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How busy are the Richmond Hill GO line's tracks?

Coltaine79

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How busy is the train line which passes through Old Cummer GO station? (I know it's the Richmond Hill GO line).
I'm referring to both freight trains/VIA as well as GO. Actually I already checked the GO schedule and know that there
are 5 GO trains in the morning rush and 5 GO trains in the evening rush, and that they don't operate on weekends.
But I don't know about other traffic.

I'm asking because I'm looking at houses/townhouses in that area on behalf of someone else and found something interesting
but which is very close to the train tracks. If the only train traffic is the GO, then it's not that bad.

Thanks for any info!
 
Lots!

Hi,

I live at the south end of these tracks at the Prince Edward Viaduct (Bloor/Danforth).

There are freight, VIA and Ontario Northland trains. Also, GO runs trains deadheading in the early morning and evening. The 20 car long VIA train from the west coast comes through a few times a week.

In short, a lot of trains...a very busy track!
 
Ontario Northland has 12 trips a week and VIA has 3 (southbound only) trips a week on that track.

Since GO doesn't have a layover facility in Richmond Hill, all those GO trains deadhead up to Richmond Hill in the morning and back to Union/Willowbrook in the evening (so the total is actually 20 GO trains a day, not 10).

I don't know how much freight the line sees, it's not heavy but it does see some freight. I've seen car-carrying trains a couple times, presumably heading to the Oakville Ford Plant.
 
Hi,

I live at the south end of these tracks at the Prince Edward Viaduct (Bloor/Danforth).

There are freight, VIA and Ontario Northland trains. Also, GO runs trains deadheading in the early morning and evening. The 20 car long VIA train from the west coast comes through a few times a week.

In short, a lot of trains...a very busy track!

Thanks for the info. Since you live near the tracks (albeit in a different part of the city) let me ask you; how many feet away from the tracks is your residence? How annoying do you find the noise/vibration?

I've never lived near Canadian traintracks...
 
I'm about 500m away from the tracks in an apartment building by the Don Valley. You can hear the trains but it's really background noise - not annoying.

However, I've been to places where you are within 25m away from a busy track. There, I felt vibration. The house shakes, furniture creaks, cutlery and chandeliers rattle. Also, when the train's horn sounded (in advance of a nearby railway crossing), it gave me a jolt. Not very pleasant.
 
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GO will eventually grade separate the Doncaster diamond in Thornhill, which will allow for more frequent service along the Richmond Hill line. The EA is scheduled for Spring 2012 through Summer 2013.

Also, apparently the current diamond is unusually noisy. GO is supposed to do something about it.
 
I grew up near Steeles Avenue, probably about 100M from the tracks. (Some houses on the street backed directly onto them). Before that I lived in some of the townhomes not too far from Old Cummer as a kid.

I can honestly say it wasn't bad. Most of the rumbling becomes white noise you never even notice though if the tracks are DIRECTLY by the house that may be a different matter. Everybody is a different but, personally, I wouldn't not-buy a home in that area for that reason unless you're a really light sleeper or otherwise sensitive to things like that. It's not like you're eating dinner and the house shakes every five minutes.

And, yeah, the Doncaster Diamond is a huge problem but that's well north of where you're talking about.
(I believe fixing it is CN's problem, rather than GO's, however. - http://www.yorkregion.com/news/local/article/887027--thornhill-residents-irked-at-cn)

Those problems also have to do more with the design of the tracks and confluence of traffic (and more E-W than N-S, I think) rather than the number of trains per se.
 
The northbound/westbound VIA Canadian goes up the Georgetown Corridor through Brampton...thought Im not sure the proper name for that subdivision. Weston sub?

Unless things have changed, they go up the Newmarket Sub (Newmarket GO line) through Downsview. Looping the train through Toronto means that they don't have to reverse the train at Union station.
 
The northbound/westbound VIA Canadian goes up the Georgetown Corridor through Brampton...thought Im not sure the proper name for that subdivision. Weston sub?

No they don't. They run up the GO Newmarket Sub - the line of the Barrie GO trains - to a location just south of Highway 7 (or whatever they have decided to name it today), where the train then turns to the east to rejoin the CN Bala Sub at Doncaster.

Going back to the Bala Sub, there is one scheduled daily freight southbound, although it can sometimes be rerouted on CN's freight line via Georgetown.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
Unless things have changed, they go up the Newmarket Sub (Newmarket GO line) through Downsview. Looping the train through Toronto means that they don't have to reverse the train at Union station.

Yes, as a kid, I remember going to see The Canadian pass through our area on the Newmarket sub (which was about 600m from our house).
 
The Canadian used to go northbound all the way past Barrie on the Newmarket sub but when CN abandoned the line from Barrie to Washago it forced them to start a strange operation where they put the whole train in reverse at Snider junction to back onto the York sub and then forward to turn onto the Bala sub at Doncaster junction. I have oft wondered if it would actually save time taking the Weston subdivision to the York sub avoiding the slower flagged Newmarket sub and the train stop, reverse, stop, and forward operation they do now at Snider.
 
That missing link at Barrie-Washago is daft.

They really need to put that back.

Does anyone no exactly how much of the ROW is completely screwed over in DT Barrie?

Is there a cost-effective way to fill in the missing link, I know much of the ROW is in tact, but those missing chunks would be a problem, either requiring an alternate route, or short-tunnel; that latter of which I would assume not to be cost-effective.....
 
The Canadian used to go northbound all the way past Barrie on the Newmarket sub but when CN abandoned the line from Barrie to Washago it forced them to start a strange operation where they put the whole train in reverse at Snider junction to back onto the York sub and then forward to turn onto the Bala sub at Doncaster junction. I have oft wondered if it would actually save time taking the Weston subdivision to the York sub avoiding the slower flagged Newmarket sub and the train stop, reverse, stop, and forward operation they do now at Snider.

Considering that it is not possible for 85' long cars to use the northwest-to-east connection at Halwest, it would take far, far longer to go up the Weston.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 

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