Vancouver Evergreen Line

[officedweller]

Time lapse of the TBM "Alice" being disassembled:

 

[officedweller]

The tunnel trackbed (2 tracks) is being formed by placing aggregate aggregate to form a base, then pouring a concrete slab.
Cement trucks were being hoisted into the tunnel pit, which then reversed down the length of the tunnel to delivery their loads.
Eventually a vertical wall will be built to separate the northbound and southbound tracks.

Latest Evergreen advisory. This explains the mini aggregate stockpiles at the north portal.

Ongoing Tunnel Construction near Seaview Drive

Boring of the two-kilometre tunnel for the Evergreen Line was completed in late November and construction of the concrete base within the tunnel is underway in Port Moody near Seaview Drive.

A concrete base is being constructed to support the Evergreen Line guideway inside the two-kilometre tunnel. Crews are currently placing gravel fill inside the tunnel working from the south to the north end. Once the gravel is in place crews will pour the concrete base.

The next step is building the wall that separates the in-bound and out-bound trains. This will be followed by the installation of utilities, trackwork and power systems.


Link

...
At the north portal it looks like the temporary aggregate pit has been removed so I guess the gravel base in the tunnel is complete.

The trucks were removed a couple of days ago. Today they were lifting cement trucks into the tunnel entrance and the trucks were backing up the tunnel the same way the gravel trucks were.

Here are some links to photos from Grant Mattice's Flickr photo stream. They are really informative and interesting.
North Portal Tunnel by Grant Mattice, on Flickr

Helping Hand by Grant Mattice, on Flickr

Heavy Lift by Grant Mattice, on Flickr

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Quick question, what happens to the Millennium Line after this opens?

My understanding is that the Evergreen Line will have its own color on the map along with its own wayfinding, but this is despite it being an extension of the Millennium Line. And the segment of the line between Loughead and Columbia Station becomes part of the Expo line.

Along these lines, I also see that the UBC Line is being floated around as simultaneously an extension from Clark Station and as a distinct Line with it's own wayfinding.

Sorry if these questions seem silly, I am trying to familiarize myself with Vancouver transit system.

 

[officedweller]

The routing is best shown on this pic from the 2014 Annual Report.

In essence, the current Millennium Line will short-turn/terminate at Production Way - it will become a "branch" of the Expo Line (shown in blue) (the same way the Canada Line has 2 branches (a "split tail")).
(The branch goes to Production Way instead of stopping at Lougheed Station, because Production Way is a major destination for Simon Fraser University students, and terminating at Lougheed Station would have caused many passengers to transfer for just one stop. Eventually when frequency increases, the trains will likely have to terminate at Lougheed Station since Lougheed Station has a siding to facilitate short-turns).

The "Millennium Line" (shown in yellow) will run from Lafarge Lake Douglas to VCC.

BTW, here's the pic from the Annual Report.


http://www.translink.ca/~/media/Doc...erview/annual_reports/annual_report_2013.ashx

The new wayfinding signs in the new stations does show overlapping green on the Millennium Line's yellow:

There was a media tour of Burquitlam and Moody Central stations today. These are some of the images posted to Twitter.

Wayfinding signage at Burquitlam, photo from https://twitter.com/SusanLazaruk/status/685567001620647936

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From SSP:

Circumventing the tunnel - a test train is moved on flatbed to the Vehicle Service Facility (near Falcon Drive) in Coquitlam:

https://www.facebook.com/evergreenline

A couple of new bulletins on testing and commissioning in Port Moody and Coquitlam:

http://www.evergreenline.gov.bc.ca/Testing-and-Commissioning.htm

from the evergreen facebook page:

Here’s a picture of the first test train on the Evergreen alignment in Port Moody. The train is travelling from Inlet Centre Station to Moody Centre Station. For more information about testing and commissioning, please visit: http://www.evergreenline.gov.bc.ca/documents/InformationSheets/160128_EGL_Infosheet_TestingAndCommissioning_Port Moody.pdf

 

[officedweller]

Here's another representation, with Canada Line in blue, Expo Line in red, and Millennium Line with Evergreen extension (and future Broadway extension) in yellow.
Note that he shows the Lougheed branch one stop short - it should continue one more stop to Production Way Station.

https://voony.wordpress.com/category/transit/skytrain-transit/

 

[officedweller]

From SSP:

...

Here are a couple photos I took of Coquitlam's project to rebuild Pinetree Way before the Evergreen Line opens. It's progressing quickly, and should really bring some cohesion to the corridor.

This block is mostly complete. Note the somewhat separated bike lane. I don't think the black fencing was really necessary though.

Quick shot of Coquitlam Central Station.

 

[officedweller]

From Evergreen Facebook -

Inlet Centre Station platform:

https://www.facebook.com/evergreenline

 

[officedweller]

MKIII SkyTrain at the OMC found by Metro-One and Madog222 on Translink facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/translink

 

[officedweller]

New (future) route map.

Note that the Evergreen Extension is shown as yellow (Millennium Line) with green border.

Posted by urbancanadian at SSP:

Source: https://burnaby.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/?preview=15977 (p. 19; 4.8mb)

 

[officedweller]

From SSP:
Images of platform signage at Lougheed Station.

Flickr linked via VanCityBuzz - 2015-12-01 - Jeffrey Ngai
This confirms that Platform 3 will be used for Millennium Line trains to Lafarge Lake-Douglas.


Taken by me - 2016-02-24
Note the mention of Expo Line being available by exiting the platform - this confirms the Expo Line will run on at least one (but mostly likely both) of Platforms 1 and 2.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

New (future) route map.

Note that the Evergreen Extension is shown as yellow (Millennium Line) with green border.

Posted by urbancanadian at SSP:

Source: https://burnaby.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/?preview=15977 (p. 19; 4.8mb)

I am just confused why there is an insistence of giving the Evergreen Extension it's own wayfinding when it is clearly just an extension of the Millennium Line?

 

[officedweller]

The history is that the line was originally just an extension of the Millennium Line - i.e. Phase 2.
Then, to cut costs, TransLink changed the technology to LRT (not SkyTrain).
Since an LRT wouldn't be part of the Millennium Line, it was given a separate name:
.............The Evergreen Line (the name of a cultural centre in Coquitlam).
The Province changed the line back to SkyTrain - but the Evergreen Line name stuck.
... and now its political - the municipal leaders don't want their local branding taken away from them,
so "Evergreen Line" has quietly become "Evergreen Extension".
Some local politicians are likely up in arms over that minor change.

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From SSP:

From the webcam today - the floor of the trackbed/guideway seems to have reached the portal(?)
(i.e. is that rebar on the gravel bed?)

http://wcs.pbaeng.com/projects/R1_Transit

Lincoln Station looks close to completion as well.

Note the sign displaying when the next train will arrive and its destination.
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I wonder if the have the same signs on the platform and not just this one in the station house.

 

[officedweller]

Test train between Coquitlam Central and Lincoln Stations:

https://www.facebook.com/evergreenline

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

The history is that the line was originally just an extension of the Millennium Line - i.e. Phase 2.
Then, to cut costs, TransLink changed the technology to LRT (not SkyTrain).
Since an LRT wouldn't be part of the Millennium Line, it was given a separate name:
.............The Evergreen Line (the name of a cultural centre in Coquitlam).
The Province changed the line back to SkyTrain - but the Evergreen Line name stuck.
... and now its political - the municipal leaders don't want their local branding taken away from them,
so "Evergreen Line" has quietly become "Evergreen Extension".
Some local politicians are likely up in arms over that minor change.

Thanks. That actually explains it perfectly!

 

[officedweller]

From SSP:

005/006 at Lafarge Lake-Douglas station today:

Photo via @cityofcoquitlam on Twitter.