If you look at the north east LRT you have a bike path right beside the rails, no fence. All you need is a higher curb, or low median to keep cars from slipping into the rails in the winter. We don't need to overbuild like they already did on the south portion with high medians, the post and chains on a concrete railbed.
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.5505...7i13312!8i6656
Closeups of the new river valley LRT bridge
![]()
“You have to dream big. If we want to be a little city, we dream small. If we want to be a big city, we dream big, and this is a big idea.” - Mayor Stephen Mandel, 02/22/2012
You know I was just thinking the other day how the NE leg has a completely different set of safety controls....
https://goo.gl/maps/PYHAiBatdc62
This is the pedestrian path to cross the tracks. Basically relies on common sense (unfortunately if you have tunnel vision, and your ears plugged in with bass earphones, you'd run the risk of getting hit by a train).
The new lines have weird zig zags in the paths, crossing arms for pedestrians, and multiple gates. Overkill imo.
Common sense doesn't seem to be common anymore though
Unfortunately, people don't always pay attention. Look at the person who was killed at Belvedere last week.
"Talk minus action equals zero." - Joe Keithley, D. O. A.
Looks like the north cofferdam is done (no more concrete block): http://edmontonjournal.com/news/loca...s-construction
"Talk minus action equals zero." - Joe Keithley, D. O. A.
First three cantenary poles have been installed!!
Valley Line - First catenary poles!!! by Chris Vazquez, on Flickr
I imagine that the track isn't too far away at this point. Also, I read (on Twitter) that the center girder at Whitemud is being replaced (at the P3's expense) because it doesn't meet standards.
"Talk minus action equals zero." - Joe Keithley, D. O. A.
^ Yup, Just came across this on TransEd’s Twitter. I guess the Whitemud bridge will be delayed quite a bit.
https://twitter.com/yegvalleylrt/sta...250303488?s=21. @lochlincross @cityofedmonton @doniveson @YEGMayorOffice The girder at Whitemud is being removed because it did not meet TransEd’s quality standards. It is being recast, at no cost to the City or taxpayers.
A bridge delay? That's a first.
Two bridge delays if you count the concrete block in the North Saskatchewan.
"Talk minus action equals zero." - Joe Keithley, D. O. A.
Once the tracks are in place on 66st. I hope that they can start getting the roadway fixed up again and brought to its final configuration. BTW it appears they are finally getting the rest of the concrete walls up. The one section I wonder when they will switch traffic over is near the future Wagner station. Part of the final configuration for the road has been complete for months now, but the other part hasn't been worked on from the train tracks to Roper Rd much yet.
LRT is our future, time to push forward.
I'm guessing that the traffic will be switched to the west side when the LRT overpass is completed over the west side, next to Davies station.
"Talk minus action equals zero." - Joe Keithley, D. O. A.
Churchill Interchange
Used with permission
^Hub and heart (transit, culture, arts, events)
Did my dog just fall into a pothole???
For anybody who’s around Mill Woods (66 Street, 31-38 Avenue), they’re installing the struts to hold up the railway track. Tracks aren’t too far away.
"Talk minus action equals zero." - Joe Keithley, D. O. A.
1st train soon to be on its way!
@yegvalleylrt
^^ They're black in colour. I think the ties are concrete.
"Talk minus action equals zero." - Joe Keithley, D. O. A.
It appears that the entire route south of Wagner station will have concrete ties, probably no ballast.
Curious why all the trees along 102 avenue next to the mall and TD tower were chopped. They were spindly little guys. Don't think their canopies were impacting anything...
My guess is that they were deemed small enough that it would be easier to cut down and replace afterwards to facilitate construction rather than struggle and work around.
The ION LRT in Kitchener-Waterloo is testing their Flexity's now, looking for a late 2018 opening. They are almost the same as ours, just with 5 modules instead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCuupq09ZWY
Did my dog just fall into a pothole???
@ianoyeg
I really think that having this line on the surface will be incredible for public perception of Edmonton. While the current LRT tunnel is fantastic for moving people, it simply gets people from A to B without exposing them to any views of Edmonton. When this line is built, it will expose all riders to much more of the valley, chinatown, downtown, Oliver, 124th briefly, etc. They might actually be shown some of the urban fabric that is missed in the utilitarian LRT tunnel.
I know it seems silly, but there are an awful lot of people who don't stray from their day to day regular activities, and who don't really know anything about 90% of Edmonton. If transit becomes a viable and even somewhat desireable, reliable option it can only help us move away from the whole 'Boiler Room of Canada' perception that we've been stricken with for decades.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1803/43070144331_33beb0d3d5_b.jpg
By Me
Did my dog just fall into a pothole???
The Valley Line plus the other existing lines all pass through the city's greatest natural asset, the river valley. I can think of very few mass transit lines in other cities that offer this level of natural scenery. Other than the brief exposure at McKernan/Belgravia you really don't get to see the residential fabric of the city. The new Valley Line will do that quite nicely.
Did my dog just fall into a pothole???
To you both, BINGO!
This will expose as much as connect people to places, things, views that they might not otherwise experience.
Absolutely. Having ridden the Capital Line for a long time it's so noticeable how many people look up from their phone/paper/book/conversation to gaze at the river valley when the train passes from Grandin to University. The rest of the trip is just a commute. That 45-60 seconds is a nice little reprieve.
When visiting other cities in the world I will sometimes just hop on a bus or tram to get a perspective and flavor of the neighborhoods where people live and get beyond the popular touristy destinations. It's a cheap way of going on a tour and the Valley Line LRT will be a great way of doing that and the city should market it to tourists. One of my favorite things to do in Toronto is to ride the Queen & King street car lines from end to end, they both go through some amazing neighborhoods.
Did my dog just fall into a pothole???
I wish Edmonton Symphony would do this for Edmonton - Youtube Link
Imagine both inside and outside views of the crossing of our fantastic river valley. I think it would go viral.
Stole from reddit:
![]()
"the a commute" includes the surface parts, it's the same on the bus. Elevated is different, but for the valley line it's mostly in industrial areas unfortunately.
There can only be one.
Likewise for me as well, except for the complete opposite. I send the wife and kid shopping and I hop in a cab and ask to go to the seediest part of town to go on a local "dive bar" tour.....drink my *** off, get into a few arguments with the locals, pour myself into a cab and back to the hotel. Scariest city I've done this in was Philly.....dive bars to the exponential degree.......
Ha! You are describing the immersive tourist experience where the visitor is an active participant rather than a passive observer. I heartily approve.
I have on occasion just jumped on buses at random without really knowing where I'm going. A bit risky though depending on the city...
Did my dog just fall into a pothole???
Definitely agree with this and whenever I am in a city with good and varied public transportation I prefer using this. This allows me to enjoy the view, different modes of travel, different perspectives, and the experience being preferred to driving.
But the view is amplified with overhead rail like Skytrain (which I love so much) and things like Seabus which provides variety. (why I also think we need the gondola here).
"if god exists and he allowed that to happen, then its better that he doesn't exist"
One of our U2's already has the fleet number 1001, so why does the flexity train on its way have the same fleet number? (I don't know how to post pictures, sorry.)
sigh.... montreal for the win:
https://rem.info/en/albums/rem-architectural-renders
separated from traffic, fast frequency. future generations of edmontonians will ask why the leaders of today didn't build something like this here, as the slow valley line trundles along. but, hey, at least it's 'urban'.
Unfortunately the Transportation Department, the mayor and various councilors think the Dublin model of slow trains running along a street is a great model. Not a system that will get you from Mill Woods to downtown quickly and efficiently.
Montreal uses Alberta equalization money while opposing our pipelines (Energy East) to build a superior mass transit system. Gold.
Exactly right. So nice of us. Also. ^^It takes longer, seems like a bigger city. Status symbol achieved regardless.
Slightly off topic but I'm not a fan of cutting down 18 old trees in Glenora for phase 2 of lrt. I know that's another thread. This isn't a NIMBY movement, residence just feel the trees shouldn't be sacrificed for phase 2 for lrt and even though I don't live in the area, i agree with them.
Mom said I should not talk to cretins!
Construction update - river valley and Muttart LRT station
North of 98 Ave
South of 98 Ave
Grading back to surface
Someday, my lad, all this will be an LRT station!
Heading up the hill to Connors
![]()
“You have to dream big. If we want to be a little city, we dream small. If we want to be a big city, we dream big, and this is a big idea.” - Mayor Stephen Mandel, 02/22/2012
Apparently every stop along Valley line will be themed to the area somehow, although I can't find a supporting link to that. Translation: more opportunity to commission public art![]()
Mom said I should not talk to cretins!
Isn't there lots of issues private/public and usage concerns and high costs with the Montreal line...?
Live and love... your neighbourhood.
Nice shots, SDM.
"Talk minus action equals zero." - Joe Keithley, D. O. A.
Noah's ark was built by volunteers...... The Titanic was built by professionals.
I'll reserve judgement on the Montreal line being an automatic win until its seen what the actual price tag is and what they come up with once the Montreal based construction corruption is done with it.
That said our line should always have been elevated and if Vancouver, in a subduction zone opted for that format it should have been a no brainer here.
"if god exists and he allowed that to happen, then its better that he doesn't exist"
^ I'm not an engineer but that's why a CBTC signaling system works there and not here.
https://925freshradio.ca/news/390128...ng-big-reveal/
Mom said I should not talk to cretins!
I have very serious fears about how painfully slow this train is going to be. No one's going to appreciate how "urban" the train is when they're putting around barely faster than a bus and judging by how poorly the TOD plans for the Capital line have worked out and the absurd overreaction to the Hollyrood Gardens proposal I don't think the line is going to lead to virtually any of the densification the city hopes an "urban" line can bring.
I think there's a very real chance that in ten years time we'll look back at this and realize how stupid we've been.
I share the concerns, and wish for a faster line, but as I've stated before the claims that busses run DT from MWTC in say under 40minutes are frankly fictitious. Its around 45mins on a good day. So this train is a little faster and its still not a given that it will be 38min run. Hoping for something like 30.
The pluses for Millwoods residents anyway is increased volume moving downtown, more frequency, a more direct line than the current milk lines that deviate all over and thankfully closure of Millgate terminal and also not having to go through Lakewood terminal. Just riding a more direct route is positive to me.
ETS imo is also not getting enough credit for the vastly different system they will be rolling out. So much more efficient than the present bus lines and system.
I'm happy about all this and it coincides nicely with my retirement from jobs and automobiles and looking forward to not having the expenses of a vehicle anymore.
I also feel its healthier not to have a vehicle.
I am ecstatic about the line, even if it isn't what was preferred.
As much as I love elevated this line will be nice in certain stops just to get off the train and walk quickly to wherever, Muttart, Quarters etc, on level ground,
"if god exists and he allowed that to happen, then its better that he doesn't exist"
Did half of the bridge over Whitemud disappear? I swear both sections were done, now I only see one.
This line is going to be as slow as Nait.
Mom said I should not talk to cretins!
Beats walking I guess.
At least walking does not cost $138,000,000.00 per kilometer...
Advocating a better Edmonton through effective, efficient and economical transit.
^If I recall correctly a fair amount of the slowness of the Metro Line north of Churchill is by design. The city experimenting with being more "urban". :-/
Yes, route selection was delayed so long by the COE that GM gave up reserving a ROW for the LRT and then they meandered towards NAIT with a poor route with slow tight turns for a line they want to make into a core 'express' route to St. Albert. Bonus points for screwing up 112th Ave and the Capital line scheduling to boot! Well Done COE!
The Metro Line "urban" experiment is a complete failure. Walking is indeed faster and more reliable.
Last edited by Edmonton PRT; 06-07-2018 at 11:43 AM.
Advocating a better Edmonton through effective, efficient and economical transit.
As per: https://www.edmonton.ca/documents/Ro...General%20.pdf the "maximum scheduled one way Travel Time (for timetable purposes), between 102 Street Stop and Mill Woods Town Centre Stop, in either direction [is] not to exceed 32 minutes".
Just googled mapped the same current ETS transit service
ETS #15 Mill Woods Town Centre 31 min (11 stops) 1 min late · Stop ID: 1542
"Advocating a better Edmonton through effective, efficient and economical transit."
Advocating a better Edmonton through effective, efficient and economical transit.
Exactly, roughly over 30 minutes not at rush hour in 2018 with our current population and car traffic.
Live and love... your neighbourhood.
The google link you just cited gives me 46mins. Anytime I've taken any of the routes from MWTC-DT its around 40-45mins. Including the 15. The schedules as cited are optimistic. Any traffic load whatsoever and the 15 doesn't make those time tables in actuality.
The 15 is also a low frequency bus running every 30mins and has poor connections at MWTC. It in fact leaves as some of the connecting busses are arriving at station. (complained about this many times) The reality is if you're taking the bus DT from MWTC that its on the 8, and not the 15. The 8 being more of a milk run.
That said I take the bus DT in peak hours, The busses are very impacted by those traffic loads, and that's when the majority of people commute. Who cares if the 15 can get DT in 35mins with absolutely no traffic at 10;45 am with hardly anybody catching the bus at that time?
Last edited by Replacement; 06-07-2018 at 12:31 PM.
"if god exists and he allowed that to happen, then its better that he doesn't exist"
Using that same map if you want to be Downtown for work at 9:00am on the #15 it can be between 35-45 minutes... maybe. That's if you can fit on the 1st bus you want to get on and you don't get stuck in a little rush hour traffic or weather dependant.
I take the #8 from Bonnie Doon area and it's 15ish minutes to Downtown, sometimes was 20ish minutes to get to MacEwan when I went to school. That's at rush hour. I never took the #15 from the mall because it was always full. The #8 was no better but at least I can fit on.
Yes we could jump in a Time Machine and buy more articulated buses, hire more drivers, design dedicated bus lanes or que jumps and bus-orientated traffic signals... but a variety of changes are coming to all ETS services.
Live and love... your neighbourhood.
Valley line isn't even built yet. I have no idea what kind of signaling it will have, we'll have to wait and see. As for low floor being slower then regular LRT, I don't know that either.
Mom said I should not talk to cretins!
Hope. Valley line will be running "line of sight" with tram style signals at intersections into indicate "stop" or "go" or to tell driver switching to the other track. Line of sight means no signals (moving block or static block) at all. The driver drives line speed, and can crawl right up to the back of another train ahead. The tunnel might have some signaling but it's short anyway. Line of sight works were speeds are limited - in this case top speed will likely be 60 km/h.
ETS Trolley Buses - 1939 to 2010 - R.I.P.
Interesting. First I heard of this. How does this work in snow storm/rainstorm/fog conditions? Do they just slow right down to a crawl if they have a 5 meter visibility?
Also, wanted to mention that I'm actually quite impressed now that I'm seeing the Valley line in construct phase. I didn't realize how this portion of the project actually has grade/vehicle separation on almost all key junctions. Whether that be the jump over 66st, still being in the air until the north side of Argyll, coming around Conners Road so that there is no impact to teh flow of traffic, cutting across Mutart but not impeding traffic, jumping back up on the South side of 98th ave so that traffic isn't impeded and then keeping the line above grade right through the bridge and into the jasper tunnel.
They didn't need to do much a bridge or tunnel south of Bonnie Doon perhaps north of it too and I'd be happy
I hear you that they could always do more grade separation...but to be honest, the majority of the at grade crossings are in residential neighborhoods where this is not just appropriate but the right choice. The big Delta's here being: 34th Ave, Roper Road, Whyte And the Bonnie Doon Traffic circle.
And even of those 4, I'd say Whyte is probably the only real concerning one.
Not saying it's perfect but much, much better than I originally envisioned. Also doesn't look like the DT surface line will be much of a bottleneck (considering ppl have easily navigated around the current 102nd outate).
ETS has been using line of sight signaling on Metro for quite awhile now:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...says-1.3193732
Mom said I should not talk to cretins!
I was looking for the retired C-Train (2066) that was spotted at Bissel Yard, only for it to be gone and this in its place! Welcome home!
Seven short rail cars with six accordion style joints, this above ground LRT will be able to make tighter turns than the existing LRT.
Edmonton first, everything else second.
Girders installed at Davies Station:
Valley Line LRT - Davies Station by Chris Vazquez, on Flickr
Mom said I should not talk to cretins!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexity_Freedom
Capacity 135–251 depending on configuration
^ Thanks.
Will something like that even fit at the Jasper place LRT station?
Mom said I should not talk to cretins!
No, Edmonton's 7-segment trains should carry about 275 each, so two linked in tandem would carry about 550. The stations are all being designed for that length (about 84m).
^^ Thanks
^ Is that 275 number at peak or off peak?
One segment from cab to door looks like its going to hold 12 passengers max so that could be abt 40 for a 7 segment car. Each segment holds 12 people. Seats are raised off the floor on their own pedestal. Peak hour of course there will be more. passengers. There's no way just from the photos on this thread I've seen of the cars interior, that a 7 segment car like that is going to hold 275 people. I could be wrong but that number seems pretty off to me.
So basically are you saying that the train pictured above is 84m?
Mom said I should not talk to cretins!
No, the train above is about 42m long. Two of the trains run together would be about 84m long.
Makes more sense, thanks
Mom said I should not talk to cretins!
One train of 550 people translates into about 10 full transit buses. If a train can save 10 minutes to Mill Woods, that's great.
"Talk minus action equals zero." - Joe Keithley, D. O. A.
The slow street cars take as long as a bus and slower than a real LRT. problem is that the slow streetcars have fewer seats so people have to stand for 30 minutes or longer especially if they are going from Millwoods to WEM. Not a comfortable transit experience.
Even on that strange gondola plan across the river, every passenger gets a seat and not packed in like sardines.
Advocating a better Edmonton through effective, efficient and economical transit.
Ever ride the Capital line during peak hours?
To be fair a 30 minute travel time from Mill Woods to Churchill station wont be too bad. For example, a full ride from Corona station at peak to Clareview empties out at Belvedere station due to the park and ride there.
There's no way a 7 car segment as pictured above is going to hold 275 passengers, not even at peak. Two 7 car segments, maybe at peak.
Mom said I should not talk to cretins!
My guess is that the CN train could make it as far as 75 Street (near the Davies Station).
"Talk minus action equals zero." - Joe Keithley, D. O. A.
The new train is to be installed at Bonnie Doone so the public can crawl all over it. Very excited.
"Do you give people who already use transit a better service, or do you build it where they don't use it in the hopes they might start to use it?" Nenshi
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