I agree with Martin that more center platforms would be better. I’m surprised they didn’t do this while they had the tunnel closed for 2 years recently. They were ripping out all the tracks anyway.
In general, it seems like it takes an awful lot of walking through cavernous underground plazas to get from the street to the platform in the downtown stations, especially considering that the downtown stations are relatively simple: one northbound and one southbound platform. We’re not talking about NY’s 42nd Street or DC’s Metro Center, where multiple lines converge and so you need to move people to the right platform.
The buses would need to switch lanes when entering, or better yet, be replaced by those newfangled buses with doors on both sides.
Hopefully we will see this change in the downtown transit tunnel in the future, when we have nothing but trains in the tunnels. Then again, how can we close the tunnel down for enough time to accommodate that scale of a change? We may be stuck with what we’ve got.
I can imagine closing just one station for short periods of time. Downtown stations are close enough together that it won’t be too inconvenient.
why would the station have to close? pouring the slab of concrete for the platform can happen at night … and installation of elevators/escalators/stairs can happen 24 hours a day since the workers will be protected by the platform width itself.
the real challenge will be to insert the switches for EAST LINK into the existing concrete and track south of the Int’l District station.