Recent content by reaperexpress

The operating rules are a system that exists to keep people safe. Given that EU regulations have produced a safer rail network than the Canadian ones, it seems short-sighted to simply dismiss them because "that's not how we do it here". It doesn't make sense to blindly commit to a set of...

According to Global News, the federal government is slashing Via Rail's budget by 50% ($1 Billion) this coming year: At the same time, the budget for the department of Finance is being increased by $8.5 Billion and the budget for National Defense is being increased by $5.3 Billion, and Via HFR...

And what is it about the GO Transit network that makes it inherently so different from European regional railways that we need completely incompatible operating rules to the global standard?

"North Bay Sub" wouldn't be that descriptive since there are lots of different railways in North Bay. I suspect that's why railways are usually named after a community near the middle of the line, such as CN Grimsby (Hamilton-Niagara) CN Kingston (Toronto-Montreal) VIA Alexandria (Ottawa-Coteau)...

Who says there aren't 75 mph sections? I don't think we've heard what the new track speeds will be on the upgraded segment from North Bay to Timmins. I wouldn't be surprised if the track speed were 80 mph between New Liskeard (Timiskaming Shores) and Englehart for example.

I was curious how the different segments currently compare, so I plotted the Proposed Service Schedule against the station locations. The distances are a bit off since I measured them using a quick trace of the line - my total came out to 733 km when it's actually 740 km (1% error). The...

Not entirely sure if this is what you're asking for, but the Newmarket Subdivision is the railway that used to run from Toronto to North Bay via Barrie and Washago. The portion between Barrie and Washago was demolished decades ago, leaving two disconnected segments. The southern segment...

The single-tracked CN mainline from Washago to Bloomington Station (Richmond Hill) is a major bottleneck in its current form, so each additional train does have a noticeable impact on the overall line capacity. In that 97km segment, there is currently only one siding that is long enough for CN's...

While we're waiting for the Railway Atlas to update, here's my map showing Ontario Northland's newly-expanded rail network: With this purchase, the Province now owns 84% of the tracks along the Northlander route: 596 km Ontario Northland (81%) 118 km CN (16%) 26 km Metrolinx (3%)

That's my classification for limited-access roads that aren't grade separated. So basically it's a two-lane road without driveways

Does Via still have any spare RDCs (in the scrap line) or is the Sudbury set the only one remaining?

New Brunswick has spent an outrageously large amount of money on highways for such a small population. A railway would need to be very fast to be competitive against the bus, let alone private cars. It's safe to say the Province has zero interest in passenger rail.

What is the data source for the graph?

Pretty much any photo of a tram switch outside of Toronto will be a dual-blade switch. Here's one from Wikipedia - note how both of the rails move when the switch changes direction, as opposed to the Toronto design where only one of the rails moves.

The 2018 image shows a single-point switch: So their 'test installation of a dual leaf switch' doesn't have dual leaves? How long is this "long-term" contract, and when does it expire? From what I've seen, the sole-source procurement contracts are typically 5 years. Even if they are within a...