New Prototype Station

Recently I was reading my local paper, Niagara This Week and found something surprising: VIA Rail chooses Grimsby(ON) for Protoype.
This new prototype station is different than the shelter that used to be here. It is heated, and will make a comfortable journey seem even more comfortable. It is not every big, at 100 sq. feet, is made bt CFC 2000 of quebec and was constructed from concrete, fiberglass, and recycled plastic. The reason VIA wanted the protoype in Grimsby, they were looking for ideas in the area, and the shelter wasn't the image VIA wanted to protray. The shelters are modular and expandable, so if the ridership for Grimsby increases, they can add more units(Currently we have a total of 3). Also there will be ashpalt in the parking lot, and new landscape work will be done.
The total project cost:$90 000, and every penny was well spent.
Next stop for this project: Hinton, Alberta.
Now everyone can recognize a VIA Rail shelter.
For more info: http://www.niagarathisweek.com/na/gl/st ... 5490c.html
All for a community that sees only 6000 people pass through it each year.

Come up and see it soon,
Adam R

This is also to let everyone know that in Srathroy they have put up a new shelter as well.

Adam

Thanks for the info Adam. Do you know if the new shelter in Strathroy is the same type as the new one in Grimsby?

Yes, believe so, Ken. The only difference is that there might not be three units, possibly only one or two.The basic rule is the higher the ridership the higher the amount of units at a station. For example, we have 6000 people at the station with 3 units.
Regards
Adam

>>>It is not every big, at 100 sq. feet, is <<<

100 sq. feet = 10 by 10 feet. Is this correct? So tiny?

Not exactly 10x10 - maybe more like 8x12... but still small. Then again, so's Grimsby. At least it's enclosed and heated which is better than some.

Today I came across of a photo of the shelter at Strathroy:

Photo by Walter P.

Thanks for posting the photo of the new shelters. These are long overdue, and I'm glad that VIA is putting one in at someplace like Hinton, Alberta. I hope that this is a trend toward actually creating station facilities at intermediate locations on long distance trains. With regard to to the Canadian, in addition to its frequecy of operation, high fares, and restrictions on usage (the 48 hour advance warning to stop), I think that another big reason that it appears that VIA cares little about intermediate patronage on this route is not only the lack of staffed stations, but the lack of ANY station facilities whatsoever at many locations. And one would think, unlike some of the "shelters" in place previously, that this being Canada, that a heated shelter would be a given. Still, the shelters evidently lack restroom facilites, so while a start, they're still inadequate.