Valley Line LRT | TransEd/Marigold | City of Edmonton

northlands said:
This article was posted in the Metro Line thread but has lots of good info regarding VL.



I get the VLW Director is being extra careful with his statements with no guarantees, but it sounds like their actual timelines are:
  • 2026: all track laid
  • 2027: wrapping up outstanding construction items and starting commissioning work
  • 2028: more commissioning + testing
  • 2029: open for public use
Which makes his statement that the project is "on-schedule" kind of ironic. Is the project really on schedule when you've adjusted the project schedule (including finish date) like four times now?
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2028 has been and still is the target year for completion of construction for quite some time (delayed once from 2027). It was never specified that testing would also be completed within that time frame though.
 
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Just thought about something. Who actually uses the Davies park and ride? Like who would the target be?

Just looking at a map today it suddenly dawned on me how weird of a location it is. Anyone living north of the industrial is better off just driving, busing, or using the train from those neighborhoods to head downtown.

And the only areas south of the industrial are Millwoods, which is served by the train or quicker bus connections to it. The gateway/Calgary trail and east industrial lands really cut off any other residential areas.

Anyone south of Millwoods is driving 60% of the way to downtown already, so may as well just go the whole way?

I’m sure some people use it to save money on DT parking, or others use to better connect to the train vs buses. But it’s just so odd of a placement vs an end of line park and ride like century park was.

Was it chosen simply because of land availability? Wouldn’t something at the current terminus be more sensible?
 
thommyjo said:
Just thought about something. Who actually uses the Davies park and ride? Like who would the target be?

Just looking at a map today it suddenly dawned on me how weird of a location it is. Anyone living north of the industrial is better off just driving, busing, or using the train from those neighborhoods to head downtown.

And the only areas south of the industrial are Millwoods, which is served by the train or quicker bus connections to it. The gateway/Calgary trail and east industrial lands really cut off any other residential areas.

Anyone south of Millwoods is driving 60% of the way to downtown already, so may as well just go the whole way?

I’m sure some people use it to save money on DT parking, or others use to better connect to the train vs buses. But it’s just so odd of a placement vs an end of line park and ride like century park was.

Was it chosen simply because of land availability? Wouldn’t something at the current terminus be more sensible?
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W. P. Wagner School is close by to it, and I've seen a bunch of high schoolers by the station at school start and end times. Also, the area also has office parks (APEGA recently moved by the corner of 51 Ave and 86 St) that are a short bus ride away.
 
I think the Davies station is intended as a hub for people departing north to downtown and points beyond. Travelling on 75 Street to downtown could encounter a choke point at the CPKC tracks if a train is crossing. Taking the LRT from Davies to Bonnie Doon is probably a five-minute trip. Travelling by car could take 10-15 minutes.
 
thommyjo said:
Was it chosen simply because of land availability? Wouldn’t something at the current terminus be more sensible?
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Guessing you're right, the land expropriation economics and desired route worked out that it was easiest to acquire both the Union Tractor and Osman Auction parcels to build out Davies station + use the whole site to build/pour the guideways, and rather than subdivide the parcels afterward to resell for development, they figured it was cost effective to pave it over as a park'n'ride. Kind of goofy but I guess it's an option for those in the SE who work dt to use.
 
fromtraintotower said:
W. P. Wagner School is close by to it, and I've seen a bunch of high schoolers by the station at school start and end times. Also, the area also has office parks (APEGA recently moved by the corner of 51 Ave and 86 St) that are a short bus ride away.
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So it’s an overflow lot for the school?
 
northlands said:
This article was posted in the Metro Line thread but has lots of good info regarding VL.



I get the VLW Director is being extra careful with his statements with no guarantees, but it sounds like their actual timelines are:
  • 2026: all track laid
  • 2027: wrapping up outstanding construction items and starting commissioning work
  • 2028: more commissioning + testing
  • 2029: open for public use
Which makes his statement that the project is "on-schedule" kind of ironic. Is the project really on schedule when you've adjusted the project schedule (including finish date) like four times now?
Click to expand...
Seems very ambitious to have all track laid by the end of this year especially if they no longer pour track slab in the winter. I guess they could form and place rebar over the next couple of months to prepare for the warmer months but seems like a stretch. Maybe that cool form work traveller will be able to speed up the process.

CplKlinger said:
Admin said last year that the amount of vandalism is outpacing the budget to fix the stuff that gets damaged. They need a larger budget yesterday.
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I feel like increasing the funding does nothing other than waste money, I’d rather spend it on 1 guard / more surveillance to stop the people who keep breaking the glass.
 
Curious how the vandalism of the Valley Line compares against the high floor line. Is it the station design? Or is it that there are more stops on this line?

Does TransEd fix the vandalized elements or the city? Will there be consideration towards how the West Line stations are designed (amount of glass vs other materials etc...)?

Ok, I think i am out of questions.
 
J_gordo said:
I feel like increasing the funding does nothing other than waste money, I’d rather spend it on 1 guard / more surveillance to stop the people who keep breaking the glass.
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According to Chief Bylaw Officer David Jones, during the March 19, 2025 debate about funding 30 additional TPOs:

"I did some math a few years ago because I was asked what we'd need to get 24/7 presence of TPOs at every transit location, and it was something astronomical like 800."

When the 30 new TPOs are fully onboarded in July, Edmonton will have 126 TPOs. Keep in mind that it's not a 1-1 ratio with one officer per location; there's something like three shifts per day, plus they need coverage for overtime/special events, sick and vacation days, etc. And if ETS tried to get this coverage with commissionaires to save money, then we're back where we started with people vandalizing things and guards standing off to the side telling dispatch to tell TPOs to get there after their five other calls that are higher priority.

And to be clear, I'd 100% all for having more TPOs, I'm just giving you some context regarding what is required to achieve that. And given they can only train 15-odd TPOs at a time (Edmonton runs two classes per year which also accommodate peace officer recruits for agencies around the province, hence why these 30 new ones are being onboarded in two batches of 15), it'd be a few years before they could reach that 24/7 coverage - meaning the vandalism budget would likely need to be increased at least temporarily while waiting for that additional presence to have an effect.
 
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