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General railway discussions
- Thread starter Urban Sky
- Start date
OntarioOnTheMove
New Member
Noteworthy from the article:No surprises here.
BREAKING: Genesee & Wyoming to continue operating Huron Central Railway
Genesee & Wyoming has reached an agreement with provincial, federal governments to continue servicewww.sootoday.com
Certainly a positive development for our shortline railways.
Northern Light
Superstar
Detailed 2021 Amtrak Corridor Vision is out.
Link here: http://media.amtrak.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Amtrak-2021-Corridor-Vision-May27_2021.pdf
Of relevance to the Toronto Market:
Note that this routing would run via the Michigan Central Depot; now owned by Ford Motor Co; and being restored, but which has not hosted train service in a very long time.
Link here: http://media.amtrak.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Amtrak-2021-Corridor-Vision-May27_2021.pdf
Of relevance to the Toronto Market:
Note that this routing would run via the Michigan Central Depot; now owned by Ford Motor Co; and being restored, but which has not hosted train service in a very long time.
nfitz
Superstar
Would be nice if they extended those Niagara Falls trains a few extra metres to the VIA Niagara Falls station.
Hmm - though are you allowed to walk across Bridge Street? Can't be more than about 500 metres from one station to the other. Not much worse than changing to subway to MiWay at Kipling station.
Hmm - though are you allowed to walk across Bridge Street? Can't be more than about 500 metres from one station to the other. Not much worse than changing to subway to MiWay at Kipling station.
Undead
Senior Member
Transfers are for second class citizens. /sir chasm
nfitz
Superstar
Given a choice, I've always ridden second class rather than first. First class is overrated.
Are you allowed to walk across Bridge Street?
Fritter
Active Member
I believe that bridge is NEXUS card activated vehicle crossing only.
nfitz
Superstar
That's a shame. You can see there's an old sidewalk along it, along with an office on both sides. I guess you have to walk down to the Whirlpool Bridge to walk across ... changing a 500 metre 5-minute walk to 5.7 km.
Hmm ... though Google Maps walking instructions say to walk across the Bridge Avenue bridge. For what that's worth ...
edit - worth very little. The official (?) website says no pedestrians - https://www.niagarafallsbridges.com/index.php/crossing-info/which-bridge-do-i-take
Northern Light
Superstar
The 'sidewalk' definitely doesn't look very inviting.........
The bridge above, is the active railway crossing.
But of note................
Look to the right:
Train bridge #2..............
Hmmmmm
Overhead view please:
No tracks on it, no tracks leading to or from it.
Would make a fine pedestrian/cycling bridge.
Of course...............if you go to the U.S. side.......it appears they actually lopped the end off this one.......which would make for a bit of big step down to U.S. Soil:
I gather from the above there was yet another bridge here at some point.
No sign of any embankment or support pier on our side of the river:
@crs1026 would likely know what went where back when...............
crs1026
Superstar
^The second bridge was the old Michigan Central (NYC). Ceased to be needed when the Canada Southern was abandoned. All the international freight traffic now runs through Fort Erie. The Amtrak/VIA train is the only one to use the remaining bridge.
There is some history to the changes in ownership of the CN bridge, but it’s not top of mind. Suffice to say, when one abandons a railway, one ensures that no competing entity can swoop in and restart the route. But the MC bridge might still be restorable/serviceable for pedestrian traffic.
- Paul
There is some history to the changes in ownership of the CN bridge, but it’s not top of mind. Suffice to say, when one abandons a railway, one ensures that no competing entity can swoop in and restart the route. But the MC bridge might still be restorable/serviceable for pedestrian traffic.
- Paul
lenaitch
Senior Member
From the Via Rail thread.
One problem is many shippers have abandoned their warehousing costs to enable this and would be loathe to bear the costs to go back. Consider auto manufacturing. A train full of frames/engines/transmissions, etc. would keep an assembly plant running for a month, but they no longer have the capacity to store them. Some industries may have the capacity to store a field full of sea cans, but it could also become a cash flow issue: as soon as you accept delivery, you pay for it..
A problem I can see with 'backed by the government' is triggering trade disputes with our largest and most necessary, but aggressively protectionism trading partner.
One problem is many shippers have abandoned their warehousing costs to enable this and would be loathe to bear the costs to go back. Consider auto manufacturing. A train full of frames/engines/transmissions, etc. would keep an assembly plant running for a month, but they no longer have the capacity to store them. Some industries may have the capacity to store a field full of sea cans, but it could also become a cash flow issue: as soon as you accept delivery, you pay for it..
A problem I can see with 'backed by the government' is triggering trade disputes with our largest and most necessary, but aggressively protectionism trading partner.
rbt
Senior Member
No. Whirlpool Bridge does not allow pedestrians or even most drivers (Nexus only). It also has hours (7am to 11pm) so better hope the train isn't late.
All of those things could be changed (it has wooden plank sidwalks) with increased fencing/facilities/staffing, and a number of automated E-passport machines to help manage sudden crowds.
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roger1818
Senior Member
Sorry if I am mistaken, but your response makes me think you aren't aware of what CP's former Expressway service was. I had link with a great description of it in my original post, but basically is a variation on traditional piggyback service that doesn't require special, reinforced trailers, since they drive the trailers on and off the train instead of using a gantry. They had a contract with both HBC and Canadian Tire to transport trailers between their Milton and Cote St. Luc yards (they had service to a third yard near downtown Detroit). As a result, I fail to see how putting truck trailers on a train rather than driving them on a highway would cause any warehousing issues.
Does the USA have a problem with us subsidizing our highways? I don't see how subsidizing the domestic transport of goods (most of which is going to retailers) would cause a trade issue (unless you think that the lower retail prices in Canadian stores would reduce cross boarder shopping).
drum118
Superstar
First of all, there is the time to drive to drop off or pickup a trailer; time to load/off load; having a crew on hand to move the train when loaded; time to make up a train; train departs or arrive the yard on time; hope there are no issues with the train or on line. How does that compare to trucks driven from plant to plant?? Anything under a 1,000 miles travel is still cheaper to drive than use the train depending on the items being ship.
Most warehouses went by the wayside with on time demand needs compare to stock piling things. On time demand can be from a few hours to a day or 2 depending on what being ship.
CP ran the NS Roadrailer out of Lambton Yard until CN took it away from CP. CN NS Roadrailer trains are between 15-50 trailers long depending what part of the system they are on. CP started the Iron Highway/Expressway service out of Halton and it die after a short life. CP was running 4 trains a day and fell to one before kill off in 2018. Being on the Toronto West Diamond Grade Separation project, got a look at a fair number of Iron Highway/Expressway trains that were about 50% full most of the time going both way, if that.
Watching trains in Buffalo like here, piggyback trains/flats are rare compare to containers these days to the point I don't see much traffic for 2 large shipping companies these days that have moved to containers.
roger1818
Senior Member
Thanks for flushing out some of the details. In an earlier post in the VIA Rail thread (the problem with moving a conversation to a new thread is context is often lost), I suggested that the province subsidise intermodal rail freight to alleviate traffic issues one the 401 east of Coburg (another member suggested that VIA's HFR plan would alleviate these traffic issues), to delay the need to widen it to 6 lanes all the way to the Quebec boarder. It is true that it won't help for deliveries that are very time sensitive, but most could handle a few hours delay if it could save money. I admit that it is unlikely for this to ever happen though.