Metrolinx plans modernization of Union Station Rail Corridor signaling system

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor

Metrolinx in Toronto, Canada, will upgrade and modernize the entire signaling system within the Union Station Rail Corridor (USRC) starting next year, an improvement that will provide long-term benefits to both transit operations and customers.

 

Replacing the signaling system within the USRC is part of Metrolinx’s overall Signaling and Train Control Improvement Program and the next phase of an overall revitalization of the USRC that will improve service reliability, eliminate track bottlenecks, increase train speeds and reduce operating costs. Most critically, the upgrades to the more than 80-year-old signaling system will ensure GO Transit can prepare for the anticipated doubling of ridership over the next 10-20 years. On a typical weekday, approximately 200,000 GO Transit passengers travel to and from Union Station.

Metrolinx’s USRC Signaling System Project is valued at CA$365.5 million (US$322 million). The Canadian government is contributing up to CA$92 million (US$481 million) through the Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund, the province of Ontario and Metrolinx are contributing the remaining amount.

Work will begin in 2015 and is expected to be completed by 2019. These signaling improvements are one piece of Metrolinx’s integrated, regional transportation plan that will help ease congestion in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

The USRC, running from the Don River in the east to Strachan Avenue in the west, is about 6.4 kilometers (3.9 miles) long and contains 40 kilometers (25 miles) of track, with as many as 16 tracks lined up alongside one another in the busiest part of the corridor. The corridor contains 228 signals that train engineers must follow, as well as 221 track switches that allow trains to change tracks at they move through the corridor.

Three major contracts have been awarded to deliver this significant project: Signaling (awarded to Alstom Transport), Technical Consultant Services (awarded to Hatch Mott McDonald) and Electrical Enabling Works (awarded to Plan Group).

“Replacing the existing signaling system at Union Station is a major step forward for Metrolinx’s overall vision of growing and building a more robust transit network,” said Bruce McCuaig, president and chief executive officer of Metrolinx. “The new signaling system will provide us with the flexibility to support growth, including future electrification and regional express rail initiatives, both major priorities for Metrolinx over the next decade.”

 

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