Valley Line LRT/ Valley Line West | ?m | ?s | City of Edmonton

^TansEd had a huge construction lay down area around Davies station where they could fabricate large segments.
yeah. Transed was precasting segments that spanned the entire distance between columns, as you say some of them were made at Davies. Marigold is gearing up to use a 'lighter' system, using prefabricated segments that have to be strung together to create the necessary spans. They mention it about a minute into this video. The Menzies Bridge was constructed using a similar system.
Probably the big difference for those of us living with the construction will be the maneuvering of the segments. Transed's system used (according to press info from the 98th Ave lift) 600-tonne segments, lifted by specialized bogies and requiring roadbeds to be built under every segment to allow for installation. Marigold is using 'lighter' 50-tonne segments that will require less infrastructure underneath, and potentially a smoother assembly process.

sidenote: I've heard these sections are already being cast. A couple coworkers had to visit Eagle Builders on behalf of a client back in June.Now, it was a bit of a sales event for Eagle, and they were talking up their capabilities, so I'm slightly dubious. However, one of the things they were apparently showing off was segments they were casting for Marigold. They specifically pointed them out in the yard, apparently.
 
First column of the Valley Line West has emerged from its cocoon! Here it is:
View attachment 423327
It is ~6’ shorter than the column being formed next to it; i can only guess that the new column will be supporting a different profile of viaduct. Perhaps the tracks will bifurcate over the first column, meaning some kind of additional, wider capital still has to be added before viaduct is added.
Speaking of viaduct, Marigold has implied they will be using concrete segmental girders, akin to the Menzies Bridge that carries the Capital Line over the river. This is different from Transed using single, large segments between each column; Marigold’s system allows for offsite casting of segments and a more incremental installation process, which they claim will reduce road closures. Their video referenced a moving gantry that willbe used to achieve this. There are yellow girders and segments up and down 87 ave, with a large laydown at the West Ed TC site. I think these components are the gantry itself, slowly arriving peice-by-peice. In Marigold’s video this spring, they mentioned segments going up this December. We shall see, but i think they may be on track for that!
View attachment 423326
Here's a thought - TransEd hires Marigold to fix TransEd's pillars...
 
Traction power is shut off in the vicinity of the Grey Nuns stop, for work in and around the stop.
Imagine if TransEd was actually trying to get this line running for September 4th. By now they would have to be running simulated service along the whole line. There's no way they would have made September 4th if they still needed to do power shutdowns.
Saw someone south of 31 Ave with a hand held concrete saw cutting into the concrete the track is embedded into. Wonder if we will hear the song of the Transed jackhammers yet again in Millwods
 
I really have to question the quality of concrete work with TransEd. I have never witnessed so much waste pouring concrete and then tearing it up and pouring it again and sometimes tearing it up again to pour again. And that is referring to all the LRT construction I've seen from Health Sciences to Century Park, MacEwan station to NAIT, and even the bits of the new Blatchford extension. Even many construction projects around town I've followed over the years, 99% of the time when I see concrete poured I've been quite confident that the section poured is now complete, TransEd on the other hand, more and more I unfortunately wonder what section next with they have to do again.
 
I really have to question the quality of concrete work with TransEd. I have never witnessed so much waste pouring concrete and then tearing it up and pouring it again and sometimes tearing it up again to pour again. And that is referring to all the LRT construction I've seen from Health Sciences to Century Park
It hasn't certainly been without issue on the SLRT.
Health Sciences, McKernan/ Belgravia, and South Campus were all built as 4 car stations. During the construction of Southgate and Century Park, funding came through to extend the platforms to 5 car lengths. This would be needed during installing the Churchill Jct for the NLRT extension, although I don't recall if that planning was far enough along when that funding came through.

Southgate and Century Park had the existing contractor extend the platforms before they ever when into service. The other 3 stations though had to have the platform extensions added after they opened. Who ever did the new sections didn't do a good enough job apparently, as since then work on the extensions has been required. From what I recall, HSS got away with just major work and not an outright demolition and rebuilding. McKernan/ Belgravia at least had the platfrom demolished and rebuilt, with the entire station closed as 5 car trains were required. South Campus I don't recall the extent of work right now.

I'd be curious to know if the current NLRT extension had any issues. It's so tough to monitor the construction. They are using the same embedded construction that the VLSE uses however. Concrete is poured into forms with a trough section for the rail to be laid in and held in place by elastomeric grout.
 
yeah. Transed was precasting segments that spanned the entire distance between columns, as you say some of them were made at Davies. Marigold is gearing up to use a 'lighter' system, using prefabricated segments that have to be strung together to create the necessary spans. They mention it about a minute into this video. The Menzies Bridge was constructed using a similar system.
Probably the big difference for those of us living with the construction will be the maneuvering of the segments. Transed's system used (according to press info from the 98th Ave lift) 600-tonne segments, lifted by specialized bogies and requiring roadbeds to be built under every segment to allow for installation. Marigold is using 'lighter' 50-tonne segments that will require less infrastructure underneath, and potentially a smoother assembly process.

sidenote: I've heard these sections are already being cast. A couple coworkers had to visit Eagle Builders on behalf of a client back in June.Now, it was a bit of a sales event for Eagle, and they were talking up their capabilities, so I'm slightly dubious. However, one of the things they were apparently showing off was segments they were casting for Marigold. They specifically pointed them out in the yard, apparently.
Here some pictures I took of the construction of the Menzies bridge from 1989. One picture shows the coal seam under the river. 79914F00-F704-45AE-A7E8-95295D591675.jpegCFD05D4C-240D-4CE2-8FBC-062B27155892.jpeg727141F8-40E3-44C5-91A9-EC0622A48107.jpeg74986E90-6552-40F8-92B5-243DA239031A.jpeg
 

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