All Green Line Stations (Phase 1) September 2023 Status

[@humanecities]

I am SOOOOOO excited for this train!

[@LoneHowler]

Thank you. The city doesn't seem to understand how curious Calgarians are about the train and it's progress. It's just hearing about some road closures for "utility upgrades"

[@moniquemcpherson6927]

Agreed. I had an appointment.ent at South Health Campus and had to take the Route 302. That was a LONG trip.

[@OLIVERWASMYNAMEFIRST]

they understand. but they don't want to give you information because then you would see how badly they are mismanaging this project.

[@LoneHowler]

@@OLIVERWASMYNAMEFIRST or to prevent NIMBY whining on every update

[@CANMONQUE]

My god the lack of density on most of the line. It’s looking mostly industrial. Hopefully the line will increase density around the line or commercial developments.

[@AustinSersen]

Yeah, mostly industrial indeed. Some good to providing better transit to jobs, but ridership in the SE won't be great until they get it to at least McKenzie Towne (two stops south). If you visit my personal Instagram page @catchatyou, I have a heatmap I generated of the transit frequency in Calgary, and with the current transit service, the SE is by far the worst ridden part of the city.

[@Elenesski]

Thanks, I enjoyed that. Especially since I cannot cycle any more.

[@Star_Jewel_Realm]

Very good. 😊 We are still waiting for the LRT to connect to the airport. 🔮

[@AustinSersen]

The Blue Line should get the connection first. The study should be done in a few months, and then I can imagine construction starting in the next year or two!

[@DS-rw5zz]

The SE part has been lack of investment of infrastructure for many years.... If you drive by that route, you can see literally it's like a rust belt area along the way. The city needs to invest more in SE (v.s. in NW). So it can attract more residents and increase density otherwise it creates an imbalanced development/population across the city which is not good for the city. The Green Line has been so much needed there. Hopefully the city can catch up on SE part of the city.

[@carlfalt174]

These areas will totally change after the new green is built as there will be condo's go in etc

[@AustinSersen]

Yes, can't wait! However, Calgary's TOD efforts have come substantially short in the past. Look at the abandoned wasteland Westbrook Station still is, how all of the buildings around Sunnyside turn their backs to the station instead of focus on it (Looking at you Safeway), and how 1/4 of the current stations are surrounded by the least efficient land use: parking lots. Worlds better than most of what's happening in the States, but far behind international TOD.

[@stickynorth]

Very saddened to here Eau Claire Market is getting demo'd for this project. Like so many current and former Calgarians I have many good memories at that mall even if it never did become the "Granville Island Market" of Alberta as designed... Ah well, that's life. However, If you want to see what the Green line will be like take a trip up to Edmonton soon and ride the Valley Line. The first 12 stations and 13 km of the future 25 station and 27 km line is open now. You can also directly compare and contrast it with the existing Capital/Metro lines which of course use the standard Siemens-Duewag U2 OG trains and Siemens SD-160 ones that Calgary runs on its existing lines too. My only complaints are the slow-ish running time of 30 minutes from Mill Woods to downtown and the very narrow interiors of the trains of these fully low-floor trams. They don't even feel half as comfortable as the existing trains since the bogies intrude into the cabin in both the Alstom trains used in Edmonton on the Valley line and what Calgary will using with the CAF trains on this project...

[@AustinSersen]

I made it up to Edmonton for opening weekend! There was definitely excitement around the line when I rode the full journey on Monday. It was a good mix of people, and still a large amount of people experiencing it for the first time. It isn't great that it's a decent amount slower over the line than the Capital line, but dwell times at stations were definitely padded to keep a reliable schedule I guess. It could be 3-4 minutes less from end to end by adjusting the schedule for less dwell time at most stations, especially Davies. The low-floor LRVs have their drawbacks. One potential benefit is that CT is forced to have more seating with these vehicles compared to their high floor vehicles where seating has been reduced.

[@michaelchristopher8266]

@@tubatimEdmonton has 26 Bombardier trams, but Alstom bought out Bombardier a few years ago so now the city works with Alstom for maintenance of the LRV’s, the west line will use 46 Hyundai Rotem LRV’s

[@songqima3233]

It is the horrible safety system assurance design issue that made the valley line so slow. The line has many rail crossings without proper gate or alarm system. Some sections of the track lack fencing to protect foreign objects from entering. Because of these, the LRV can only travel at 40kph max at those areas, and the entire line is designed with a max operation speed of 60kph. This is not going to be a problem for the green line. As it is designed with much better system engineering, and will operate at a max speed of 85kph, which exceeds both of the 2 LRT line Calgary already have.

[@ChristopherTindall]

That's great - looks like a great ride, too! My personal thoughts are that we shouldn't be putting any portion of the Green Line underground. If we want people to ride transit (and bikes!) we should be making it inconvenient for automobiles. If there's a train in the way of a car, maybe that car driver should be on the train instead!

[@AustinSersen]

I totally agree with needing to increase the friction of driving. I'm not sure how much the complexity of downtown with more pedestrians and all would slow down the train versus a completely separated right of way, but I'm sure the Green Line will snake it's way through downtown much faster than the Red and Blue lines on the 7 Ave transit mall. As much as Edmonton's downtown portion is overbuilt, it does make for a fast trip through downtown. The underground stations make bringing a bike on the train much more challenging, and since tunnelling is so much more expensive, more of the suburban route could be funded sooner, so definitely pros and cons both ways.

[@TheCertifiedLegend]

can we get underground metro :)

[@AustinSersen]

Maybe one day! There are plans to bring the red line underground through 8 Ave downtown, but it's beyond the recently revised 30 year plan of Route Ahead. The Green Line segment between the Victoria Park bus barn and Eau Claire will be underground.

[@TheCertifiedLegend]

@@AustinSersen oh that's good news, thanks for telling me 👍🏼

[@stickynorth]

8 Ave Subway! Get it built already!

[@mayloo2137]

​@@stickynorthI don't know about that. Years ago, I read about the bedrock under downtown not being able to support an underground transit station.

[@RealConstructor]

@@mayloo2137There is always a solution. In my country there is mostly peat and swamp and we still build cities and metros.

[@mayloo2137]

I live in the near NW. I'm very happy I don't have to take Ctrains to get to and from downtown.

[@CancelYoutube026]

this train map looks like LA metro's...

[@michaelchristopher8266]

Im all for increasing public transit, but this seems like a train to no where.

[@johnmorrall2717]

Was BRT considered as there is no business case for LRT

[@AustinSersen]

I'm not sure there needs to be a business case for public transit any more than for roadways. If we critiqued all infrastructure the same as public transit, every road would be a toll road, every school would have an entrance fee, there probably wouldn't be any libraries or public parks...so there is a case for building public infrastructure that isn't profitable in the strictly economic sense, but whose public good outweighs the expense. Yes, the project originally started as a BRT project called SE BRT and a separate project for a north central LRT through the Nose Creek valley. Some time around 2010, the project was upgraded to LRT and connected to the North Central LRT as a single, unified line since the long-term plan was ultimately for LRT, so they figured getting it built right from the start would save cost and disruption years down the line. They had the most public engagement on this project in the city's history, and concluded that the north section should travel up Centre Street (where the people are) instead of in the empty valley. That brings us to today where the first leg of construction goes from the SE, through largely industrial lands (with lots of TOD potential), and then into downtown and across the river onto Centre Street North. This gets the most complex part of the project completed first (lots of tunnelling, land acquisition, etc), and sets it up for easy expansion to complete the line where most of the land is already ready for this project. There's a considerable population of people in the deep SE. Every stop south of this initial line increases population served by several thousands of homes (and major centres like the south health centre), and the north construction on Centre Street will be the largest ridership, where current buses are all completely full in the morning rush and many bus routes are running at nearly 5 minute frequencies on articulated buses...can't really fit more buses in that corridor.

[@johnmorrall2717]

Industrial areas don't generate many transit trips

[@SaadMughal-ko5fw]

Zero progress