04-14-2023, 08:21 PM
(04-10-2023, 08:12 PM)dunkalunk Wrote:(04-10-2023, 02:07 PM)cherrypark Wrote: Is there a rail alignment that would enable them to still transport LRVs to the KW ION section and O&M facilities without connecting the two? To me, it seems like so much of the cost is bridging (literally and figuratively) the space between KW and Cambridge with the Preston/Eagle St. mess in the middle making it worse.
Though one would want to eventually connect them, is there an alternate reality where Hespeler - Cambridge North - Galt is its own leg of LRT with a BRT in the middle? I imagine the crossing at the Grand plus all the elevated sections between Fairview and Pinebush are much of this cost escalation, while I don't really understand if the passengers going from Cambridge to Kitchener are really that large in number vs. their respective intracity stops. Just seems like a huge amount of cost, if it were that much, vs. the relative utility of building another 1-2 alignments in K-W and making something more flexible to link Cambridge.
In the original route evaluation, I remember that BRT performed better between Fairway and Pinebush than LRT did because of the existing highways that are there.
Given the distances, lack of development potential on Floodplains and in Hidden Valley, and the current maximum speed of our LRVs, the connection between Kitchener and Cambridge really ought to be something more like an inter-urban EMU mainline rail service more than an extension of the existing ION line, or a full BRT line. I can't imagine the existing alignment will be any faster than the combination of Highway 8 and 401 to get to Pinebush station.
I also have trouble seeing the development potential along Hespeler Road without removing the transport trucks from it first. I imagine we will be seeing both the GO rail service between Guelph and Cambridge as well as the East/South Cambridge bypass road built before we see any movement on the current ION alignment.
If an EMU is brought into the mix, would that open the possibility of running parallel tracks along the CP spur which could make use of the existing Freeport rail bridge and the existing Riverside rail bridge? And then if EMUs were in the mix, could we sneak in a service between Preston and Guelph running parallel to 124/24?