mdrejhon
Senior Member
I am consistently seeing several Metrolinx documents that their electricifation will reduce travel times.
Metrolinx said:
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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
mdrejhon
Senior Member
The Niagara Trains generally start at the beginning of July from what I remember.
(And wopchop confirmed above... July 3)
My guess is that the reduction in travel times may be associated more with the corridor upgrades that make RER possible (grade separations, additional tracks, etc). Electrification should really only make a difference with acceleration and deceleration.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
That should still make a degree of difference - and besides wouldn't they be able to operate at a higher top speed consistently?
AoD
Yes, but infill stations would mitigate that on many sections of track. The bulk of the reduction I think will be reducing interference at at-grade crossings (which they have to sometimes slow down for), and movement interference with other trains.
mdrejhon
Senior Member
That's been the case with EMU trains in other counties. Without added stops (as gweed123 suggests), and no raise in speed limit, the faster acceleration alone is powerful enough to shorten train trips about 15-20% on a network like GO's. Faster acceleration means higher speeds sooner, and that itself shortens the trip time.
Also, increased reliability of EMUs over diesels also mean they can publish a more aggressive train schedule, as today's diesels have to go slower to meet a more conservative schedule.
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salsa
Senior Member
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mdrejhon
Senior Member
I look forward to 2016 when I can bike to the Hamilton West Harbor GO station (10 minutes bike ride from my home), bring my bike on, and then bike around Niagara Falls, and come back home. It'll be a nice added weekend activity option.
Hope it's not later than 2016, as it would not take much effort to put one crossover onto the West Harbor stub back onto the CN mainline, to support through service at West Harbor.
Worse comes to worse, it would happen by ~2019 -- the time Stoney Creek (Confederation GO) is finished, as I believe that includes an extra corridor track all the way from West Harbor GO to Confederation GO.
Hope it's not later than 2016, as it would not take much effort to put one crossover onto the West Harbor stub back onto the CN mainline, to support through service at West Harbor.
Worse comes to worse, it would happen by ~2019 -- the time Stoney Creek (Confederation GO) is finished, as I believe that includes an extra corridor track all the way from West Harbor GO to Confederation GO.
salsa
Senior Member
I thought GO was moving toward shorter but more frequent trains under the RER plan, but here they are rebuilding the platform for 12 car trains.
mdrejhon
Senior Member
They're not mutually exclusive.
They will still be running the 12-car trains on many routes, for morning/evening peak express services, even as shorter EMUs run during the daytime.
They aren't going to throw away the dependable BiLevels -- definitely expect the octagonals to stay around until the 2030-2040s -- it's still useful as peak relief as part of a peak tier in the RER service plan. RER = Regional Express Rail is a multi-tier service where some trains are allstops and some are express. The peak-hour expresses will probably be 12-car electric-locomotive-driven bilevels.
They are soliciting for both electric/hybrid locomotives and for EMUs - Metrolinx tender for electric trains.
Also, the EMUs won't arrive for almost another decade, so this is something they needed to do, to enable incremental movement to EMUs. What will happen first is all-day 30-minute service with diesels bilevels (ala Lakeshore West) in the several years before full electricifation and 15-min shorter EMU service, and the trains reassigned to electric locomotives/peak/express service, or other GO routes like long-haul Kitchener all-day, etc.
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dowlingm
Senior Member
The eventual speed bump may also depend on what sort of electrification we end up getting - given the size of the unpowered coach fleet I can't believe we won't be going through a phase of buying both EMUs and electric-capable locos during a transition period. Locos will be limited by adhesion limits as to how much power they can apply, whereas EMUs will have more driven wheels. Even then there will be a cap on acceleration for comfort/safety reasons.
wopchop
Building Toronto
Awesome. Definitely going to try to use these for a trip to Niagara.
mdrejhon
Senior Member
For the allday 15-min trains, my prediction is Bramalea-Stoufville RER will be using EMU's and the 15-min Lakeshore RER will be electric-locomotive-driven bilevels. Due to the stop spacing. I also predict that all routes will still run bilevels during the peak surge. for at least a minimum of 15-20 years.
The last bilevels will probably go EOL (End of Life) well into the 2040s.
drum118
Superstar
Even moving to 10-15 minute service, you will need long trains at peak time. Not all lines will have 15 minutes service 10 years from now to the point some parts will have 20-30 minutes based on presentation Metrolinx is showing to various councils.
Milton is not see RER at this time until CP & Metrolinx agree to have 4 tracks in the corridor as part of Wynn election platform in 2014. 2020-22 was the time frame then and that included a fly-under from south to north around the Humber River.
Once the UPX is electrify, you move the UPX cars over to the Stouffville line and buy real EMU for UPX as well not paying the Millions to convert them from DMU to EMU. In time, the DMUs can be sold to the US that can use them in the first place. Even to Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) in California who first order these cars as they expand their system.
crs1026
Senior Member
Looks like they are beginning familiarization runs. They brought two trains over this evening from the TH+B station after their runs, ran them through the new platform and into the storage track, and then back out and over to the TH+B again. Same as they ran the Richmond Hill trains up to the new layover yard after their evening runs for a while before that yard opened.
- Paul