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

I went on a tour of the Valley line the other day; here are some pics and interesting facts (1/2).
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LRT2.jpg

^Churchill Stop is actually the stop that determined the max length of the platforms and LRVs; as a street-level stop, it had to fit in one standard city block (from the crosswalk of 99st to the crosswalk of 100st).
LRT3.jpg

^The southbound platform for the Quarters stop is narrow because it is temporary. The city's long-term objective is to wait until the Salvation Army moves out; the city will purchase a small section of the building to make room for a larger permanent platform, and (ideally) work with whatever private developer purchases the remainder to integrate the stop into the larger redevelopment.
LRT4.jpg

^The roof for this tunnel portal is purely for aesthetics; due to the large Chinese-Canadian population nearby, the roof prevents people living in the nearby apartments from looking down into the tunnel, since it's considered bad feng shui to look down into deep dark holes (or something like that).
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^Large ventilations on either side of both tunnels stand ready in case of fire, to remove smoke.
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^There are three levels on this bridge: The rail deck, the pedestrian bridge, and a maintenance passageway spanning the length of the bridge inside the deck and is apparently quite roomy.
LRT8.jpg

^The pillars lean slightly outward so that ice falling from them doesn't hit the LRVs or the tracks.
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(2/2)
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^All of the stops and stations along the line are at the remedial phase. No major work is left for any of them, the crews are just going from stop to stop (and station) tackling lists of deficiencies (paint chips and whatnot).
LRT12.jpg

^On the left is a space for a small coffee shop, and on the right is space for transit peace officers. Davies also features break rooms and locker rooms for operators, and Trans Ed will likely conduct crew transfers here (with a shuttle bringing them to and from Gerry Wright).
LRT13.jpg
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LRT18.jpg

^Gerry Wright features large ceiling fans from the fine company "Big Ass Fans" (I kid you not).
LRT19.jpg
LRT20.jpg
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LRT22.jpg

^When the city procured these LRVs, the market consisted of around 50% high floor LRVs and 50% low floors. Now, all but a handful of models are low floors, and it's actually hard for ETS to get spare parts for their high floors. The worldwide trend is very much for low floor LRVs.
LRT23.jpg

^The control room staff have been busy coordinating trains and construction along the line, and have been at work since around last summer (just like the motormen).
 
Celebrating Valley Line West’s first major construction season​

May 26, 2022

News media are invited to join the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Federal Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance, the Honourable Rajan Sawhney, Provincial Minister of Transportation and Mayor Amarjeet Sohi to kick-off the first major construction season for the Valley Line West LRT project.

Date: Friday, May 27
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Location: Lewis Farms Transit Centre

PLEASE NOTE: This is an active work site. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is required. Parking is available at the Lewis Farms Park and Ride. Please RSVP to Danielle O’Brien at danielle.obrien@edmonton.ca to confirm attendance.​

For more information:
edmonton.ca/ValleyLineWest

Media contact:
Danielle O’Brien
Communications Advisor
Communications and Engagement​
 
Great to see! But man does 2027 feel like a long time... Hoping the next line/extension starts far before this one is finished.

Also,I can't help but laugh every time I see "Honourable" now, I can't believe that they thought this was something that needed to get done.
 
it gets interesting around the 1-minute mark. he says we will see the elevated guideway by WEM being installed by the end of the year. he also says 'cranes will be used to lift 50-tonne precast segments into position and then be permanently attached' over video showing the construction process. I got the sense they are going to build the viaduct in a similar fashion to the Menzies LRT bridge (which is a lovely little poetic gesture, given the Menzies' significance, imo) he said this would improve construction times and reduce congestion; i guess compared to VLSE's monolithic casting of entire segments and lifting 600-tonne segments into place whole? I'm speculating a bit here, but this sounds like it could be a big shift from how VLSE was built.
other than that, it seems like Marigold is ready to friggin' go this summer. BLESS. thanks for sharing the video!
 

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