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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

Low-Level Platform Heights-TUS and other GO Transit Rail Routes...

VC and ETO: I believe the GO Transit system went with low-level platforms from the beginning in 1967
because there were no high-level platforms in the Toronto area especially at Union Station...

Yes-I believe CN and CP would have been against building high-level platforms on GO's
rail routes because of clearances between freight cars and the platforms themselves...
Some would have required parallel "Gauntlet" tracks to be constructed for that reason...

The original GO Transit single level cars were designed when GO was a late 60s era "Experiment"
and then GO committed to low-level platforms when in the late 70s their
bi-level car was designed...

The platforms in Union Station are very low-enough in which GO Transit during the 80s
increased the platform heights in their section for tracks that they control 7 inches...
I do not know if any VIA Rail-controlled platform areas were raised higher...

A way to spot the increased platform height is when you are on the platform edge the
added height concrete is at an angle over the old platform in which the edge is vertically
straight up...I recall in places it was easily visible...

I felt myself that perhaps some high-level platforms would be practical at TUS and at
VIA's stations at Guildwood and Kingston on the Toronto-Montreal Corridor Line for starters...
but they are not absolutely necessary as of yet...

LI MIKE
 
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I'm not sure I understand this. Is the idea that the envelope which freight trains are permitted to take up includes space which a high platform would occupy?

Yes, the envelope that freight cars are built to plus the required clearances on main line or branch line speeds would put the platforms in the space they are not allowed to occupy without a significant gap. To avoid this conflict, gauntlet tracks or a siding track for the platforms would need to be built at considerable expense, some gap traversing measure like deploy-able ramps added to trains or extendable platforms, or freight trains and possibly even passenger trains running at full track speed would need to be kept off all the tracks with high platforms.
 
Everything I have read suggests the Etobicoke North Station is moving slightly west of its current location so that it is almost wholly on the west side of Kipling. I haven't read anything to suggest a completely new location east of its current one.
Dec 25
You maybe right as I have not been following this section, as I have no time to follow it.

Based on what taking place on the east side of Islington, I assumed this could be the station area.

They are cutting all the bushes and trees on the north side of the track east of Weston Rd.

It looks like they have or about to pour the concrete deck over Lawrence Ave. The first section of the new platform for the new station is being built and high above grade.

Work is still proceeding on Dension underpass.
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An article in today's Toronto Star is something I have hoped for since moving here to Ontario in 2002. I lived in a mid-sized city here for a couple of years in this province for a job since arriving here. I used to come to TO by Coach bus (as their was no GO service to the city I living in). The Coach Canada bus used to arrive in TO at the terminal near Bay and Dundas. I wasn't that familiar with TO at the time but didn't find it very convenient to get on the TTC system after getting off my inter-city bus. It isn't a problem now that I know the city but I always try to look at our transit system through the eyes of someone new to the city or visiting. Ever since moving here I have wanted the Coach Canada Terminal moved down near Union Station to make things a bit easier for travellers and commuters.

The reason that I mention this story: http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1112225--landmark-bus-depot-loses-its-lustre?bn=1 on a GO thread is because Metrolinx is considering combining the planned new GO bus terminal with the Coach Canada terminal down near Union Station and the ACC. All I can say is I am so in favour of combining a lot of transit options in one convenient area (Union Station) that has much rail, subway, streetcar, city bus and many regional bus carriers in the future.

Another good thing about having the many inter-city buses near Union Station and all the transit options I mentioned there is that the inter-city buses have much better access to the Gardiner and our highway system being so close to the on-ramps there. Metrolinx is putting out some good ideas for us users of transit here- hopefully this plan gets approved and funded.
 
An article in today's Toronto Star is something I have hoped for since moving here to Ontario in 2002. I lived in a mid-sized city here for a couple of years in this province for a job since arriving here. I used to come to TO by Coach bus (as their was no GO service to the city I living in). The Coach Canada bus used to arrive in TO at the terminal near Bay and Dundas. I wasn't that familiar with TO at the time but didn't find it very convenient to get on the TTC system after getting off my inter-city bus. It isn't a problem now that I know the city but I always try to look at our transit system through the eyes of someone new to the city or visiting. Ever since moving here I have wanted the Coach Canada Terminal moved down near Union Station to make things a bit easier for travellers and commuters.

The reason that I mention this story: http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1112225--landmark-bus-depot-loses-its-lustre?bn=1 on a GO thread is because Metrolinx is considering combining the planned new GO bus terminal with the Coach Canada terminal down near Union Station and the ACC. All I can say is I am so in favour of combining a lot of transit options in one convenient area (Union Station) that has much rail, subway, streetcar, city bus and many regional bus carriers in the future.

Another good thing about having the many inter-city buses near Union Station and all the transit options I mentioned there is that the inter-city buses have much better access to the Gardiner and our highway system being so close to the on-ramps there. Metrolinx is putting out some good ideas for us users of transit here- hopefully this plan gets approved and funded.

Metrolinx was looking at the Harbour St site as a good large station, but with the plan development for that site now, that out of the picture.

This only leaves 45 Bay as a site that is next to the station as well GO terminal. Since there is no rush by the owner of the site to build the plan office towers, cannot see a bus terminal there by 2015 unless the lower levels are built first for the main tower that will be cap at the top of the terminal until the building is to be built.

It will be a bitch getting buses in and out of that location. Even Harbour St had the same issue.

The Oakville garage shafts are all completed with one receiving stair landings and stairs.
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Bronte 2nd phase parking lot is now open, but saw no workers on site as I was heading westbound.
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The bridge work at Burlington is to be completed by Spring 2012, up from fall 2011. Window frames in place and boarding up the sides to the stairs since no windows plan for them. Roofing still been worked on.
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Thanks for all the pics drum 118. I have lived in Ontario almost ten years now and I have watched GO grow quite a lot since I arrived in this province. My wife and I have 2 children and my wife has a child from a previous relationship, so with work and family I don't have a lot of time to check on GO's growth so I appreciate your updates.

GO really seems to have gone into high gear recently with all the projects and such all over. Near my wife's work they are grade-separating the GO Stouffville line at the Agincourt GO Station at Sheppard. Great to see this happening- this will help the bus traffic as well as all traffic on Sheppard as well as the trains on this route. Increases efficiency at the same time as increasing safety. I hope Metrolinx find the funds to grade separate this Stouffville line at Finch, Steeles (part of York Region as well), Progress and Danforth Rd. also. These streets as well as some others along this line presently cross at-grade and have city buses that use these roads. I wouldn't protest our govenment funding projects that grade-separate more of commuter rail lines from our traffic routes- especially those with public transit (buses) on them.

GO also has a project in Pickering- a pedestrian bridge from Pickering Town Station, on the north side of the 401 to the Pickering GO station on the south side of the 401. Their are many other projects, but, like I said I don't have a lot of time off to see them all.

Over Christmas and New Years I had a bit of time off and I took my older child, who is walking, over to see the 'Diamond' Grade separation. Couldn't see too much of this project because it seems their isn't a street that is being separated from rail traffic- I think it is just a freight rail corridor being separated from a commuter rail corridor. This too will help improve the safety and efficiency of commuter rail (freight rail as well!).

I think rail is going to be so much more important in our future and it is good to see Ontario investing in this infrastructure in many different ways.
 
Not sure if this applies to all the rail corridors that GO/Metrolinx has bought up in the past few years, but the air rights in the Georgetown corridor is own by CN.

Metrolinx is looking at buying this air rights and how many more $$ will have to be paid out for these rights on top what has been paid so far. Who was sleeping at the table to allow CN to keep the rights in the first place?

There seems to be an issue as who has final say what can be built or used on GO Station property. The City of Toronto is saying one thing and Metrolinx is lost on to handle this issue.

With the hybrid cars coming on line, GO/Metrolinx will have to start adding plugin parking spots and that is going to cause $$ and major power upgrading to the system.

Construction is underway at Black Creek Dr for building the new structure supports for the new bridges over it with the right hand turning lane on Weston Rd close to traffic.

There is a meeting on Feb 2nd for the Weston Station master plan with another meeting in March/April for more detail plans for the new station. Info can be found at http://transiturban.ca/transit/event.html for Feb meeting as well other events related to transit.

There is a meeting tonight on the 'Diamond' Grade separation and the info is on the event page.

Haven't had the time to check out other projects this year so far as well not do any photo shooting.
 
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con't from; http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showth...cord-Adex-MMM-Group-Francisco-Gazitua)/page48

Further to your comment on line of sight, I noticed on Friday that the mast tower over the flyunder by Bathurst are gone now and I think I saw a single light at the underside of the flyover on the south track heading east. Is that true or was I seeing odd? I don't remember seeing it there before. How hard is it on you if that is a signal there now since its on a curve?

With the mast gone now and not having a west look view from Spadina after what I saw at Bathurst, how do you get your signals now? I believed there are some dwarf signals there now, but not sure. I know in the past a number of trains going west would end up stopping just before the top of the ramp. It been a few months since my last visit to the area.

Yes, they indeed did replaced that signal mast with two 3-aspect low mast/drawf signals(on the ground). As a result, as per Transport Canada regulation-39215, the Maximum permissible speed approaching and passing these kinds of signals in the USRC is 30 mph. (seen here; http://us.reocities.com/ble295/images/timetableno80.pdf pg. 28 under Maximum Speeds)The normal maximum speed through this area is 60 mph. Quite the dramatic reduction.

And yes the sightlines for these signals are absolutely terrible. If the previous signal was a clear to stop, meaning the next signal could be a stop, I would basically have to crawl up to this light. A safe speed would be about 10 mph's! since they wouldn't be visible until I'm a couple hundred feet away from it which is incredibly close. Where as before you could see the signals on that mast from the other side of the fly-under. So you could see from a long ways away if it would be a stop signal and if it wasn't, then full throttle away. Thankfully its only temporary until they've finished the 3rd track.

Going east its normal for trains to be stopped on the other side of the fly under prior to entering Union Station since they have to wait for other trains to clear and they are entering an area (just before Union station) where the maximum they can do is only 15 mph.

The only way to deal with light of sight in this area as noted by a few, is to use the dwarf signals. Having no experience dealing with the mast or dwarf signals, I would say you need to be more alert with the dwarf than the mast, as you are looking down compare to looking ahead for the mast. Especially in the winter months, when a lot of snow has fallen.

Indeed, the high mast signals are far more visible from a distance and therefore can be approached at a far higher rate of speed. A clear signal on a high mast is track speed - which is up to 100mph's in some areas!

Wheres as dwarf signals are only used in lower speed areas. A clear signal on a 3-aspect type having a maximum speed of 30mph and the single aspect dwarf signal can be passed at a maximum of only 15mph.

Can you tell me why the trains depart westward slow until almost the west end of the Port Credit River bridge today compare to the days when there were only 2 tracks? I can see moving slow to the crossing to make sure the barriers were down and then pickup speed. Been on trains where we were on the bridge before picking up speed. I can see the next 2 blocks from the platform and they are usually a solid green for track #1. The odd time its a flash green to move from #1 to #2.

That's because of CROR 103.1 b) http://www.tc.gc.ca/media/documents/railsafety/cror_tco093.pdf pg. 43
Basically all westward trains that stop at Port Credit, when starting to go west again have to approach the road crossing (Stavebank rd.) at 10 mph's until the train is on the crossing. This is because the gates go up when the train is stopped at the station and Transport Canada doesn't want us taking off full speed from the station until the crossing gates at crossings like that one have been working for a while. They feel its unsafe otherwise.

Have you heard when they plan on putting that 3rd track in for the flyunder, as its looks like its ready for the track now?

They haven't put a notice up for that yet so I don't know, but your right in that it looks ready.

One chap was off for a year before he got back in the cab and only last a few months before calling it a day.The other one was off 6 months, but call it a day after a few miss a few years later. I have heard cases were engineers have never return to work while other live out their career after hitting someone.

Yes, very sad but true. There's a couple of guys off right now at GO, one for well over a year because of that type of thing. He might never come back, young guy too.
 
A clear signal on a high mast is track speed - which is up to 100mph's in some areas!

I had know idea a GO Train was capable of 160 km/h top speed. The fastest I've ever seen them going is about 100 km/h when I pace them on the Gardiner or 401. Interesting.
 
I had know idea a GO Train was capable of 160 km/h top speed. The fastest I've ever seen them going is about 100 km/h when I pace them on the Gardiner or 401. Interesting.
He said track speed, not GO Train speed. There are other operators running than GO.
 
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Yeah, its the VIA LRC's that can hit 100mph/161kph.
GO's MP40 lead trains are good for a maximum of 93mph/150kph.

Track speed were the Gardiner meets the tracks is 80mph. But you'll only see eastbound trains reach this speed. And by the 401 the track speed is 85mph. But again only eastbound trains approaching Whitby and westbound trains approaching Ajax will reach this speed. Afterall it takes about 2.5 to 3.0 miles to hit 80-85mph.
 
I didn't think GO ran on any 100mph tracks. I thought the Oakville and Kingston subs have a 95mph limit through the GTA.

Vegeta, how much distance does a GO train need to reach 90+ mph from a stop? Is it even possible with a full 12 car train?
 
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That's only on the Kingston sub and only for the LRC (Light Rapid Comfortable) VIA's. I have no idea whether or not VIA is actually actively running LCR trains today(not my area of expertise :p), but the track still allows for it. All other VIA's would be subject to the maximum 'passenger speed' which is indeed 95mph on the Oakville & Kingston subs.
All the LRC locomotives when to the scrap yard years ago - except perhaps a few that sit in the yard rusting. Can't the P42DC run at 100 mph? That's what VIA's website says: http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail/our-fleet/locomotives-p42dc
 
Seems like its perfectly capable of running at 100mph, but whether or not they are allowed to is a different matter. Also its not just the engine, all coaches on the train would have to be LRC's as well. Seems they are still in service; http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail/our-fleet/lrc-coach
this system also allows the train to travel faster.
So its quite possible they are indeed running at 100mph. I'll try asking around see if anyone knows just how fast the boys over at VIA are going :)
 
Seems like its perfectly capable of running at 100mph, but whether or not they are allowed to is a different matter. Also its not just the engine, all coaches on the train would have to be LRC's as well. Seems they are still in service; http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail/our-fleet/lrc-coach

So its quite possible they are indeed running at 100mph. I'll try asking around see if anyone knows just how fast the boys over at VIA are going :)
The LRC coaches are still in service - though I don't see why they'd be able to operate faster then the Renaissance coaches, which VIA notes were designed to run at 200 km/hr for European operation - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightstar_(train)
 

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