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Recent content by TerryJohnson

  1. TerryJohnson

    VIA Rail

    A customs facility at Windsor isn't my favourite idea. There's been talk of moving the Windsor station over to the tunnel for decades, so it just risks a sunk cost. Whereas, the rebuild of the Detroit station could easily include the necessary facilities. Then we could run 71/76 and 73/78 over...
  2. TerryJohnson

    VIA Rail

    We've seen this pantomime before, with changes in 2012 that brought in a $20 surcharge for bags between 40lb and 50lb. https://globalnews.ca/news/293455/via-rail-cuts-allowable-baggage/ That asinine surcharge vanished in 2014, except for Escape fares where the 40lb limit lingered until 2017...
  3. TerryJohnson

    VIA Rail

    We're beset by unfinished proposals in SWO. The CTC upgrade and siding added to the Kitchener line as part of Harper's "Economic Action Plan" were never used as intended, and services cut back instead by Harper's cuts. VIA did look at HFR is SWO before 2014, but dropped it from the scope...
  4. TerryJohnson

    VIA Rail

    There's an agreed volume of 10 per direction through Smith Falls crossing over CPKC tracks. In the Montreal direction, adding more trains is also constrained by track capacity. However, if VIA could assemble westbound J-trains the second sets of LEs could be rostered from Kingston, together with...
  5. TerryJohnson

    Ontario Northland/Northern Ontario Transportation

    Observed heading north.... ;)
  6. TerryJohnson

    VIA Rail

    Interesting items in this release: 1. EllisDon Capital is out and that consortium is looking for a new partner. 2. The RFP is for 200 km/h and "faster" options, so HSR-200 or HSR~300, no sign of HFR. Because the cost and construction time hockey-stick to grade separate every crossing occurs...
  7. TerryJohnson

    VIA Rail

    Business cases are important but they tend to focus on current and easily foreseeable demand and cost:benefit of the project in isolation. That's relatively effective for urban transit projects, but it has problems, especially at the regional or national level. Demographic and regional equity...
  8. TerryJohnson

    VIA Rail

    The diversions are of train paths over Metrolinx infrastructure, around Metrolinx projects, so presumably Metrolinx has to ask CN from the paths and is picking up the tab for the extra train-miles? Unless the payment for VIA paths on what is now Metrolinx infrastructure is still covered as a...
  9. TerryJohnson

    VIA Rail

    Considering how much extensively the York Sub is being used for diversions while Metrolinx does work on Lakeshore East, it's fairly surprising that they didn't either offer CN the cash to reinstate a siding to make it flow adequately during diversions (although maybe that says more about...
  10. TerryJohnson

    VIA Rail

    VIA Rail will be spending that money on Dorval station and fixing the bottleneck between Turcot and the Victoria Bridge. VIA-HFR will be spending a bit more itself this fall as field studies get underway, and the RFP bid teams will each get a stipend - that's fairly common with big...
  11. TerryJohnson

    VIA Rail

    That corporate plan also proposed the acquisition of the line between Kitchener and London, which hasn't happened. However, in the presentation given in SW Ontario, we see even more ambition to meet regional demand... Not getting the CN crossings to work with the RDCs put paid to these plans.
  12. TerryJohnson

    VIA Rail

    This: https://www.systra.com/canada/project/technical-assistance-to-via-rail-on-dorval-intermodal-station-project-22025/ Transport Action has asked VIA Rail (this isn't a VIA-HFR project) for a briefing on project progress. However, the original mandate of the JPO was: So what part of that...
  13. TerryJohnson

    VIA Rail

    With Parliament back in session, the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities is resuming its study of “Projects of High Frequency Rail Between Quebec City and Toronto, Between Calgary and Banff, and Between Calgary and Edmonton” Tomorrow, I will be joining a...
  14. TerryJohnson

    VIA Rail

    It isn't VIA being opaque about the Winchester Sub cutoff. It was Transport Canada that unveiled that back-of-a-napkin line on the map, and has never really explained it.
  15. TerryJohnson

    VIA Rail

    Mainly operating costs, implementing part of the Kingston Hub concept including having enough trains crewed from there to operate a head end crew base. Also, increasing the service level to the intermediate cities and reducing the total number of paths required from both CN and Metrolinx to...

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