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

I was walking under the Tawatina on Saturday and i noticed the pier on the South end that they were working on it all done, the concrete refinished and everything. I haven't seen testing in the last few weeks, but my travels only take me near the line on strange intervals and times. Are trains still out consistently or are they regrouping?
 
I was walking under the Tawatina on Saturday and i noticed the pier on the South end that they were working on it all done, the concrete refinished and everything. I haven't seen testing in the last few weeks, but my travels only take me near the line on strange intervals and times. Are trains still out consistently or are they regrouping?
Trains were going up and down Connors this morning, so they are still out testing.
 
I understand everyone's cynicism, but good lord is it exhausting.
The public is exhausted by the fact that the line has been in development for years, the affected neighbourhoods had to put up with lengthy periods of construction/road closures (like what the west end is experiencing now), the system has missed multiple deadlines, significant construction deficiencies were revealed, and we still do not have a hard-and-fast date for when to expect the trains to actually enter revenue service. There will be plenty more gallows humour until we can actually board trains on a regular schedule.

Why can't Canadian municipalities do transit projects? Edmonton has an appalling recent history when you consider both the Valley and Metro lines--and the Metro line wasn't a PPP, so there's no TransEd to blame in that case. The situation is every bit as bad with Toronto's Line 5, which again is riddled with deficiencies, is way behind schedule and has no opening date anywhere in sight.
 
The public is exhausted by the fact that the line has been in development for years, the affected neighbourhoods had to put up with lengthy periods of construction/road closures (like what the west end is experiencing now), the system has missed multiple deadlines, significant construction deficiencies were revealed, and we still do not have a hard-and-fast date for when to expect the trains to actually enter revenue service. There will be plenty more gallows humour until we can actually board trains on a regular schedule.

Why can't Canadian municipalities do transit projects? Edmonton has an appalling recent history when you consider both the Valley and Metro lines--and the Metro line wasn't a PPP, so there's no TransEd to blame in that case. The situation is every bit as bad with Toronto's Line 5, which again is riddled with deficiencies, is way behind schedule and has no opening date anywhere in sight.
I hate this coughed out excuse, but it's inefficiencies and inexperience. At least this is what I get from the papers I've read on the difference between project execution in Europe vs. North America.

I had to take a course this past week in Surrey and the instructor brought up a good point about standards being a problem as well. He had a Navy background and called it "Nukifying the standards". When he explained the meaning of the phrase, he talked about how bringing the entire Navy to a Nuclear Navy Standard cause massive cost increases and tremendous slow downs of projects due to overdesign and rework.

I dunno, it's a complex problem. I wish we'd bring consultants in with like 5 decades experience and unilateral authority to dictate how things will be before contracts are even handed out.
 
From the misery loves company file:

Toronto's Eglinton Crosstown LRT (Line 5) has been mired in a sea of delays and deficiencies similar to the Valley Line. Now the design-build contractor Crosslinx Transit Solutions has announced that they will no longer be working with the Toronto Transit Commission and instead are turning to litigation. Metrolinx describes this development as "another unacceptable delay tactic" which accomplishes nothing towards the goal of getting the line into revenue service.

 

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