Millennium/Expo Line Service Link

[finalcoolman]

The spur just west of VCC Clark was built in case a need ever arose to physically connect the Expo Line with the Millennium Line. A single track line would be built through the rail yard, connecting with a future switch junction somewhere along Terminal Avenue. This connection would likely never be used for actual revenue service.




Photo credit: Air Digital JT

https://youtu.be/7Fq75cN5Emk

[madog222]

Interesting, thanks. I never knew it had any actual planned purpose other than what it’s currently used for.

[dharper]

That connection would work better than a 'bus bridge' if there was a 'police incident' along one of the two lines.

[finalcoolman]

Originally Posted by madog222

Interesting, thanks. I never knew it had any actual planned purpose other than what it’s currently used for.

It's a surprisingly and remarkably short connection, only 450 meters.

[jollyburger]

In 2002 for a geotechnical conference

A terminal station is planned at the Vancouver
Community College (VCC) just beyond the
western limit of the Grandview Cut. Tail tracks
will be constructed beyond VCC Station for
train turnaround, and vehicle and maintenance
equipment storage. Currently this section is "on
hold" and the Millennium Line will be
commissioned to Commercial Station.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5...m+Line+-+What+You+Dont+See+-+Eastman.pdf

[WarrenC12]

That link could add some interesting routing capabilities.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

That link could add some interesting routing capabilities.

That idea hit me straight away, too! Trouble is, I could not come up with any specific ideas. /// Have you any concrete, or explicit ideas of how this could be implemented? /// I feel there is future potential.

[cganuelas1995]

One vehicle ride between Downtown and the Tricities would be a great option. Take some foot traffic out of Commercial-Broadway to improve passenger flow during peak hours.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

That idea hit me straight away, too! Trouble is, I could not come up with any specific ideas. /// Have you any concrete, or explicit ideas of how this could be implemented? /// I feel there is future potential.

It strikes me as the sort of thing that might get occasional revenue use to deal with overflow crowds leaving a downtown event. But even then it just saves a 1-station ride and transfer, so it's dubious to me that the benefit would be worth the confusion on the part of people trying to get home.

[jollyburger]

^^ I mean even the bus bridge idea seems like more trouble than it's worth. The time it would take for trains to get transferred between lines would probably be a large hit to the overall capacity.

Just wait for the Hastings line to be built.. or build an Expo line stop at Clark and build a pedestrian crossing toe VCC-Clark

[finalcoolman]

I wonder how OMC4 changes the equation for this link. On the one hand, the Millennium Line now needs it LESS, because even if you fully severed the physical junction at Columbia, the Millennium Line can now operate fully independently with its own full service OMC4.

On the other hand for the Expo Line it needs it MORE for access to OMC4 if for example if a major maintenance/construction project or even an earthquake lets say severes the Expo Line at Royal Oak. Now the entire Western half of the Expo Line doesn't have any access to any OMC.

Of course the major reason this has not been completed and likely will not any time soon is the headache of single tracking the Expo Line at Terminal for a year to build the switch.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

But even then it just saves a 1-station ride and transfer, so it's dubious to me that the benefit would be worth the confusion on the part of people trying to get home.

Dubious benefit definitely, while also resulting in a very significant reduction in train frequency along the busiest portion of the Expo Line.

[dpogue]

As far as I'm aware, there has never been a plan to connect the maintenance spur to the Expo Line along Terminal Avenue. In particular, that section of the Expo Line is part of the original 1982 demo line, and would need a major rebuild to support adding any switches.

That maintenance spur is also needed for maintenance vehicles, otherwise they'd have to travel all the way from Edmonds or Coquitlam to reach the western end of the Millennium Line.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by dpogue

As far as I'm aware, there has never been a plan to connect the maintenance spur to the Expo Line along Terminal Avenue. In particular, that section of the Expo Line is part of the original 1982 demo line, and would need a major rebuild to support adding any switches.

That maintenance spur is also needed for maintenance vehicles, otherwise they'd have to travel all the way from Edmonds or Coquitlam to reach the western end of the Millennium Line.

Yeah this seems like a speculative claim rather than anything that was actually planned. However, the original demo line along Terminal is old and wasn't built to the same standard as the rest of the Expo Line might as well current standards. There's a future scenario where the Expo line structure between Main and Commercial gets rebuilt and re-alignment with this portion of the Millennium line to allow cross-platform transfers does offer a potential for service improvement. There is no actual plan for that either though, and is unlikely compared to a scenario where the existing structures are rehabilitated in another way.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by finalcoolman

Of course the major reason this has not been completed and likely will not any time soon is the headache of single tracking the Expo Line at Terminal for a year to build the switch.

The way the Expo Line is constructed along Terminal doesn't look like it could easily accept a new line joining from the south. The engineering would be complicated to tie into the existing structure, and the existing viaduct might have to be rebuilt to integrate the tracks.

It wouldn't be cheap either - it's not just the construction costs. Whoever was building the line, (TransLink, the province), would also have to negotiate an easment with BNSF through and over their South Yard, with the City, down Cotterell Street, and then would have to buy or expropriate some of Dueck's site at 888 Terminal.

[jollyburger]

This report on expanded transit service to UBC mentions something called the "Skytrain Merge Option" with some options for a physical rail connection at Commercial- Broadway.

The consultant team was requested to review the feasibility of physically
connecting the new Phase 1 SkyTrain extension with the existing line in the
vicinity of the Broadway Station. Referred to as the “merge” option, this
concept would provide for a direct ride to the downtown area for passengers
whose trips originate in East Vancouver along the Phase 1 portion of the
Broadway/Lougheed corridor. The merge option offers the advantage of
avoiding the substantial number of transfers that otherwise would be required
at the Broadway Station.

The minimum headway on any portion of the SkyTrain system
is in the range of 90 seconds. When lines are split, as would be the case with
implementation of a merge option, the service on each line must be closely
coordinated to retain the minimum separation between trains. A second key
factor that determines system capacity is the passenger load of individual
cars and train sets. Current practice is to operate trains in increments of two
cars (either 2, 4 or 6 cars). The current Mark I cars have a capacity of 80
persons, 160 for a two-car set. The new generation Mark II cars are larger
and will have a capacity of 130 persons, 260 for a two-car set. Also planned
is the addition of a third Mark II unit in the middle of a two-car set, resulting
in a capacity of 390 persons. The following table outlines the capacity of
various potential train combinations that will fit within the station envelope
of 80 meters.

https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/beyondthebline.pdf

[xd_1771]

The spur was not built specifically to provide for a future connection to the Expo Line. It is a provision for a hypothetical OMC in that location, nowadays known internally as "OMC6"
(I gather most people aren't aware of this )

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by xd_1771

The spur was not built specifically to provide for a future connection to the Expo Line. It is a provision for a hypothetical OMC in that location, nowadays known internally as "OMC6"
(I gather most people aren't aware of this )

Submission from a member of the public in the Burrard Peninsula review but said it was based on talk about an OMC6 there.



https://www.translink.ca/-/media/transli...tp-ph2-engagement-summary-appendix-e.pdf

[finalcoolman]

The physical link between the two lines came along with OMC6 as a package deal. You would have had another spur coming off the route I drew connecting the two lines. So yes, the spur was built to specifically connect the two lines, because the switch to the OMC would have come from the middle of the link.

OMC4 forever negates the need for this OMC6. They basically chose to build OMC4 on cheaper land in Coquitlam than build OMC6.

Which, like it or not, leaves a vanilla physical link alone sans OMC as the last remaining planned purpose of the VCC spur.

[jollyburger]

The 2019 UBCx study had a high level analysis of possible OMC sites so not sure if that's where the rumour came from. (South Vancouver/UBC/False Creek Flats)

https://www.translink.ca/-/media/transli...9_01_24_technical_report_rail_to_ubc.pdf