General railway discussions

[Woodbridge_Heights]

I’ ve been taking the GO into Exhibition this week for the RWF - as it’s much easier to drive down to Burlington GO and train in, then it is to wheel the pickup into the city - and much cheaper as well. But standing on the platform Friday, chatting with a group of seniors, we had two incidents of high speed trains zooming through the station - one VIA, one GO. No whistle, no horn, no automated warning over the p.a. I noted that the second time, as the train used the adjacent track, people were visibly startled and jumpy. As a safety precaution, with a mult-ton train going by at 100kmh?, why would there not be an audio warning of some sort prior to the trains passage through the station?

Markham residents demanded LESS train whistles. This is what you get.

 

[nfitz]

Markham residents demanded LESS train whistles. This is what you get.

One mostly hears announcements made for approaching trains in stations - not whistles, unless someone is standing in the way or something.

 

[drum118]

One mostly hears announcements made for approaching trains in stations - not whistles, unless someone is standing in the way or something.

In Europe, you hear announcements as a high speed train is about to pass, yet rarely hear it in NA. A number of GO Stations announced that a train is bout to arrive at a platform, but can't recall what maybe said about express trains since rarely use GO these days.

 

[Allandale25]

Interesting railway operation here:

Rebuilt Power for Quebec's SOPOR - Railway Age

SOPOR (Société du port ferroviaire de Baie-Comeau) has taken delivery of a remanufactured locomotive at its Baie-Comeau facility, located on the St. Lawrence River on Quebec’s North Shore. SOPX 7306 is former

www.railwayage.com

 

[NW87]

New railway lights and gates installed over the summer on Winston Churchill, replacing the crossbucks.

 

[roger1818]

New railway lights and gates installed over the summer on Winston Churchill, replacing the crossbucks.
View attachment 521235

Ya? Where is that? Doesn’t look like Churchill Manitoba (at least not what I would imagine it to look like). Always good to see crossing upgrades.

 

[lenaitch]

Ya? Where is that? Doesn’t look like Churchill Manitoba (at least not what I would imagine it to look like). Always good to see crossing upgrades.

Winston Churchill Blvd., on the border between Oakville and Mississauga.

 

[roger1818]

Winston Churchill Blvd., on the border between Oakville and Mississauga.

Ahh okay. So western Toronto.

Edit: Looking at RAC, I’m guessing this is on CN’s Oakville spur?

 

[Allandale25]

 

[NW87]

Ahh okay. So western Toronto.

Edit: Looking at RAC, I’m guessing this is on CN’s Oakville spur?

<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?p...1!3m2!1sen!2sca!4v1700733693155!5m2!1sen!2sca" width="600" height="450" style="border:0;" allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade"></iframe>

Ahh okay. So western Toronto.

Edit: Looking at RAC, I’m guessing this is on CN’s Oakville spur?

Location here

 

[C_Johnson_1995]

Planning meetings underway for Island Rail Corridor’s future

The Regional District of Nanaimo and other jurisdictions along the Island Rail Corridor are in the planning stages of what to do with the 289-km stretch, according to an update from staff delivered Nov. 14.

www.cheknews.ca

According to an RDN staff report, meetings thus far have discussed reversion of lands to First Nations along the corridor, contamination and remediation, legal encumbrances, environmental liabilities and the importance of recognizing and addressing historic wrongs in the creation of the corridor as well as environmental, economic and cultural harms caused by the corridor.

Looks like we're headed for the inevitable. There is zero hope of a rail revival here. Almost every stakeholder, including the First Nations are against it. A railway on Vancouver Island is entirely pointless both for freight and passenger though, and the corridor would find much better use as a trail.

 

[just east of the creek]

The Panama Canal continues to suffer from transit delays - this has been going on for some time due to water shortages, and appears to be now slated to continue well into 2024. Delays for transit are now 20 or more days. And now limited 18 ships a day. And a large % of that is container traffic. This is an ongoing opportunity (as the traffic delays have been building since 2018) for Railways, and CPKC and CN could, in conjunction with Canadian ports in the west and east coast, capture traffic with various forms of express services into North America and across North America, shortening transit times from Asia to just about wherever a ship transiting the canal would journey to.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Planning meetings underway for Island Rail Corridor’s future

The Regional District of Nanaimo and other jurisdictions along the Island Rail Corridor are in the planning stages of what to do with the 289-km stretch, according to an update from staff delivered Nov. 14.

www.cheknews.ca

Looks like we're headed for the inevitable. There is zero hope of a rail revival here. Almost every stakeholder, including the First Nations are against it. A railway on Vancouver Island is entirely pointless both for freight and passenger though, and the corridor would find much better use as a trail.

Ten years ago I visited a narrow gauge railway museum on Vancouver Island. It was fun, but I can’t see it being viable today.

 

[lenaitch]

The Panama Canal continues to suffer from transit delays - this has been going on for some time due to water shortages, and appears to be now slated to continue well into 2024. Delays for transit are now 20 or more days. And now limited 18 ships a day. And a large % of that is container traffic. This is an ongoing opportunity (as the traffic delays have been building since 2018) for Railways, and CPKC and CN could, in conjunction with Canadian ports in the west and east coast, capture traffic with various forms of express services into North America and across North America, shortening transit times from Asia to just about wherever a ship transiting the canal would journey to.

I wonder how much excess capacity exists at both the ports and the infrastructure that services them.

 

[smallspy]

The Panama Canal continues to suffer from transit delays - this has been going on for some time due to water shortages, and appears to be now slated to continue well into 2024. Delays for transit are now 20 or more days. And now limited 18 ships a day. And a large % of that is container traffic. This is an ongoing opportunity (as the traffic delays have been building since 2018) for Railways, and CPKC and CN could, in conjunction with Canadian ports in the west and east coast, capture traffic with various forms of express services into North America and across North America, shortening transit times from Asia to just about wherever a ship transiting the canal would journey to.

You realize that all of the railways already offer this exact service and have been doing so for a long time, right? There is a reason why CN and CP have purchased lines deep into the US in the past 30 years, and why the ports on the West Coast are considerably busier than those on the East.

Dan