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VIA Rail
And Ottawa does have/is supposed to be getting level boarding this year. It's definitely something on VIA's radar.
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(05-24-2018, 09:25 PM)BrianT Wrote:
(05-24-2018, 06:29 PM)jamincan Wrote: And Ottawa does have/is supposed to be getting level boarding this year. It's definitely something on VIA's radar.

I'm sure they'll do it here too. It's just not much point doing it before the new station is built.

Judging by the King St grade separation we'll only have two platforms, and GO bi-level cars can't be boarded from the 4 foot high platforms necessary for level boarding on Via.

I suppose we could get one of each height, but more likely we'll just get two GO height with a lesser step up for Via.  (Note:  Speculation on my part, I haven't been on top of the new King St bridge nor read any project documents in detail.)
...K
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(05-25-2018, 03:30 PM)KevinT Wrote:
(05-24-2018, 09:25 PM)BrianT Wrote: I'm sure they'll do it here too. It's just not much point doing it before the new station is built.

Judging by the King St grade separation we'll only have two platforms, and GO bi-level cars can't be boarded from the 4 foot high platforms necessary for level boarding on Via.

I suppose we could get one of each height, but more likely we'll just get two GO height with a lesser step up for Via.  (Note:  Speculation on my part, I haven't been on top of the new King St bridge nor read any project documents in detail.)

Another possibility is a GO-height platform with ramps up to short higher sections at the door locations for Via. This requires careful control from the driver to stop at the right place but with proper design shouldn’t require the same precision as needed for platform-edge doors so should be possible.
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(05-25-2018, 05:40 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Another possibility is a GO-height platform with ramps up to short higher sections at the door locations for Via. This requires careful control from the driver to stop at the right place but with proper design shouldn’t require the same precision as needed for platform-edge doors so should be possible.

I just realized a reason this might not work. If Via and GO coaches are different lengths, and if the specific different lengths happen to work out just wrong, then there might be no way to arrange the platform to put the high and low sections where they would need to be.
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Moveable ramps? Such technology surely exists somewhere.
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(05-26-2018, 02:14 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Moveable ramps? Such technology surely exists somewhere.

Good point, I was just imagining what a fixed platform might look like with different heights at different places.

But you can imagine a structure not entirely unlike the portable steps (or more recently sometimes ramps) used to board aircraft, or you could have moveable sections similar to ferry docks that move up and down, or maybe even something else. The height difference between GO and Via is not that much; I believe GO height is 635mm (not their usual platforms, but the accessibility height), while Via is apparently 1219mm. This is a difference of only 584mm, so the adaptation between them is not very much.

Sources:

GO - https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/gr...ins.21140/
Via - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_platform_height
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Imagine no more. Visit the Bloor station in Toronto, serviced by high-floor UP Express trains, and low-floor GO trains. Magic!
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Also, I’m guessing you didn’t realize that the doors on the VIA coaches (both LRC and HEP) can work for both high platforms and low platforms. HEP (and many other older passenger coaches) have built-in steps, with a plate covering them. If it’s a low platform, they lift that platform up and it swings out of the way, exposing the steps. If it’s a high platform, they leave the plate down.

The LRC’s have a similar setup, where the platform and steps are an integrated assembly which rotates down; it’s quite elegant.

https://youtu.be/dUz2V5DxuJU

(2:00 mark)

It’s not rocket science and the solution is already in place. Big Grin
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Right -- a 60cm ramp is not so tall. Either up-down, or moving along the platform, on a rail or something similar.
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Ours won't be the only combined GO/VIA station, don't forget Bramption, Oakville, Aldershot, Oshawa, etc. I'm sure when VIA picks a standard, GO will be watching closely.
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(05-26-2018, 04:37 PM)Canard Wrote: Also, I’m guessing you didn’t realize that the doors on the VIA coaches (both LRC and HEP) can work for both high platforms and low platforms. HEP (and many other older passenger coaches) have built-in steps, with a plate covering them. If it’s a low platform, they lift that platform up and it swings out of the way, exposing the steps. If it’s a high platform, they leave the plate down.

The LRC’s have a similar setup, where the platform and steps are an integrated assembly which rotates down; it’s quite elegant.

https://youtu.be/dUz2V5DxuJU

(2:00 mark)

It’s not rocket science and the solution is already in place. Big Grin

Yes, I’m familiar with the way the Via stairs work. However, the real goal is level boarding for all trains, which the Via stairs don’t help with. Really Via trains are high-platform vehicles, with a workaround for obsolete stations that don’t have proper modern platforms. Except that since we have lots of GO trains it’s not that simple, because they need somewhat lower platforms.

Although it is true that loading Via from a GO-accessibility height platform would be much easier than loading from a regular low platform.
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(05-26-2018, 04:34 PM)Canard Wrote: Imagine no more. Visit the Bloor station in Toronto, serviced by high-floor UP Express trains, and low-floor GO trains. Magic!

Do I recall correctly that it’s a long platform with one part high and one part low?

That certainly is a solution which can work nicely. My own thought was that the parts of the platform where the ends of the cars would stop would be high, while the parts where the middles of the cars would stop would be GO-accessibility height. Requires careful spotting of the train obviously, and depending on the lengths of the cars and trains and the exact precision of the spotting may or may not work geometrically.
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(05-26-2018, 07:11 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Yes, I’m familiar with the way the Via stairs work. However, the real goal is level boarding for all trains, which the Via stairs don’t help with.

But we just spent like 3 pages talking about all these magical options that people were inventing to try and deal with it. I'm saying: The solution already exists. It's existed for decades and it's what they do today.
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(05-26-2018, 07:26 PM)Canard Wrote:
(05-26-2018, 07:11 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Yes, I’m familiar with the way the Via stairs work. However, the real goal is level boarding for all trains, which the Via stairs don’t help with.

But we just spent like 3 pages talking about all these magical options that people were inventing to try and deal with it.  I'm saying:  The solution already exists.  It's existed for decades and it's what they do today.

It's a solution for boarding a high-floor train from a low-floor platform. It's not a solution for what we were talking about: boarding without stairs.
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Bloor and Weston stations are essentially two separate platforms laid end to end with the high floor UPX at the south end and the low floor GO at the north with a ramp going from one to the other. Mount Dennis (at Eglinton) will likely be the same when constructed.
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