Canadian Railroads > Happenings at Turcot West

In the background of some of Michael Berry’s recent potash train photos, you can see some construction (or more appropriately, demolition) work in progress in the Turcot West area near Montreal West. The CN main line there passed under a highway feeder network of streets called the Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Boulevard. The different road sections were supported by a long concrete box structure (Picture 1).

The roads and supporting embankments have been removed and this concrete box structure is about to go. A large Mammoet straddle crane has been assembled and it looks like the concrete roof of the box will be cut into sections and removed one-by-one (Picture 2).

At the west end of the box is a long-standing CN signal bridge (Picture 3) which is not long for this world, either. Right now, the tracks make a curve to the right at this point, but, as part of the Turcot megaproject (which stretches for a couple of miles), they will instead curve to the left to run closer to the St-Jacques escarpment.

Ray 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/16 18:06 by Ray_Murphy.

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Here are a couple of images from yesterday afternoon to add to Ray's post.

1-CN 401 on the far, eastern side of this very short tunnel, with CN 2025 leading.

2-The same train on the other side of the tunnel.

3-The northern side of the tunnel as seen from Ronald Drive.

Michael

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What's the goal of this project?

Coalca Wrote:
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> What's the goal of this project?

The "tunnel" has to be demolished in order to reroute the tracks as part of a massive redesign of a crumbling elevated highway interchange.

KG



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/16 05:29 by kgmontreal.

Ray,

I too went and had a look at the Turcot West "tunnel" demolition yesterday.  From what I could see the twin Mammoet gantries will not remove just the roof of the box.  Instead, it appears that the box will be cut into "slices" like a loaf of bread.  The gantries will pick up a "slice" consisting of sides and roof in one piece.  The towers supporting the gantries are mounted on self-propelled moveable platforms sitting on 96 rubber tires.  With the "slice" raised a bit the platforms will be slowly driven east to where a wide level crossing has been built.  At that point the tire pairs, which can be hydraulically swivelled through 180 degrees, will be rotated 90 degrees and the platforms/towers/gantries/ "slice" driven sideways across and away from the tracks to where the "slice" can be lowered and demolished without interfering with railway operations.

The attached photos should help explain this.  The cost of doing this must be astronomical.

And while I was in the area CN 120 departed for Halifax.

KG

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/16 04:30 by kgmontreal.

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kgmontreal Wrote:
> towers supporting the gantries are mounted on
> self-propelled moveable platforms sitting on 96
> rubber tires.  With the "slice" raised a bit the

Self Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMT) which can all be linked together and operated by one person to ensure all move at the same speed in the same direction at the same time.


> The cost of doing this must be astronomical.

Actually, it has been found that while expensive, this is a lower-cost option than closing down traffic completely for several weeks.
Other methods of demolition (hoe-rams etc) can be much more disuptive to the tracks and other adjacent infrastructure.

 

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON