Oh, and here's a map of Paris RER B:
Credit:
eutouring.com
Single Paris RER B service.
Some stations are served 3 minutes
Some stations are served 6 minutes
Some stations are served 12 minutes
Some stations are served 15 minutes
Some stations are served 30 minutes
Proof: RER B timetable
RER B has multiple spurs, despite being a single service, the UPX spur could just simply be treated Paris RER B style -- with every other electric train going to Bramalea and every other going to Pearson/Airport Corporate (over existing UPX spur, perhaps, basically replacing UPX).
Let's assume we electrify Bramalea all the way to Stoufville, plus UPX spur. So we roll UPX into SmartTrack (to free up corridor room for 5-minute SmartTrack), then the Pearson spur is simply another spur off the same service.
A
single electric train service running on our existing GO/RER/SmartTrack/UPX/whatever corridors that has:
- 5-minutes Weston-Unionville (or Scarborough/Markham)
- 10-minutes Bramalea-Unionville
- 10-minutes Airport-Unionville
- 30-minutes Airport-Stoufville
- 30-minutes Bramalea-Stoufville
And it would still be simpler than how Paris RER B operates as a SINGLE SERVICE
(Not necessarily exact service plan, but you get the picture now)
This is SmartTrack
This is GO RER
same thing!!!!!!!!
Metrolinx already seems to understands this -- they're beginning to handle Hamilton this way. The Downtown spur on LSW, and the West Harbour spur on LSW. This is the Lakeshore West service but they spur off to two different stations when approaching Hamilton. Metrolinx already even mentioned sending every other RER train to Airport / to Bramalea, and it could still be a single service ala Paris RER B where you have to look at a board to decide whether to board the train.
GO is already beginning to do this today -- with LSW because of the two Hamilton spurs. I have to also look at the board nowadays to decide which train to board for Hamilton -- some LSW trains stops at Aldershot, one LSW train formerly short-turned at Oakville, some LSW trains continues on the spur to Hamilton West Harbour GO, some LSW trains continues on a different spur to Hamilton Downtown GO -- during evening peak period.
Lakeshore West as a "single service" yet has four different interspersed services during evening peak:
- Aldershot short-turn
- Burlington short-turn
- Hamilton West Harbour spur
- Hamilton Downtown spur
Isn't that sounding like a very simple version of Paris RER B already!
Still not nearly as complex as RER B either, though!
Despite this, Metrolinx treats Lakeshore West as a single service!
It's a routine habit of many peak commuters to verify that their LSW train will stop at their station. Now imagine merged RER+SmartTrack+UPX as another level of this same complexity of the same thing (but still much simpler than Paris RER). Obviously this will need to be accompanied by videoboard upgrades at all stations for massively improved clarity.
Even today, I wish Metrolinx would upgrade all the videoboards at all stations to clearly display which destinations the arriving train will stop at. So that it becomes a quick glance without waiting for text to scroll. Despite Paris RER B being way more complex than Lakeshore West, I find it easier with Paris RER B than Lakeshore West evening peak (with its 4 different services)!
Obviously, to pull off 5-minute service, would require a
merger of electric UPX, SmartTrack, GO, RER, into this unified single train service -- and even this merged octopus is still simpler than Paris RER B with fewer different station frequencies and fewer spurs. Obviously a major clarity upgrade of all video boards will be needed to make a merged service less confusing, but this is a software engineering matter rather than additional tracks.
If there's a good resignalling initiative, it's just mere details,
not track count (once we've double tracked to Unionville at least, and added more track on LSE to Scarborough).
In theory, we could even run the whole GO network this way,
where we only have two or three services on GO that merges all the lines. Stoufville would simply become a spur off Lakeshore West, if we eventually someday decided to use the same trainset for both Lakeshore West and for SmartTrack / RER.
Soft-timetabling: Even if we don't go full untimetabled operation (subway style) -- we can still soften the timetable a bit like Paris RER does. This allows dwells to stay short. That means letting trains depart early to keep the 3-minute-later train more easily on timetable if unusual rail conditions favour that -- like filling an earlier unexpected gap in schedule because of a train taken out of service and there's a threat of a later schedule cascade due to temporarily lowered rail speed limits, etc. Paris RER does this strategically for their 3-minute services, because it's no big harm to depart early if the next train is 3-minutes later. This can prevent delaying trains behind during abnormal situations where departing early can prevent later schedule cascades. It's more important to stay on exact timetable in the peripheries (the 15-minute stations rather than the 3-minute stations). So it can feel somewhat feel like an untimetabled subway in the high-frequency core segment during peak. The trains will often "catch up" or "slow down" to get closer to their original timetable as they exit the ultra-high-frequency sections of the RER network. However, there can be quite a bit of timetable drift in the 3-minute sections to prevent cascades. So you're not fully untimetabled, but you're not hard-timetabled either.
Once you understand how RER+SmartTrack is a single service (like Paris RER B) when you conceptually think this way, it
becomes possible to run 5-minute SmartTrack (assuming Union bottleneck is solved with a USRC resignalling, maybe slightly higher speed USRC crossovers, maybe high subway-style platforms with level boarding, short dwell time, possibly soft-timetabling (letting trains depart early) or untimetabled operation (like a subway).
There are LOTS of ways to make 5-minute SmartTrack happen.
You just have to conceptually
imagine the whole merged electric GO+RER+UPX+SmartTrack network as a mere two or three services of a Paris-RER-style lines with lots of spurs.
That's it.
Gradually, over the next couple decades, could become:
-
Route Kingston-Stoufville (Bramalea+UPX+Airport Corporate+Unionville+Stoufville merger of all routes running over these destinations)
-
Route Niagara-Bowmanville (LSE+LSW merger, with Oakville (old station) spur and Bowmanville spur, and all Hamilton spurs -- Downtown vs West Harbour/Niagara)
-
Route Richmond Hill (low frequency diesel route only)
You've essentially merged the whole Metrolinx heavy-rail network into a mere TWO electric routes!
Each individual "route", much simpler than today's Paris RER B.
Trainsets may be different for each route. Much like RER A/B/C/D/E in Paris often use different trainsets. Route Kingston-Stoufville could use EMUs, while route Niagara-Bowmanville could use electric-locomotive-pulled bilevels.
Once the whole network is merged this way, in a Paris RER style manner, you surgically solve quite a lot of corridor-width problems. Run them with upgraded videoboards at all stations, and train clarity isn't a problem (
consider: Electronic boards for the much-more-complex Paris RER B network, is easier than trying to interpret which LSW GO trains continues onwards to Hamilton)
Without needing much expropriation either.
Assuming Union is solvable, our corridors could do 5-minute SmartTrack with less corridor widenings than we think we need. Yes, assuming we solve the difficult bottlenecks (Union/USRC/UPX/crossovers/etc) and unify several Metrolinx services, and obviously, we have to resignal out the wazoo. And assuming no overtaking on 2-track corridors, obviously.
Assuming the solving of other bottlenecks elsewhere, we could achieve 5-minute SmartTrack on a 2-track Stoufville corridor (and a small bit of additional track to Scarborough, obviously -- probably 5 tracks total to Scarborough junction).
At this stage, it really a matter of
money, not necessarily further track count than already planned.
![1280px-SIEL_-_RER_B_-_Direction[1].JPG](http://cdn.skyrisecities.com/forum/data/attachments/56/56946-335bcc9eae029f26987500bf6d8b2028.jpg)
