. For the same money, all the LRT lines ever seriously proposed for Scarborough could be built, giving high-quality transit service to a large number of neighbourhoods and important destinations with Scarborough, including many which won’t be helped at all by the subway plan.
Absolutely - and this is what infuriates me the most. This is 100% a case of people wanting equality ("We deserve a subway!") and the TTC being stupid with their free car that Mom and Dad bought ("I'm not going to change the oil in it anymore, watch the engine seize up and say 'oh look, it doesn't work anymore, now I need a new car mom and dad'").
The best part of all of Toronto's stupidity around this is that it's actually forced them to extend the life of the rt - but oh look, didn't they say it couldn't be done? Right...