I was looking at the railways on Lulu Island and it actually looks promising that a future Canada Line Extension could utilize CN's Lulu Island Industrial (LII) Right of Way and CP's Van Horne Lead (VHL). The line would go North from Bridgeport turn right following CP's VHL until turning right once more down CN's LLI which goes straight to the Fraser.
If you look at the active businesses on the LLI, there are only 5 business that use the line. They do however seem to use it: If you look at the lot of WAL Vehicle Services they have 9 storage tracks. So you can't close the north south connector of the LLI without providing an alternative. Luckily however, CN has the Ewen Industrial Branch (EIB) just to the east of the WAL lot. CN could build 3.6km of track to connect the end of the LLI at the WAL lot to the EIB. This would be even be beneficial to CN because trains can go faster as they will not have to travel through urban areas, the overall amount of track and crossings they have to maintain will be significantly less, and the distance for the trains to reach the black bridge over the north arm will be significantly less. It is also beneficial for Richmond because they don't have to pay CN as much because there will be fewer railway crossings, they will be less interaction between people and the railway and, they get a right of way for a transit line that won't bother current residents and can easily be connected to the Canada Line.
If CN can get that little portion of track built that opens up space for a new Canada Line extension alignment that can run North out of Bridgeport. This would be a great advantage as trains can run from Brighouse to Tsawwassen. Since the Canada Line currently alternates between YVR and Brighouse, the Brighouse line runs at half the frequency of the Waterfront-Bridgeport line. The frequency could be doubled on the Brighouse line with every second train heading towards Clarence, every fourth train heading towards Tsawwassen. My station proposals are:
- Bridgeport
- Shell
- St. Edwards
- Blundell
- Coppersmith-Steveston
- Ladner City Center
- Clarence
- 52nd-Mills
- Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rNy8bK0rsYmhMKY3tgZbXnBoWn8&usp=sharing
- Bridgeport to Shell: Above Grade
- Shell to Fraser River: At Grade (except major road crossing: Overpass or Underpass)
- Fraser River Crossing: 600m Long Bridge
- Fraser River Islands: Above Grade
- 40th Avenue/Ladner Trunk Road/Clarence Taylor Way: Above Grade
- Clarence Taylor Way to the end of Hwy 17: In Highway Median. New Highway interchanges at 56th, 52nd and Tsawwassen Dr.
- Hwy 17 to Ferry Terminal Station: Above Grade
Comments:
cganuelas1995: Why not just extend down third?I'm really questioning as to why have it go through the middle of nowhere to sexually gratify the NIMBYs as opposed to have the extension naturally go down No.3 road, then across the Fraser to the intersection of Arthur and Trunk to start off.
waves:
You certainly could. It wouldn't use an existing rail line like Sheba was suggesting though and would likely have to have Above Grade from Landsdowne all the way to Clarence. The No.3 alternative would however 3km shorter (14km to Clarence rather than 17km). Suggested stations at Blundell and Williams.
Alternative Canada Line Extension
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rNy8bK0rsYmhMKY3tgZbXnBoWn8&usp=sharing
forouhar: CN wanted to but there is some sort of conservation area
CN tried to do that a couple of years ago. There was something to do with that little stretch of land being some conservation area, hence the obvious lack of a connector line between WWL and Ewen. There are still piles of concrete ties sitting at the west end of the yard tracks in Ewen that might not be used until they expand the east end of the facility. This is also the reason why the pullback in Ewen is a silly two-unit stub track that provides just enough space to clear the switch.
waves:
That's really interesting. I wonder what conservation concerns there were. The land from Google Earth already looks completely industrialized. Except for the stream cutting through WWL and the straight canal-like stream in line with No.7.
forouhar: Correction to Active Rail Users.
Also, bit of a correction to your active rail users. The only active businesses operating west out of Lulu/No8 are:
Mile 7
Also, bit of a correction to your active rail users. The only active businesses operating west out of Lulu/No8 are:
Mile 7
- Raymont Logistics
- Northgate Terminals (West Fraser Lumber)
- Richply
- Bulldog Bags
- Norampac (down the Crestwood)
- Layfield
- Steveston Branch (West Leg)
- Crown Packaging
- WWL/Toyota
- Lafarge Cement
- Lulu Island Terminal
- Coast 2000
- Western Canada Express
- Westran
- Euroasia
waves:
This is a great list. It shows that no business are using the line between Mile 9 and 15, and that there are only 3 business operating past Mile 15. When I was creating the map, I picked out the properties that had extra railway lines going into them - I can remove the ones that are not on your list.
cganuelas1995: Where should an extension terminate
Also, I personally think the extension should terminate at Tsawwassen Town Centre Mall instead of the Ferry Terminal and just have the 620 truncate at Tsawwassen Mills.
waves:
Seems silly to me to go to the effort of going all the way to Tsawwassen Mills and not go the last 5k in the highway median to the Ferry no? You could have some trains turn around at Tsawwassen Mills? If you are going to have to bus to the ferry anyways wouldn't it make more sense to just not complete phase two from Clarence? Just keep it as a bus from Lander Exchange to the Terminal?
