Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamaican-Phoenix
I've said it before, and I'll say it again; The west and SW end of the city should instead use existing rail infrastructure (with perhaps a few new spurs) rather than have new lines built or converted. It should essentially be like the original O-Train line but for commuters. There should be fewer stops but the service will be faster.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamaican-Phoenix
I quickly made an example of what a rail expansion to Kanata/Stittsville and Barrhaven would look like if I were in charge:
https://imgur.com/a/OER3X
Fewer stations, but the ones that exist are in areas of suburban residence or employment zones heading into the city. |
Interesting. One question though. In your plan, would the trains end at Mooney's Bay/Heron, or would they continue north along the Trillium Line? The former would result in a double transfer (neither the Trillium Line nor the SW Transitway will go downtown), plus any transfers to get onto the train and the latter would reuquire double tracking of the Trillium Line (at considerable expense). The train could continue to Tremblay, but that would be a long, roundabout route, especially for those coming from Kanata North.
The other issues relate to congestion. First of all the Trillium line suffers from delays whenever a VIA train crosses the Ellwood diamond. There is talk that it will be grade separated during stage 2, but if it isn't, adding more trains would compound the problem.
Secondly, you are having three routes travel along the same track east of junction of the Beachwood and Smiths Falls subdivisions. On top of that VIA is running well over 20 trains a day (each way) between Tremblay and Fallowfield (if you include the trains to Montreal that start/end at Fallowfield). There is no way you could get anything close to a decent frequency without double tracking this section. Unfortunately the bridge over the Rideau and the vast majority of the over/underpasses don't support double tracking, so it would be a very expensive venture.
Taking all this into account and realizing we don't have a downtown train station, I just have troubles seeing this as a viable option.
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