torontowest91
Active Member
lakeshore west growth must be because the gardiner closure
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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
KevinT
Senior Member
It really seems to me like a severe over-reaction. As the Stop The Horns founder says, "Why do the residents have to suffer for the sake of the folly of one person?" Now that the incident has occurred, and the developer and their sub-contractors are well aware of it, it's not anything that will be happening again.
Northern Light
Superstar
To what post are you responding?
generalcanada
Senior Member
I dont think so, Thats why metrolinx is going through the review process to ensure what went wrong to se that it doesnt happen again.
ownthesky
Active Member
Yeesh, maybe the city needs to bite the bullet and yank those multiple tightly packed at-grade crossings, replace them with a cheap bike and pedestrian bridge. Win win for all parties. Highway 7 and Main St are only a few meters away, that’s three at grading crossings within a few minutes of walking from each other.
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Sauga89
Active Member
Yes, I wonder, if the local residents were given a choice between keeping the horns or blocking off the street temporarily into two dead ends, which would they choose? I suppose what they really want is this quiet zone back, but if that isn't an option, maybe they should close the street. I'm guessing that whenever they get around to electrifying the line, it probably won't be worth building a road bridge there. How much would it cost to bring a pedestrian bridge that has to be built anyways forward by a few years?
(EDIT: I suppose you'd pay more in interest by building the pedestrian bridge a decade early, but that crossing is next to a senior's home. If even one of them has a heart attack because they can't sleep, it would probably cost the province tens of thousands in OHIP medical care and lawsuits - and that's just the financial cost, not the emotional one.)
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KevinT
Senior Member
So it takes a lengthy investigation to figure out if an idiot that almost got killed has learned from their mistake, but they know instantly that horns would have solved it? Sorry, still sounds knee-jerk to me...
crs1026
Superstar
I'm sure someone has done a safety systems/ human factors analysis of what makes drivers stop (or not) at level crossings. I can only offer a personal observation - the whistle of an approaching train greatly increases the probability of a driver stopping at a crossing even when there are lights bells and gates installed.
Applying the classic "swiss cheese" model of safety engineering - whistles are a fairly effective barrier to reduce probability of an event. They also have traditional legal and regulatory status, such that whistling is the norm and not whistling is the rare exception allowed only after considerable study and red tape. So yes, the safe and normal course of action after an incident is to double down on whistling.
The problem in this case is that a) the rail line has morphed from a sleepy branch line (pre 1980s) to a high frequency, heavy rail infrastructure and b) the surrounding urban area has become more dense and more prosperous and c) the track layout is particularly problemmatic - multiple crossings in a short area with a curve and poor sightlines. Whistling solves none of that and aggravates the human environment.
So I agree that the more effective solution is to grade separate. I suspect there will be considerable resistance to that idea, as it will be costly and the urban environment will be altered.
As to the operator deficiencies in this one incident, which are hinted at but not really established, I will observe that it's ridiculously easy to become a heavy equipment operator in this Province, And many heavy equipment operators have big gaps in their situational awareness while running big machines. But let's not "blame" or downgrade our concern for the life and safety of this operator.... again, I would apply Vision Zero thinking.....we want all cyclists and pedestrians to be safe, even where they do dumb things.
- Paul
generalcanada
Senior Member
to add onto what crs said.
Unlike with car accidents, We deeply investigate fully every accident that deals with trains and planes no matter how minor. From planes skidding off the runway to gate crossing arms not fully deploying.
Its a weird dichotomy but the process is quite lengthy.
lenaitch
Senior Member
The incident was safety-related at a location that is an exception to the standard, so until it has been completely investigated, they have reverted to the standard.
** A recent update of the article says the whistles stopped as of 0300 today **
I suspect that the design requirements needed for a grade separation, over or under, in a residential area, or closure wouldn't make the neighbourhood happy either. They just want the sound to stop. They want the situation to return to the status quo as they know it.
My knee jerk reaction would normally be 'you bought near a rail line' but traffic has evolved over the years. It used to be a sleepy branchline, and Unionville used to be a sleepy little town. Neither are true anymore and I suspect none or very, very few of the people in the area were there when both were true.
If there was ever a successful action in circumstances like this, in Canada, I'd like to hear it. It seems the nearby building is a retirement home, not a nursing home. I don't sleep well either. I'm a senior. Who to blame.
I noticed the article attached to the CBC article discusses the advocate's angst about another crossing that is completely rural.
It seems to some, life is just too annoying.
ShonTron
Moderator
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Metrolinx was going to rename Exhibition Station to something like “Jackpot City Exhibition Station” until the minister’s office intervened.
Good that at least this renaming was quashed, but the Ford government opened the gates to this sort of thing already.
Good that at least this renaming was quashed, but the Ford government opened the gates to this sort of thing already.
nfitz
Superstar
I thought you were joking until I read the article.
Can't wait for "House of Cannabis - Moss Park" station.
I'm always tempted to file a misleading advertising complaint over "Durham College Oshawa GO", given that it's such a long commute from Oshawa GO to any branch of the college.
northyorker1
New Member
Can we rename the Jane-Finch stop on line 6 to Russian Roulette?
Mihairokov
Senior Member
Even with these names the Durham College part is shortened so it reads like DC Oshawa GO at times which definitely defeats the purpose of sponsoring the station. I know they do this in the schedules for Lakeshore East and I believe they do it on the info screens as well.
nfitz
Superstar
That's true. Light up the Bat-Signal!