Thursday was the 150th anniversary of the first train crossing the Victoria Bridge. I took the opportunity to travel on it by train during what turned out to be a nice sunset.
The Gazette’s Andy Riga has a package of stories about the bridge, including a proposal to add light rail lines to its hangers (replacing the single lanes on each side being used by cars). I asked local rail expert Marc Dufour about that idea as we crossed the bridge, and he said it was silly, because there are already rail tracks on the bridge being used by commuter trains.
Cool! I never thought the shots would come out that good… :)
No, really, it’s silly to add streetcar tracks; there is already two tracks on the bridge that could very easily accommodate half-hourly commuter trains to the South-Shore on rush hours.
Why spend billions and months to build a totally new rapid transit line (http://www.amt.qc.ca/docs/pdf/slr/SLR_Executive_summary.pdf) when there is already the capacity and infrastructure?
Back in 1990, the MTQ has got it’s eyes open and managed to put in service two totally new commuter trains in three weeks (thanks to the mohawk crisis). If we wanted, we could have for next spring a train linking the Autoparc Chevrier to downtown (with some stops in Brossard, St-Hubert and St-Lambert).
I remember when those weren’t single lanes but double lanes on each side, with opposing traffic. Each time I drove an Econoline Van or a Mercury Grand Marquis along it I’d pull in the mirror and hug the front right wheel to the iron curb hoping to hell nothing terrible would happen. Sheer terror.