Canada SkyTrain Line

[mr.x]

New pics from the Canada Line Site:

Cut & cover roll over structure on Cambie Street between 20th Ave and King Edward. The two guideway tunnels transition from being side by side to one above the other. This photo was taken near King Edward and the tunnels are almost on above the other.

The transition from cut and cover tunnel to elevated guideway at 63rd Ave on Cambie Street.

Cut & cover utility relocation. The 42" GVRD Watermain that provides water to Richmond and the Aiport needed to be relocated around Oakridge and 41st Ave and Langara-49th Ave Stations.

Looking west at the completed Middle Arm Bridge Structure. In late April or early May 2007 launching Gantry LG1 will complete the erection of the beams on the east side of the bridge and then walk over the bridge to complete the erection of the beams on the west side of the bridge.

The elevated guideway structure being constructed under the Oak Street Bridge.

Launching Grantry L2 has been relocated from the airport to the north end of No. 3 Road and is erecting beems heading south to Richmond Centre.

Launching Gantry LG1 just south of Bridgeport Station being positioned to erect the Airport single track guideway up and over the guideway the goes to Richmond Centre.

[mr.x]

For Immediate Release

April 7, 2007

Office of the Premier - Government of British Columbia - Ministry of Transportation

CANADA LINE REACHES LANDMARK BREAKTHROUGH

VANCOUVER – Canada Line’s tunnel boring machine (TBM) achieved a milestone today when it broke through the ground north of Pender Street at Granville, the future site of the Canada Line Waterfront Station.

“This is an important breakthrough for us all,” said Premier Gordon Campbell. “The city, the region and the province will all benefit. It shows the power of partnership in opening the Pacific Gateway while we reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stimulate economic growth. Compact and healthy urban development helps make public transit work and it’s estimated that this one project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 14,000 tons by 2021.”

The arrival of the TBM into the Waterfront Station excavation pit signifies the completion of the first of two bored tunnels beneath downtown Vancouver. Premier Campbell noted that the work has been accomplished with no lost time injuries as he presented a certificate recognizing that achievement to Andrea Ciamei, project manager for the SLCP-SELI Joint Venture, which is building the bored tunnels.

“This tunnel breakthrough means we are one step closer to connecting Greater Vancouver’s main business districts, which will support the growth and continued prosperity of the region,” said Ed Fast, MP for Abbotsford. “Canada’s New Government is proud to be involved in Canada’s largest transportation infrastructure project, which will contribute to a healthy environment within the Greater Vancouver area.”

“Like the launch of the TBM from its starting place at Olympic Village* Station last June, the completion of the first tunnel is a milestone for the construction project,” said TransLink chair Malcolm Brodie. “Looking forward, the Canada Line will ensure a more convenient and sustainable transportation option for people in the important north-south corridor that connects Vancouver, Richmond and Vancouver International Airport.”

“The completion of this tunnel marks another milestone in a project that will change the face of transportation in the region, and provide an efficient and sustainable transportation option for airport employees and passengers,” added Airport Authority president and CEO Larry Berg. “The Canada Line will add to the status of YVR as being one of the world’s top airports.”

The TBM machine will now be disassembled and transported back to the 2nd Ave worksite near False Creek to start the second tunnel, which will be completed in the spring of 2008.

The tunnel is 2.5 km in length and has taken 10 months to complete. Approximately 10,000 pre-fabricated concrete lining segments have been used to make the tunnel walls. The tunnel is 5.3 metres in internal diameter and varies in depth between 10 and 30 metres.

The Canada Line rapid transit system will run fully separate from traffic between the transportation hub at Waterfront Centre in Vancouver, the heart of Richmond’s civic precinct, and Vancouver International Airport. With 16 stations, two bridges, over nine km of tunnel, parking and bus facilities, and transit capacity equivalent to 10 road lanes, the Canada Line will be an important new link in the regional transportation network.

The Government of Canada and the government of British Columbia, the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority (TransLink), and Vancouver International Airport Authority are funding the Canada Line, which is also supported by the Cities of Vancouver and Richmond. The project is overseen by Canada Line Rapid Transit Inc. (CLCO), a subsidiary of TransLink. The line is being designed, built, operated, maintained and partially financed by InTransitBC.

-30-

* Use of “Olympic Village” as a station name is subject to an acceptable license agreement being concluded between the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and TransLink and the approval of such license by the International Olympic Committee.

[mr.x]

North Arm Fraser River Canada Line Bridge Crossing construction progress - April 2007

Main Structural Supports for YVR-Airport Station - April 2007

[mr.x]

From the Richmond News:

Canada Line drives massive development

By Nelson Bennett

Rapid transit is driving a massive north city centre development that includes a new hotel at River Rock Casino Resort, an expansion of Aberdeen Centre and 16 new high-rises south of Sea Island Way.

In fact, the Canada Line is so important to developers that Pinnacle International and Sun Tech City Developments are offering $15 million to fast-track the construction of Capstan Station, which Canada Line had not planned to build for years to come.

Coun. Harold Steves, who chairs the city's planning committee, said Tuesday's meeting will be one of the most important ones this decade, because it will set the tone for all future development in the city centre.

"Right now, we're at the ground floor of developing new concepts for downtown living - concepts that are environmentally sustainable," Steves said.

Pinnacle and Sun Tech are proposing a mixed-use development that would see 16 high-rises up to 14 storeys in height on a 17.2-acre parcel of vacant land bordered by north-south by Sea Island Way and Capstan Way, and east-west by Sexsmith Road and No. 3 Road.

The proposal calls for a hotel, various commercial uses, and 2,136 residential units.

Proximity to the Canada Line is so critical to the development, the developers are offering to help build a fifth rapid transit station at Capstan Way.

Current plans call for only four stations to be built, with Capstan station to be built at a later date.

"It's a huge benefit to the city," said Terry Crowe, manager of policy planning for the city. "By building the station, it will certainly aid ridership. It's a very important piece of infrastructure in the city." The Sea Island Way parcel has been the subject of various proposals over the years, including a trade and exhibition centre.

"We're fortunate that Sun Tech (and Pinnacle) are coming forward now, not 10 years ago, because we wouldn't have been able to integrate it with the Canada Line," Steves said.

Because the development is tied to such a great extent to public transit, the city is considering a proposal to reduce parking requirements by 35 per cent.

In addition to being largely driven by public transportation, the Fairchild and the Pinnacle/Sun Tech City plans also integrate many of the sustainability requirements being proposed in the city centre area plan, which is still in the works.

Steves said developers are considering green roofs and geothermal heating, for example.

In the Pinnacle/Sun Tech case, the developers are also agreeing to provide the following:

- 100 affordable housing units (five per cent of the total residential component);

- A 25-space daycare;

- $250,000 worth of public art;

- A 1.4-acre city-owned park.

The developers are also proposing to build live-work dwellings. The idea is that shop owners would live above their ground-floor retail operations - something that reduces reliance on cars.

Two other major proposals on Tuesday's agenda are a proposed expansion of Aberdeen Centre and a rezoning needed for hotel expansion and public parkade at River Rock Casino Resort.

Fairchild Developments plans to add an eight-storey expansion to the existing Aberdeen Centre, plus a 150-room hotel. The expansion would be linked to the Canada Line's Aberdeen station. The proposal includes a plan to provide $100,000 for the purchase of two-zone fare saver tickets - a move aimed at encouraing Aberdeen Centre employees and customers to use public transit.

As for the River Rock proposal, it includes as five-storey, 192-unit hotel, to be integrated with a new 1,200-stall park-and-ride parkade, which will be used for Canada Line transit users and casino patrons.

The new 12-storey hotel and parkade would be located directly across the street from River Rock on River Road. Immediately south of that would be a bus loop and the Canada Line's Bridgeport Station.

published on 05/08/2007

[mr.x]

New pic of Bridgeport Station area, the wye and the YVR branch from the Canada Line website:

Aerial of Bridgeport Station. Junction between YVR and Richmond Line

Aerial of Middle Arm Bridge

At-grade section of the Line through Grauer Lands on Sea Island. Tunnel under future Templeton Street located in lower centre of photo.

Stored 400m lengths of cintinues welded rail (CWR) just north of Grant McConachie Way at Sea Island Centre Station Site.

View of single track as it approaches the terminal at YVR Airport Station

[mr.x]

why does it look like a roller coaster?

Completed bored tunnel (First pass).

[SkiFreak]

why does it look like a roller coaster?

Completed bored tunnel (First pass).

When the train is going through they got to pipe in the Space Mountain soundtrack, project some star effects and take the passengers photos at the end.

[Guardian]

It seems that, according to this Globe and Mail article, the RAV Canada Line is not seen in the positive light.

Link: Globe And Mail: Businesses Suffer In The Name Of Public Transit For 2010 Olympics

[mr.x]

Track work leading into the OMC.

Operations and Maintenance Centre (OMC) Work Continues in Bridgeport

Construction of the Canada Line’s Operations and Maintenance Centre (OMC) is underway near River Drive in the Bridgeport area of Richmond.

To date, crews have completed concrete works for the foundation and main floor of the OMC, and the framework for the traction power substation building (which will provide power to the Canada Line vehicles). Ongoing construction activity includes foundation and column work for the elevated guideway and east abutment for the OMC, track installation work within the works yard and structural steel framework for the OMC.

Scheduled to begin during the month of June 2007 - upon completion of the remaining steel structure work for the OMC - crews will begin the building finishes stage for the OMC. This stage includes installation of concrete floors,

insulation, mechanical and electrical wiring, exterior and interior walls, roofing, windows, interior and exterior doors, exterior cladding, painting, lighting, flooring and general finishing activity.

Also scheduled to begin in mid-summer 2007, BC Hydro will conduct electrical work on the traction power substation. Further updates on construction activity for the OMC will be available in the fall of 2007.

The OMC will house personnel and equipment for the management, maintenance and operation of the Canada Line and its fleet of trains. The main building of the OMC consists of two levels: the ground level (maintenance shops and support facilities) and the second level (administrative offices and operations and control centre). The OMC will be approximately 7,300 m2 and will employ approximately 250 people.

[mr.x]

From flickr:

Broadway and cambie

Tjis does look pretty shallow from the surface:

Right now the launching girder is finishing the east side of middle arm bridge, then it will walk across and finish the west side of the bridge.

[mr.x]

From the Bing Thom website - Aberdeen Station Lands.

Located at the intersection of No 3 and Cambie Roads in Richmond, the Aberdeen Station Lands is the third phase of the Aberdeen Centre project. This new construction is an extension of the original Aberdeen Centre and will also connect to the Aberdeen Residences, which are currently under construction.

Following the original Aberdeen Centre concept of creating a retail/entertainment centre to engage street activity, the program for the new development consists of three retail and five hotel levels. This project also introduces a new public art component entitled "Nexus". A transparent glazed wall, Nexus is both the receptor and transmitter of information weaving through the inside and outside spaces. Ephemeral in nature, Nexus mediates between the box-like interior and the fluid urban exterior, bringing life and activity into the city streets.

The design for the Aberdeen Station Lands emphasizes the connections to the Canada Line transit station plaza and the existing Aberdeen Centre. An organically shaped multi-level atrium opens up to the plaza and diagonally connects the plaza with the Aberdeen Centre parkade. The station plaza responds to the organic shape of the west facade and is animated by the atrium which extends vertically to connect with the Hotel Lobby.

At the NW corner, the building cantilevers partially cover the Canada Line guideway to acknowledge the curve of the guideway and the connection with the Station.This tiered series of cantilevers provide a landmark entry to the No 3 Road commercial district and is also a gesture towards the nearby Fraser River.

Size: 240,000 square feet

Cost: $60 million

Completion: December 2009

- 8-storey addition

- approximate 150-room hotel

- integration of the new development with the Canada Line's Aberdeen Station (concourse level entry and platform level entry)

[mr.x]

Credits to officedweller:

[arcaderat]

I want to know, how are passengers going to interchange to the airport brnach line at bridgeport station? Is it cross-platform interchnage, or do you have to exit the platform nad re-board on another platform?

[mr.x]

I want to know, how are passengers going to interchange to the airport brnach line at bridgeport station? Is it cross-platform interchnage, or do you have to exit the platform nad re-board on another platform?

No interchanges are needed, it's all in the same line. From Waterfront Station in downtown, you'd board the YVR train that'll take you straight to the airport or the Richmond train that'll take you to Richmond City Centre. There are track switches and a track crossover at Bridgeport. It's like Columbia Station on the Expo SkyTrain, no transfers needed to get onto the Millennium Line.

The flyover track for the crossover:

[mr.x]

[arcaderat]

I want to know, in what year are smart cards going to be out for people to use? Also, can we use the smart card in other places, like in "seven eleven" or other small stores and shops, like the HK octopus card, or do we have to use it on the transit only?

[VAN_GUY_2010]

First test of new Canada Line vehicle running in automatic in Korea - September 12, 2007

http://www.canadaline.ca/videos.asp

http://www.canadaline.ca/videos.asp

[Guardian]

It has been a long while, since this topic had any updates about this project. How is it going so far?

Why I brought this topic back to the forefront because the Calgary aldermen and the city's transportation planning committee may be coming around and put one of Calgary's LRT lines underground in the downtown core. That undertaking could cost as much as the entire budget for the new West LRT line the city just approved for construction last month. In fact, there is a short tunnel suited for the LRT already done, as a test marker for future development of the idea.

[Jamie25]

There have apparently been some shortcuts and cost cutting measures. I believe the final segment near the Airport is single track only.

None of the stations have retractable roofs either