1. Project Portfolio
Denny Yip, EIT, B.A.Sc. (Hons)
October 2015
e: dyip.90@gmail.com
m: 647-802-3026
City of Toronto skyline from Broadview Avenue/Riverdale Park; own photo

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PROFILE
PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Denny Yip is an Engineering Intern (EIT), currently employed with MMM Group Limited as a
Construction Inspector under the TTC Construction Management contract. Past projects he
has worked on include the now-running UP Express, Highway 7 and Davis Drive rapidways
(bus rapid transit) and the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension.
He is interested in career development pertaining to the following areas:
 Worldwide transportation planning principles from a qualitative perspective
 Interface between transportation design and city design (urban planning)
 Worldwide railway design, planning and operating requirements for goods and
passenger movement
 Mass transit route and alignment design
 Program management for major transportation infrastructure projects.
Major career goals for Denny include:
 Working on key transportation projects in major Canadian cities, and potentially
around the world
 Contribute positively to studies for potential new rapid transit routes required to
sustainably grow cities, or improvements on existing routes
 Ensure a fine balance between user costs (time and money) and capacity constraints
on transit, while attending to key social issues such as urban inequity, distance to
employment centres, and local traffic issues
Denny intends to work in a variety of different positions to further broaden and improve his
understanding of transportation design and urban planning principles.
PERSONAL LIFE
Denny enjoys a variety of hobbies outside of work, including:
 Photography – cityscapes, natural landscapes, skylines, flora and fauna, food, and
beyond
 Graphic design – generation of high-quality, modern appealing graphics such as
maps, posters, and other images
 Fitness – daily strength and/or cardio routines, eating healthy
 Volunteering – giving back to the community

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SUMMARY OF WORK
Work included in this portfolio spans both my academic career and my professional career.
Due to copyright and/or limited rights, only limited summaries are available for work
completed in a professional environment. Full summaries of educational and technology-
based projects can be found beyond this section. If you would like a copy of any of the full
reports, do not hesitate to contact me.
ACADEMIC PROJECTS
GTA West Rail Improvement Project
Project timeline: 4 months
Team size: 3
This was the cumulative capstone project at the University of Toronto, Department of Civil
Engineering. This project, which was entirely of our personal selection (as long as it fell
within a given regional boundary), involved the following three sub-projects:
 Caledon rail subdivision, a freight rail bypass connecting the existing CP Galt
subdivision to the CN Halton subdivision around the city of Brampton for goods
movement
 York-Halton GO Rail service, a new passenger rail service along the CN York and
Halton subdivisions to replace the existing 407 East/West GO buses
 Preliminary design of an expanded rail facility at Malton GO Station where the
aforementioned GO service would terminate, including a stub-end layover track.
Scarborough RT Line Study
Project timeline: 2 weeks
Team size: 2
This project was under the Public Transit Planning and Operations course at the University of
Toronto. This project allowed students to select a transit route within the Greater Toronto
Area and evaluate its operating performance, potential improvements and ways to increase
attractiveness of the route. My colleague and I selected the Scarborough Rapid Transit (RT)
as it is a transit route with a significant number of constraints due to its age and proprietary
technology.
Road Pricing Critique
Project timeline: 1 week
Team size: 1
This report was an assignment completed under the Transport Planning course at the
University of Toronto. It is a simple, short and concise critique responding to an article that
students read. I discuss the amount of influence that user charges has on transportation
demand and supply.

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Transit Congestion Policy
Project timeline: 2 weeks
Team size: 3
This report was an assignment completed under the Comparative Urban Policy course at the
University of Toronto. It is a two-sided summary paper indicating strategies utilised by two
different cities on a common issue. My colleagues and I juxtaposed the differences in
Singapore and Toronto through the use of demand management and demand responsive
strategies respectively.
Kylemount Residential Subdivision Project Report
Project timeline: 1 month
Team size: 5
This project was for the Construction Engineering course at the University of Toronto. This
project consisted of developing an earthworks staging plan for road and road substructure in
a greenfield environment prior to construction of a residential development in Vaughan,
Ontario. Overall activities, a project schedule, costs and equipment/material requirements
are quantified in detail.
PROFESSIONAL PROJECTS
Motive Power Study
Project timeline: 1 week
Team size: 1; reviewed by team of 3
Under the UP Express Operations Team, I researched and studied innovative propulsion
technologies for rail vehicles worldwide in response to continued pressure for rail
electrification. Technologies discussed include diesel hydraulic (UP Express Diesel Multiple
Unit base case), diesel electric, hydrogen fuel cell, gasoline, and battery-electric.
Union Station Delay Management Model
Project timeline: 1 week
Team size: 1; reviewed by team of 3
A model illustrating all scheduled GO Transit and VIA Rail movements during the day was
constructed to show the interface and impact of UP Express train occupancy in the corridor.
This model was used to simulate at a high level the potential delays that UP Express could
inflict upon other rail services given the east and west track ladders surrounding Union
Station, and thus could be used for service remediation in the event of a delay.
UP Express System Configuration Summary
Project timeline: Continually updated; original draft 1 month
Team size: 3
Under the UP Express (then Air Rail Link) Business Planning Team, my colleagues and I
completed a draft copy of the System Configuration Summary which summarised the UP
Express system in one concise document. This document covered everything from business
cases, ridership, marketing efforts, workforce requirements, rail operations, and corporate
governance.

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UP Express Ridership Due Diligence Report
Project timeline: 1 month
Team size: 3
Under the UP Express (then Air Rail Link) Business Planning Team, my colleagues and I
completed the Ridership Due Diligence report which summarised the studies for the service
in its previous form as Blue22 and beyond.
SPECIALTY PROJECTS
Visionary GO Transit Map
Project timeline: none
Team size: 1
Originally a part of an assignment for a Sustainable Cities course at the University of
Toronto, this map illustrates the potential of GO Transit as an Ontario-wide passenger
service, barring capital and operating funds. GO Regional Express Rail (RER), GO FAST (High
Speed Rail) and GO Bus services are illustrated on these maps.
Microsoft-based Template Building
Project timeline: 1 week
Team size: 1; reviewed by team of 3
Some time at Union Pearson Express was delegated towards constructing robust templates
for the Operations team, following Microsoft Word and PowerPoint conventions of utilising
combined graphic styles, automatic reference and table and contents lists, and font faces
specific to the UP Express.
Photography
Project timeline: ongoing
Team size: 1
I often utilise my photographic equipment and skills not only for personal enjoyment, but
also during professional excursions. A large amount of my photos have been utilised as
public material in various presentations, posters, and reports.
Graphic Design
Project timeline: ongoing
Team size: 1
My graphic design skills have been commended as highly professional. I have translated
many technical documents from their original form to graphics friendlier to a wider array of
audiences. An example includes translating the original drawings for the Nippon-Sharyo
Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) used by UP Express into a paper model which is handed out to
the public.

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EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS
GTA WEST RAIL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
Project timeline: 4 months
Team size: 3
This project was preliminary design of a rail
improvement project in the Greater Toronto
Area. The project is to be closely linked to the
proposed GTA West Highway and make use of
some sort of shared infrastructure with said
highway. Four reports, two presentations and 41
drawings culminated, with one major report (99
pages, 11x17) and one major presentation (53
slides) summarizing our analysis.
A decision was made early into the semester to
ensure compatibility with existing transportation
plans, regional growth plans, design manuals
and compliance with the GTA West Highway.
This resulted in the three major parts of our
project, as listed below.
Copies of the reports, presentations and drawings can be made available upon request.
Caledon Rail Subdivision
The Caledon rail subdivision is a proposed 45 km rail corridor through Caledon, Ontario
connecting the CP Galt, CN Halton and CP MacTier subdivisions. It is proposed to utilise this
corridor for freight purposes to allow adequate rail capacity for future passenger rail services
(GO Regional Express Rail) within the more urbanized areas of the GTA.
The currently proposed 407 freight bypass, connecting the CP Galt and CN Halton
subdivisions was briefly tabled but not considered due to the incompatibility with the GTA
West Highway and continued emphasis of potentially dangerous freight rail service within
urbanized areas.
York-Halton GO Rail Service
This was a brand new GO Service on the CN York and Halton subdivisions as an add-on to
the Regional Express Rail plan. Preliminary designs were conducted in this report for line
stations with allowance for major mechanical and electrical facilities such as elevators,
power substations and overhead catenary. Both island and side platforms were considered.
Design compatibility with existing and future GO infrastructure was a must. Rolling stock was
assumed to be electric multiple unit trains based on the Bombardier BiLevel platform.
Wherever allowable, multimodal infrastructure for bicycles, autos, and other forms of transit
were included in station plans.
Figure 1: Final Report and Final Presentation cover pages

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A maintenance and storage facility was also added into the scope of work as there is no
easy connection between this line, the existing Willowbrook facility, and the future East Rail
Maintenance Facility without utilising more of CN’s rail infrastructure.
A ridership assessment was carried out to determine the feasibility of the line based on
existing origins/destinations data, auto traffic, TTC/YRT services and GO Transit 407 bus
service.
Figure 2: Overall line map for York-Halton service
Malton GO Station Expansion
This station acts as the western terminus for the previously mentioned line. In our report, we
proposed to have this station connect to the following services:
 GO Transit York-Halton Rail Service
 GO Transit Kitchener Rail Service
 TTC bus services
 Future Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) LINK People Mover extension
The redesign includes three platforms spanning five rail tracks, four thorough and one stub-
end. The one stub-end track extends beyond the 12-car platform envelope to provide
parking space for two 6-car train consists (to permit bidirectional service in the morning).
The platforms are reached through a new glass footbridge or the passenger tunnels at the
east end of the existing platforms.
Additionally, we established Malton as a prime location for future mobility hub by providing
high quality transportation links and allowing future build-out of commercial space.

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SCARBOROUGH RT LINE STUDY
Project timeline: 2 weeks
Team size: 2
This report was a moderately in-depth study of a transit
route within the Greater Toronto Area pertaining to its
operational performance, ridership, and potential areas of
improvement. One of the most contentious routes in the
entire region is the ill-born Scarborough RT, teething with a
significant amount of operational concerns. Despite these
concerns, the service continues to run today with a decent
amount of reliability.
It is clear that no service is going to run perfectly with an
undesired spare fleet ratio and an increasing amount of
mechanical failures. The Scarborough RT continues to run
with its original fleet of seven four-car train consists with the
oldest trains dating from 1985. Combined with an outdoor rail environment that is
incompatible with snow, it was ill-fated from the start.
Our field study showed the following issues:
 Trains suffering from delays due to mechanical difficulties – door issues at Kennedy
 Significant loading in east end cars over west end due to the access/egress location
at Scarborough Centre station
 Loud, noisy train squeals due to articulating wheelsets on car trucks
 Decent loading in both directions of travel.
My colleague and I proposed a series of operational or potential capital improvements to
improve the service on the line, and attempted to quantify these improvements to the extent
possible. These included:
 Proposing a retail space at the west end of Scarborough Centre’s concourse level to
better encourage utilisation at the end of that train
 Replacing trucks with fixed, non-steerable axles and/or eliminating the linear
induction motor system with a more conventional one
 Changing train consists from 4-car lengths to 2 or 3 car consists, which may be seen
as detrimental to customer experience
 Encouraging the procurement of used rolling stock from Vancouver or Detroit for use
as middle cars in existing consists in order to ensure driver requirement
 Timing bus routes to pulse between different trains, rather than overloading a single
train
 Redirecting major bus routes to Kennedy station, totally bypassing the Scarborough
RT line.
The full report is available upon request.
Figure 3: Report cover

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ROAD PRICING CRITIQUE
Project timeline: 1 week
Team size: 1
This is a simple and concise report
illustrating the tremendous amount
of potential behind road pricing, in
response to a chapter by Tom
Vanderbilt: A Few Mickey Mouse
Solutions to the Traffic Problem.
Vanderbilt prefaces the problem with
clear evidence that various ‘end of
pipe solutions’, i.e. construction of
more expansive infrastructure such
as more highways, is a futile solution
that results in a more expansive
problem than previously envisioned.
One of the potential solutions to reducing demand and reducing travel times is congestion
pricing. While Vanderbilt argues in reference to road pricing, I used a more common example
in the Toronto area – the disparity between the pricing of TTC transit routes and GO Rail. I
build the case for GO’s pricing as it represents a significant decrease in travel times relative
to the TTC route, depending on location. This pricing disparity only gets more evident as one
moves further out into the suburbs but also represents a sharp reduction in overall travel
times. I also touch on the fine balance between capacity, ridership, travel times and cost.
A visual of the full paper is provided at upper right; a full size version can be provided on
request.

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TRANSIT CONGESTION POLICY
Project timeline: 2 weeks
Team size: 3
This paper was provided as a class handout in a
short, concise presentation regarding different
policies in different cities for tackling a similar
problem. In this paper, my team and I compared
the transit demand and supply policies in
Singapore’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) versus the
policies here in Toronto’s TTC subway.
We focused on Toronto’s demand responsive
strategies such as continual build out of new
infrastructure or increasing operating
costs/decreasing efficiency by putting more
vehicles on already congested routes. Meanwhile,
Singapore utilised a demand management
strategy of making the subway network free of
charge prior to 7:45 am.
We compared the effectiveness of differing
policies through costs, governance structure, and general resistance or attitude in which the
idea is vetted through. For example, the multiple layers of bureaucracy and government of
which major Toronto policies must go through reduces its effectiveness and highly increases
the time from conception to practise.
A full copy of the handout, with references, can be provided upon request.
Figure 4: First page of the handout

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KYLEMOUNT RESIDENTIAL SUBDIVISION PROJECT REPORT
Project timeline: 1 month
Team size: 5
This project report summarizes our team’s analysis
and study for the provision of grading and
substructure installation activities for a new
subdivision located in Vaughan, Ontario. This
report includes our final cost for activities given
operating and maintenance costs for certain
pieces of equipment, labour requirements,
material requirements, and an overall project
schedule.
Project constraints include the use of materials
and equipment as specified by the project outline,
the removal and replacement of contaminated
materials
Costs and activities are broken into six main
phases as per real construction projects –
mobilisation, grading and earthworks,
installation of substructure, paving, dumping
of additional materials, and demobilisation.
Each phase is broken into its respective tasks
and detailed in appendices, complete with
drawings of each project phase. Each piece of
equipment was carefully considered on
factors of cost, volumetric performance,
operating performance, and
Teamwork activities included liaising with the
teaching assistants to finalize the project
scope, project definition and task assignment, and final document integration. Weekly
meetings were held to ensure performance and high workmanship was being upheld.
A full copy of the report can be provided upon request.
Figure 5: Report cover and site plan

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PROFESSIONAL PROJECTS
MOTIVE POWER STUDY
The motive power study was a due
diligence report in looking at different
forms of propulsion technologies for rail
vehicles. UP Express was, and still is,
continually under pressure to electrify the
system over concerns of diesel
particulates and emissions in within a
zone of influence of the rail corridor.
Technologies that were explored in this
report other than electrified rail vehicles
include:
 Diesel-electric, similar to GO
Transit’s current locomotives
 Dual mode units
 Hydrogen fuel cell
 Natural gas (LNG and CNG)
 Battery electric/supercapacitors and/or flywheel energy storage
 Biodiesel, ultra-low sulphur diesel, and other forms of diesel additives
Extensive research was completed on the viability and experiments conducted by various
other parties, such as Amtrak. The report generally showed that the majority of these
technologies are still considerably under developed when utilised in high torque applications
such as rail, but are increasingly gaining traction in lighter modes such as auto vehicles.
The report indicated favourable results for each kind of propulsion, especially for electric
based ones due to acceleration characteristics, but only if significant hurdles in terms of
development were crossed.
However, I concluded the report with that UP Express in particular should not consider any of
these technologies at the moment as it would:
 Considerably delay start-up operations or if test units were delivered at a later date,
would be extremely costly;
 Potentially result in a highly biased experiment as most of Metrolinx’ fleet would be
diesel-electric or diesel hydraulic, causing increased costs due to fleet size.
Metrolinx has, post report, issued a Request for Information for:
 Dual mode locomotives
 Electric locomotives
 Electric multiple units
It is evident that GO Transit intends to electrify the network in the future.
Figure 6: Chinese supercapacitor multiple unit (photo by Railway Gazette)

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UNION STATION DELAY MANAGEMENT MODEL
One of the ways to prevent rail delays is to mediate the root cause for delays. However, this
is not always possible, and delays will inevitably happen in a volatile rail network. In this
project, I took the inventory of scheduled GO, UP, CN, and VIA Rail movements and plotted a
dynamic model using a macro on Microsoft Excel. It was a visual way to spot operating
conflicts and delays given the layout of track in and around Toronto Union Station.
While MultiRail is the current scheduling software that GO Transit uses, UP Express
personnel did not have access to MultiRail. The only option available was Microsoft Excel.
Using Visual Basic, a spreadsheet was read which then simulated the locations of trains on
their correct platforms on another spreadsheet. It can be adjusted based on time of day and
pause as required to identify conflicts. This was utilised a year prior to UP Express entering
service.
This model is not available as it contains confidential content that belongs to GO Transit, VIA
Rail, CN and UP Express.

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UP EXPRESS SYSTEM CONFIGURATION SUMMARY
Project timeline: Continually updated; original draft 1 month
Team size: 3
This report is an all-encompassing
document showing the overall structure
behind the UP Express (then Air Rail
Link). It summarizes for new staff,
consultants and alike, the ideology
behind:
 Target market
 Service marketing and branding
 Service operations and
maintenance
 Station design, location
 Fares
 Service operating characteristics, such as capacity, vehicles, running times and
headway
The document goes in detail with respect to the above factors and beyond, and references
other documents for more technical detail.
Due to the confidential nature of the content in this report, it can only be acquired through a
Freedom of Information request to Metrolinx.

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UP EXPRESS RIDERSHIP DUE DILIGENCE REPORT
Project timeline: 1 month
Team size: 3
One of the biggest concerns by the public
revolves between the relationship of
ridership and fare costs of the UP Express.
This report summarizes the various studies
of proposed fare values relative to other
factors such as convenience, ridership
potential, and other ‘soft’ factors relating to
one’s ease of travel.
In order to justify the service, there must be
a minimum threshold of ridership. Extensive
studies have been carried out by the UP Express business planning team for current day
forecasts, as well as comparative forecasts during the conception of predecessor projects
such as Blue22.
Due to the confidential nature of the content in this report, it can only be acquired through a
Freedom of Information request to Metrolinx.

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SPECIALTY PROJECTS
VISIONARY GO TRANSIT MAP
GO Transit continues to be one of the key
providers of transportation services in the
Greater Toronto Area (GTA). However, it
remains a provincial agency and should
theoretically provide transportation
services not only in the GTA but
throughout Ontario as well. This map
(originally for a course assignment)
assumes minimal operating and financial
constraints. It shows a hypothetical
Ontario-wide public transportation
network. Ontario Northland’s services to
Toronto are assumed by GO Transit in this
map.
The system consists of three tiers of
service:
 GO Regional Express Rail (RER) –
expanded core rail service to complement local transit systems within the GTA
 GO FAST – high speed rail service branching out of Union Station, linking the core to
Montreal, Winnipeg and the United States
 GO BUS – interregional bus services branching off the RER and GO FAST rail services,
connecting more remote communities and cities across the province
GO RER
On top of the existing rail service, three new rail lines are introduced, using major freight
corridors:
 Bolton (Route 39) via Vaughan, using the GO Newmarket, CN Halton and CP MacTier
subdivisions
 York-Halton (Route 59) as per capstone project, using the CN York, CN Halton and GO
Weston subdivisions
 Crosstown (Route 99), using the CP Galt, CP North Toronto and CP Havelock
subdivisions
Service is set to a minimum of 15 minute frequencies during off-peak hours with extended
train service on select lines during peak hour.
GO FAST
In addition to the GO RER network, four high speed rail lines radiate from Toronto Union
reaching international or interprovincial destinations that are relatively close to borders.
While this would be quite impressive and highly competitive with the auto and plane modes,
there are a significant number of operational and financial hurdles to cross in order to
actually get something operating.

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GO BUS
GO Buses are currently mainly used for interregional travel that does not have to go through
Toronto Union Station. This concept is expanded with new bus services radiating from the
GO RER/FAST lines into more remote communities and cities over a certain population
threshold that currently do not have public transportation. Buses are utilised as they are the
most mobile option without being forced to invest in a significant amount of infrastructure
such as track.
A full map can be provided upon request.