EPISODE 667 THE BIG PUSH…THE BIG BOX…FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION OCT. 27, 2022

alan skeoch

Oct. 27, 2022

What is happening at the end of Pinetree Way? A lot of people are chewing their fingernails this week end? Because this is the week end

of the big push…Big push! It is happening while the leafy splendour of Mary Fix Park remains unchanged as in the picture.

DATELINE: OCTOBER 27, 2022 WHAT IS THE ‘BIG PUSH”?

I am sure that a lot of top construction engineers will be nervously chewing their fingernails this

week end. Why? Because this week end the big box is about to be pushed under the

railway tracks at Port Credit, Ontario. Suppose something goes wrong and the push box

fails. Suppose the railway tracks above are moved even slightly then the whole the push box is compromised…i.e. bent, broken, collapsing.

Then we have a major disaster on our hands. East West transportation by rail will be disrupted.

The GO trip will cease to operate. Freight traffic also. A disaster.

Tests indicate success. Cross your fingers.

There are two ‘Big Pushes” planned. The second one? Pushing a concrete box under the Queen Elizabeth Way

The box must succeed. . Failure cannot be considered. The Queen Elizabeth way is the most travelled

super highway in Canada. If the big push fails and the QEW is compromised then transportation east west will

be impossible.

So there will be two big pushes underway shortly both of which will allow the new Light Railway to connect

Brampton to Port Credit. The cost? 4.6 billion dollars. The cost of success. What is the cost of failure?

Inconceivable. Both big pushes must succeed.

I think it would be a good ides for all of us to the our fingernails this week end.

alan skeoch

Just stones throw from Mary Fix Park is this jumble of construction signs, police cars, Excsvstors, drag lines, detours, and Johny on the Spots.

Something big is about to happen but no one can see behind this jumble of huge concrete slabs … THE BIG PUSH = THE BIG BOXES…one at Port Credit …and the other

at the Queen Elizabeth Highway and Hurontario Street. The cost so far is 4.6 billion dollars.

$4.6 billion Hurontario LRT uses unique ‘push box’ system to keep trains rolling

COURTESY METROLINX — A large part of the $4.6 billion Hurontario LRT project is the push box, which is a large, hollow concrete box that will be pushed under the rail tracks to create a tunnel underneath without disrupting rail service above. Last year, crews completed a critical part of the process: the launch slab. The next step is to push the system through and lay the tracks. A pre-push successfully took place in February.

The $4.6 billion Hurontario LRT, which will be renamed the Hazel McCallion Line, a critical 18-kilometre north-south connection between Port Credit and Brampton, is on track with plenty of work on tap for 2022.

Crews will be installing a tunnel underneath the GO rail tracks at Port Credit station and building a new underpass under the QEW at Hurontario Street. New flood walls are also being erected to protect Mary Fix Creek.

“The delivery of the Hazel McCallion Line is making great progress,” says Matt Llewellyn, a spokesperson for Metrolinx. “Significant pieces of work were completed in 2021, creating for an exciting start to 2022.”

Last year crews installed about 7.5 kilometres of new watermain, sanitary and stormwater sewers along Hurontario Street.

The 11,000-square-metre Operations Maintenance Storage Facility (OMSF) south of Highway 407 and west of Kennedy Road is nearing completion, with the internal fit-out now underway. It will have an operating centre that will control the LRT system. Tracks will be installed in the yard this year.

As a refresher, the push box is a large, hollow concrete box that will be pushed underneath the Lakeshore West rail tracks at the Port Credit GO Station. This will create a tunnel under the rail tracks, allowing the future LRT line to move without disrupting rail service on the tracks above.

Image shows work on Port Credit GO and the push box.

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