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

We drove in from Kitchener today to ride the UP Express. Parked at Kipling, took the subway to Spadina, then caught a new LFLRV on the 510 down to Union for fun. Got on the UP Express at about 11:30 with no wait (walked right onto a waiting train, almost full, which left a few minutes after we sat down).

M II A II R II K said:
It topped out at 130 km/hr, I checked.
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Your train went a whole lot faster than ours! Perhaps there was some track congestion when we rode, but I felt it never reached more than about 70 km/h, and even at that only briefly. There were many delays and near-stops along the route, and it just crawled along the elevated guideway in and out of Pearson (maybe 30 km/h). Overall, I was disappointed at the speed (lack thereof), but I didn't check my phone to see what time it was when we departed and arrived, so maybe it just does run that slow and it hit it's 25 mintue travel time after all. The train itself is a lot like the O-Train in Ottawa (a "bus on rails") with that noisy Diesel engine just clattering away constantly. It reminded me of the old Budd Cars/RDC's. The interior is nice and the stations are pretty, at least - except what the hell did they do to Pearson!? They covered up all the beautiful wood in the ceiling with ugly black netting:

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Onboard, I saw one or two people with suitcases get on at Pearson at the last minute and they had no where to sit and looked a bit annoyed. One of them was complaining to a CS agent that they had paid for a ticket and wanted a refund. Understandably. I worry this weekend's free rides may have done more harm than good for impressions of the service.

Overall, I can see that it is a needed connection, and it functions, but it just feels a bit derpy to me. The Arlanda Express in Stockholm was just so much... sexier.
 

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Duck said:
Your train went a whole lot faster than ours! Perhaps there was some track congestion when we rode, but I felt it never reached more than about 70 km/h, and even at that only briefly. There were many delays and near-stops along the route, and it just crawled along the elevated guideway in and out of Pearson (maybe 30 km/h). Overall, I was disappointed at the speed (lack thereof), but I didn't check my phone to see what time it was when we departed and arrived, so maybe it just does run that slow and it hit it's 25 mintue travel time after all.
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When I took the UP in the summer, it felt slow sometimes too. However when watching this video of a cab ride, you can see that despite the slow parts, it made the run in under 25.

 
Has anyone used the TTC to get to the Weston or Bloor UPX station, rode the UPX down to Union Station, and then used their TTC transfer to board the subway at Union Station to get to a downtown destination (IE. Eaton Centre)? It should be like a pseudo-SmartTrack trip.
 
Lineup today was ridiculous -- extending all the way back to the tourism office at Union. I don't think its ever been that busy. I had to go out to Dundas West and wanted to use it as RER; didn't work out, but managed to take it on the way back.

It was just so convenient. I was in Paris two weeks ago and used the RER B, which similarly runs to CDG Airport. The way the UP runs is as if it's just on the cusp of figuring that out

It's funny -- it working good, if not better as an RER than as an airport shuttle -- and how much Metrolinx downplays that. I don't think UP's future is in its own separately branded service, but rather express/collector versions of a Pearson bound service like the Paris B3. If it was $5 from Bloor to Union, and $7 to Weston, it'd would be a resonating success.

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salsa said:
Why is the ceiling at Pearson station completely covered with mesh?
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Because "Let's spend $500 million building a train with pretty stations, then make a snap decision about something stupid and make them completely ugly without thinking about what we're actually doing."
 
It reminded me of the Turcot Interchange in Montreal, with the big mesh nets to catch the crumbling concrete.

You're probably right, though - the UPExpress Twitter account was very active this weekend, but conveniently ignored my question about the nets.
 
I love it. The tourists are in town and get free rides but when Ontarians need it they pay thru the nose.

I still say ditch the DMU, buy catenary subway cars and run 4 car trains every 6 minutes at TTC fares and be done with it.
 
ssiguy2 said:
I love it. The tourists are in town and get free rides but when Ontarians need it they pay thru the nose.
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What also drives me nuts is when last call is extended to 4AM when we're expecting an influx of tourists. But on regular weekends, Torontonians are suddenly no longer responsible to handle a late last call.
 
ssiguy2 said:
I love it. The tourists are in town and get free rides but when Ontarians need it they pay thru the nose.

I still say ditch the DMU, buy catenary subway cars and run 4 car trains every 6 minutes at TTC fares and be done with it.
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then there would be too many people riding it. I think what they should do is maybe have pretesto be $15 to the airport and then drop 5 off for every stop in between. They could maybe make they fare with out presto be $20 and adjust it the same way
 
Someone was telling me this past week, he and 4 others were the only ones getting on at Pearson that trip. They pickup a rider at Weston who got off at Bloor along with the 4 from Pearson, leave that person the only rider to Union.

PCL and the sub contractor are liable if anyone gets injure from falling material for the first year once full hand off takes place by Metrolinx. PCL will go after the sub to deal with all issues and any payout to anyone, but is the main party. If its design issues, then falls under Metrolinx if the work was done in house or on the party responsible for the design. Still on Metrolinx hands to deal with the mess since its their project. Keeping things under wrap is number one thing to do at the end of the day.

One has to wonder if any site inspection is taking place by Metrolinx who should be looking for problems, flaws or other issues during the construction stage monthly by someone knowing their job?? Seen far too many problems with Metrolinx projects than the normal industry standards to say no. PCL should be doing this daily as well having the standard site meeting of all trades, including a walk around inspection.

A lot of rush work took place because of the Pan Am Games and paying for that work now at a higher cost.
 
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