Here’s a shot of the OTrain doing a practice run south of Somerset viaduct on Monday afternoon. It had just left Bayview Station.
In this area, the OTrain will continue to use its single track, albeit with some new alignment and grading just south of Bayview Station. Turnouts, or switches, have been installed for the new passing track, and the deep layers of roadbed installed. Some new retaining walls, signalling and wiring are also installed.
Yet to come is the final roadbed, ties, and rails for the passing tracks. They have to be operable by spring 2014, when the new trainsets are put into use, and service increases to a 8 minute frequency.
Presumably though, we will see fewer overtime hours now that the “old” track is reopened. Crews have been busy every day, every evening, and on weekends to get the system operable again for the scheduled Tuesday resumption of service.
I walked by there this weekend and it looks like the tracks still loop out around that single hydro pole. So…was changing that not on the agenda? Why can I not shake the feeling that the city doesn’t really like the O-train? Everything they do with it seems to be done begrudgingly.