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A PR IL 2016 | 93 UP Express PHOTOGRAPHY BY RICK RADELL + BEN RAHN & A FRAME/COURTESY METROLINX UP Express by ROBIN BRUNET A good rule of thumb in any public infrastructure project is that the bigger and more complex the job, the better it is to use the simplest possible design and construction techniques. This has certainly benefitted the UP Express, North America's first dedicated express rail train, which runs between Union Station and Toronto Pearson International Airport. A host of designers, civil engineers and builders worked at the top of their game for Metrolinx, an agency of the government of Ontario, on the 25-kilometre-long line, including a three-kilometre spur and station at Pearson; and despite many logistical challenges, they finished on time and on budget in June of 2015. For the spur line, Metrolinx partnered with Infrastructure Ontario and used the Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP) method of project delivery. Garnet Greatrix, Metrolinx's manager, railway corridor infrastructure, civil infrastructure, says, "Metrolinx was asked by the province of Ontario to build and operate UP Express in July of 2010. The project kicked off in earnest in 2011, when one of three consortiums that had submitted design proposals was chosen as the winning candidate. Construction began in February of 2012, and the spur, the stations and the main line were developed sequentially for the bulk of the project, coming together towards the final stages." Greatrix adds, "Although four years may seem a generous period for construction, it was actually a very tight timeline, with numerous protocols to follow as well as a major transportation component of the airport having to be closed for six months in order for the Pearson station to be built." Greatrix is referring to the automated people mover (APM), a cable-driven train on an elevated guideway that links a parking facility to both airport terminals. "The APM was developed back in the 1980s with the realization it would eventually be accompanied by a railway spur station, and infrastructure such as structural bents were already in place for us – which saved our builders time and effort," he says. "However, our station would be situated in between the APM's two lines, and this not only meant the system would have to be closed for safety's sake, but the builders would have to rely on a tower crane for transporting material over the rails onto our site." AirLINX Transit Partners Inc. – a joint venture between Aecon Construction and Materials Ltd. and Dufferin Construction Company – was selected by Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx as the winning consortium for the spur and station, partly because it had taken a straightforward approach to UP Express's design. "With regards to the railway spur, which would be elevated over space mostly belonging to the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), we preferred the simple caisson, column and deck two-track guideway proposed by Dufferin and Aecon," says Greatrix. Claudio Crespi, senior project manager for WSP/MMM Group Limited (the project's technical advisors), points out that, "In and of themselves, UP Express's components at the spur lines are nothing unusual. A caisson is a caisson; but whereas a typical bridge might have 12 of them, we had approximately 80, each about eight feet in diameter and sunk 25-plus metres into the ground. Precast girders: again, nothing new, but we had more than 600 of them to erect, and we had to swing some of them over major roadways and adjacent to the APM guideway using cranes." The logistics of this massive undertaking were greatly aided by AECOM Canada Ltd., the engineer and the architect of record for the spur and station. "AirLINX was our client and we began work for them in 2011," says Srdjan Brasic, manager, Ontario West District, transportation at AECOM. "We were also involved in some of the individually-packaged projects that comprised the main 22 kilometres of UP Express, including bridge and road widening." The APM was closed between April and September of 2013 while the Pearson station took shape, and material deliveries were co-ordinated so that they would be used almost immediately, since laydown space was at a premium. But despite the sheer size of the construction, Crespi says work proceeded smoothly: "And in that regard my hat is off to AirLINX, which got pretty much everything right, right off the bat." Plus, as rigorously organized as the building schedule was, there was still room for impromptu inspiration. "For example, in the midst of building the LOCATION Union Station to Pearson International Airport, Toronto, Ontario OWNER/DEVELOPER Metrolinx CONSULTANT TO METROLINX IBI Group ARCHITECTS Winkreative in partnership with Hosoya Schaefer Architects (for the branding of stations and train interiors) Zeidler Partnership Architects (as sub consultants to technical advisors WSP/MMM Group for the Union Station platform) Adamson Associates Architects (as sub consultants to technical advisors WSP/MMM Group Limited for Pearson Terminal) PROJECT CONSORTIUM AirLINX Transit Partners Inc. (a joint venture between Aecon Construction and Materials Limited and Dufferin Construction Company) ENGINEER/ARCHITECT OF RECORD AECOM Canada Ltd. (for the spur and station) GENERAL CONTRACTORS EllisDon Corporation (for the Union Station platform) Brennan Paving & Construction Ltd. (Noise Barriers & Security Fencing) NOISE BARRIER DESIGNER, SUPPLIER AND INSTALLER Armtec TOTAL UP EXPRESS SERVICE COST $456 million

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