Toronto Union Pearson Express | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | MMM Group Limited

Megaton327 said:
I don't think it will ever happen now that all of this money has been dumped into Bloor and Weston's UPX stations, but I think the perfect solution would be to get rid of Bloor and Weston and have just one intermediary stop at Caledonia (Eglinton) where it intersects the Crosstown line. That station seems much more likely to be a fairly important hub than Weston or Bloor/Dundas W.

I agree that there needs to be a more frequent GO local service, but my reason for that is if you remove Bloor and Weston in exchange for Caledonia, then you at least still have a northern station on the UPX line where GO users can interchange with the service. Hell, somebody who absolutely wants to get to Bloor station but doesn't want to deal with the bus can take UPX to Caledonia then GO to Bloor, ditto for Weston and a possible future station at St Clair. Also, because we have no idea how long it'll be before Crosstown gets to the airport, I can imagine some midtowners taking the UPX out of Pearson then transferring to the LRT at Caledonia.
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I agree that having just a single intermediate stop at Mount Dennis (Caledonia is on the Barrie Line) is optimal from a route perspective. I'm just not sure if skipping just a single stop would save enough time to take a trainset off the route which is what provides the big cost savings. It's possible but not certain.

I do recognize that it's not an immediate solution given the current shortage of alternatives.

What I'm thinking is that once the line is electrified from Union to Pearson, the new electric service drops one or two stops as discussed, and the existing DMUs are repurposed for a Union to Bramalea GO local service, making use of the high-level platforms at Bloor, Mount Dennis and Weston, as well as new high-level platforms at Union, Etobicoke North, Malton and Bramalea. The hourly Kitchener GO service past Bramalea into CN territory would run with limited stops as a regional service.

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Further into the future, once there's sufficient capacity at Union (or downtown somewhere) to support 4 terminal tracks for airport service, we could add an Airport Local GO and Airport Express line each operating 4 tph.
 
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That map is wrong. The VIA stops on Lakeshore W are Oakville and Aldershot not Burlington.
 
Signage to UP is decent at T1, T3 is a different story. Signs say to trains until you reach the people mover escalator. Not clear enough that they're to the city or that you have to go to T1
 
Filip said:
Signage to UP is decent at T1, T3 is a different story. Signs say to trains until you reach the people mover escalator. Not clear enough that they're to the city or that you have to go to T1
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I don't see how this is an issue. You simply follow the sign for Trains. Was dead easy from T3 when I did it.
 
nfitz said:
Coming out of arrivals on a Canadian flight, I recall seeing a "To Trains" sign straight away.
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Indeed-I picked someone up at T3 arrivals recently and recall seeing multiple ones right in Arrivals, then a few spaced out along the path to the LINK station. I think one of the several signs at Arrivals did, in fact, say Trains to City.
 
reaperexpress said:
I know. It's a fantasy map. Currently VIA also stops at Malton, Georgetown and Oakville, and Amtrak doesn't stop in Hamilton.
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Technically, Amtrak doesn't stop anywhere past Niagara Falls, NY. From there to Toronto, it's all VIA.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
reaperexpress said:
I agree that having just a single intermediate stop at Mount Dennis (Caledonia is on the Barrie Line) is optimal from a route perspective. I'm just not sure if skipping just a single stop would save enough time to take a trainset off the route which is what provides the big cost savings. It's possible but not certain.

I do recognize that it's not an immediate solution given the current shortage of alternatives.

What I'm thinking is that once the line is electrified from Union to Pearson, the new electric service drops one or two stops as discussed, and the existing DMUs are repurposed for a Union to Bramalea GO local service, making use of the high-level platforms at Bloor, Mount Dennis and Weston, as well as new high-level platforms at Union, Etobicoke North, Malton and Bramalea. The hourly Kitchener GO service past Bramalea into CN territory would run with limited stops as a regional service.

15924975011_55b906cf03_b.jpg


Further into the future, once there's sufficient capacity at Union (or downtown somewhere) to support 4 terminal tracks for airport service, we could add an Airport Local GO and Airport Express line each operating 4 tph.
Click to expand...
Nice map!

Beyond 2018 I suspect Brampton locals are merged with Stoufville locals to max efficiency of Union (in lines with GO RER plans resembling the need to satisfy SmartTrack criteria). Basically Bramalea-Stoufville merged line like LSE-LSW where you can stay on the train if not disembarking at Union.

New Fantasy Map Idea
Anybody here who has a fantasy map vision that turns the whole electric GO network into a mere two Paris RER style routes? Paris RER routes use spurs where every other train goes forks the other way. Even merging UPX, GO, SmartTrack into one service (with 10+ different stopping plans, including one retaining 25 mins to Pearson every 15 min) still ends up looking simpler than Paris RER Line B, a very heavily multilayered line of expresses/all stops/shortturns/spurs -- with multiple different stopping plans -- and 3-minute frequency for core peak, considered as one service using identical trains. if budget+5mins became priority, going the Paris technique becomes one of the few available choices. Utilizing such amazing corridor per-track efficiency of a merged service, IMHO, is the cheapest way to achieve "5 minute 416 frequency" without doing the Union tunnel yet. Anyone want to do a fantasy map utilizing "The Mother Of All RERs" principles?
 
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smallspy said:
Technically, Amtrak doesn't stop anywhere past Niagara Falls, NY. From there to Toronto, it's all VIA.
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I'm well aware of that as well. Like I said, it is a fantasy map. In this fantasy scenario, Amtrak would indeed operate across the border, with customs pre-clearance facilities at Toronto and Hamilton (as indicated by the Amtrak logo).

The image is actually copied from a post in the Fantasy Maps Thread from 2014, but I didn't copy the text explaining it because I figured the fantasy map and scenario was not the topic of discussion in this thread - I was just using the image as an illustration of a potential stopping pattern relationship between UP and GO.
 
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Megaton327 said:
I don't think it will ever happen now that all of this money has been dumped into Bloor and Weston's UPX stations, but I think the perfect solution would be to get rid of Bloor and Weston and have just one intermediary stop at Mount Dennis (Eglinton) where it intersects the Crosstown line. That station seems much more likely to be a fairly important hub than Weston or Bloor/Dundas W.

I agree that there needs to be a more frequent GO local service, but my reason for that is if you remove Bloor and Weston in exchange for Caledonia, then you at least still have a northern station on the UPX line where GO users can interchange with the service. Hell, somebody who absolutely wants to get to Bloor station but doesn't want to deal with the bus can take UPX to Caledonia then GO to Bloor, ditto for Weston and a possible future station at St Clair. Also, because we have no idea how long it'll be before Crosstown gets to the airport, I can imagine some midtowners taking the UPX out of Pearson then transferring to the LRT at Mt Dennis.

Edit: Mt Dennis not Caledonia, thanks reaperexpress
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As someone who has taken the UP express... I'm impressed with the service. You could add one more stop at Mount Dennis... and that won't add that much time more to the 25 minute train ride as the train actually accelerates fairly quickly. Adding one more stop will just mean a little less idle standing time at Union and at the Airport, in order for it to remain with the same time schedule.
 
Letting Via riders transfer to UPX trains at Weston 'not feasible'

Even though Via passengers go right by the airport train’s closest stop to Pearson, they can’t transfer.

From link:

It has all the makings of a win-win. Metrolinx wants to attract riders to its Union Pearson Express train. Via Rail wants to provide its southwestern Ontario passengers more convenient access to the airport.
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Both railways use the tracks at the Weston GO station. But so far the two agencies haven’t figured out a way to let Via stop at Weston so its passengers can get on the airport train that would take them to Pearson in 11 minutes.

Instead Via riders have to keep going all the way downtown, walk through Union Station to the Union Pearson Express (UPX) terminal and then double back 25 minutes to the airport.

“We took an initial look at accommodating Via service stopping at Weston Station but due to the impact on GO and UPX service it is proving to be difficult,” said Metrolinx spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikins.

While nothing is final, the station is already busy, she said. The airport trains run every 15 minutes in both directions so one of them stops in Weston every 7.5 minutes. Thirty GO trains also use the station every day. That number will increase with GO’s electrified regional express rail expansion.

In one instance, there would be four trains in the station but only three tracks to accommodate them, she said.

“We want to support intermodal service at our stations as much as possible without compromising service,” she said.

Then there’s what transportation experts call dwell time — the amount of time it takes for passengers to board and exit at a station. Given the traffic at Weston, Metrolinx estimates Via would have only 60 seconds to get its passengers on and off the train. By comparison, the UPX trains stop for about 30 seconds, said Aikins.

A Via spokesperson confirmed that the national passenger rail has asked Metrolinx for the right to stop at Weston. The two railways have an interline agreement that allows their customers to transfer back and forth at a number of spots such as Oakville and Oshawa.

For Via passengers going in and out of Union Station from points such as Kingston, the transfer to the UPX — which has tickets available through the Via website — has been working well, said Malcolm Andrews.

“We understand for a number of scheduling and logistical reasons it was just deemed not feasible in terms of schedule alignment at this time,” said Andrews.

Via runs four trains a day — two in each direction — through Weston to southwestern Ontario destinations.

“We’re always on the hunt for opportunities where we can continue to make it easier for passengers to transfer between different modes of public transportation and Weston looked like an obvious choice for trains travelling between Toronto and southwestern Ontario via Guelph, Kitchener and Stratford,” he said.

“We’re going to keep looking for opportunities where we can find synergies where it’s to the benefit of our mutual customers,” he said.

Metrolinx is expected to release new ridership numbers for UPX in advance of a quarterly board meeting Wednesday. The airport service, which launched in June, has been criticized for failing to attract many riders and for being expensive. A one-way trip from Union to the airport costs $27.50.

Many people who live along the line would like to see the $456 million train service stop more frequently and be priced as public transit.

The Ontario government is also looking at spending $130 billion to build a high speed rail service connecting Windsor, London, Kitchener and Toronto.
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