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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

Reecemartin said:
At this point it seems that by the election enough stuff will be locked in to give RER critical mass no?

I emailed Ben Spurr a while back and got this : " The story was based not only on the published platform, but some interviews I did with the PCs, who spoke to me not for quotation but for the purposes of clarifying their platform. They did indeed tell me they intended to continue the RER program, including electrification. I realize though I maybe could have made my sources in the piece clearer. I'll keep that in mind next time. "
Click to expand...
there we go. The needless cynical denial of the PC's clear platform and its intents can be put to rest.
 
innsertnamehere said:
They will run rush hour deisel trains on the extension to downtown, likely in some form of express format.
Click to expand...

That was my understanding as well. A limited stop service (common transfer points) after Oshawa.

innsertnamehere said:
there we go. The needless cynical denial of the PC's clear platform and its intents can be put to rest.
Click to expand...

What recent announcement did I miss? Christine always seemed fairly safe (little new investment but unlikely to kill current progress) but I'm not sure I'd trust Doug to follow through on any election promise one way or the other.
 
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crs1026 said:
That would be the platform that had the name Peoples Guarantee on it and that said nice things about a carbon tax?

- Paul
Click to expand...
yes, the new leader is a bit of a wrench in the plans. I was meaning more so the rampant refusal to believe the platform when Brown was still the uncontested leader upon it's release. New leader may mean a new direction, but even then, I don't expect much change beyond a few key platform points for the platform that is taken into the election.
 
So if RER ends up including Local/Express service patterns, to what effect will this have on the premise of "RER"? Because originally it was to be ~15min service for all on the core RER network (i.e everyone gets high-frequency service regardless). But wouldn't this slash that to 30min - with the exception of the Express stations. Both options seem great, and obviously Express should be considered. But perhaps it will be ruled out on account of the Local stations not having the service levels originally promised. Unless I'm missing something and it will still retain the 15min service with an Express model.
 
44 North said:
So if RER ends up including Local/Express service patterns, to what effect will this have on the premise of "RER"? Because originally it was to be ~15min service for all on the core RER network (i.e everyone gets high-frequency service regardless). But wouldn't this slash that to 30min - with the exception of the Express stations. Both options seem great, and obviously Express should be considered. But perhaps it will be ruled out on account of the Local stations not having the service levels originally promised. Unless I'm missing something and it will still retain the 15min service with an Express model.
Click to expand...
I thought it was 15 min or better, so most inner stations will be 15 min, while the busy ones will be less and the outer ones will be more.
 
44 North said:
So if RER ends up including Local/Express service patterns, to what effect will this have on the premise of "RER"? Because originally it was to be ~15min service for all on the core RER network (i.e everyone gets high-frequency service regardless). But wouldn't this slash that to 30min - with the exception of the Express stations. Both options seem great, and obviously Express should be considered. But perhaps it will be ruled out on account of the Local stations not having the service levels originally promised. Unless I'm missing something and it will still retain the 15min service with an Express model.
Click to expand...

The latest information coming out of Metrolinx and Verster said, for example on the Stouffville line, the new GO RER stations like Lawerence East (the local ones) would see 4 trains per hour.

60 / 4 = 15 minutes.

This was always the plan. Metrolinx is trying to save face in the recent allegations about their approval process for some station analysis being flawed (not taking into account for local/express service levels) but it was always the plan.

Just look at the station designs for Lawerence East etc, they are short platforms. They can't fit a bilevel 12 car train. The plan all along was to have them bypass the stations.

Remember, the Express and local trains will be almost fully separate. A local train would stop at Unionville and turn around. An express train would bypass all stations after Unionville, stop at maybe Kennedy and go to Union.

This would mean only Kennedy would see service levels higher than the two separate services and one of the only places where the Express and Local trains would converge.

Hypothetically, according to the latest info in news articles from Metrolinx.
 
Leo_Chan said:
I thought it was 15 min or better, so most inner stations will be 15 min, while the busy ones will be less and the outer ones will be more.
Click to expand...

I guess I didn't really consider the non-RER trains that will still be there making all stops, so that probably solves that one. Still though, in relation to the RER service model, wouldn't this newer concept of Local/Express (as opposed to the original concept of all-stop milk run) effectively cut promised services in half. Even for stations on lines that converge. So Local stations like Ellesmere on a single line go from 15min to 30min, Local stations sharing two lines like Gerrard go from 7.5min to 15min. And only the Express stations get the originally-promised service frequency?
 
Allandale25 said:
Very interesting. They must have reached an Agreement with CP Rail. I wonder if GM dropping CP Rail from serving its plant in Oshawa freed up track availability and helped in any way?
Click to expand...

The plan right from EA days has been for GO to add its own second track. So the impact on CP operations would be pretty minimal so long as all ML wants is one directional peak service. If we ever get to “Phase II” ie service in directions, CP may be harder to please. Let’s hope ML has learned from past experience. Actually, the Belleville Sub is not all that busy these days: since trains have been lengthened the number of movements is much fewer.

- Paul
 
Allandale25 said:
Very interesting. They must have reached an Agreement with CP Rail. I wonder if GM dropping CP Rail from serving its plant in Oshawa freed up track availability and helped in any way?
Click to expand...

Here's a copy of the February 20, 2018 presentation if interested: https://www.metrolinxengage.com/sites/default/files/oshawa_council.pdf

The article goes further than this presentation in terms of when construction of the bridge will specifically start. The article says: "The bridge, one of the several complicating factors in the Lakeshore East extension is on track to have shovels in the ground come next year, according to Andre Marois, director of R.E.R. corridor infrastructure for Lakeshore East."
 
Reecemartin said:
At this point it seems that by the election enough stuff will be locked in to give RER critical mass no?

I emailed Ben Spurr a while back and got this : " The story was based not only on the published platform, but some interviews I did with the PCs, who spoke to me not for quotation but for the purposes of clarifying their platform. They did indeed tell me they intended to continue the RER program, including electrification. I realize though I maybe could have made my sources in the piece clearer. I'll keep that in mind next time. "
Click to expand...

The events of the last few weeks, though, have rendered that clarification quite moot. We have no idea what the PC platform is, what's in or out, or how much anything might cost, now.
 
44 North said:
I guess I didn't really consider the non-RER trains that will still be there making all stops, so that probably solves that one. Still though, in relation to the RER service model, wouldn't this newer concept of Local/Express (as opposed to the original concept of all-stop milk run) effectively cut promised services in half. Even for stations on lines that converge. So Local stations like Ellesmere on a single line go from 15min to 30min, Local stations sharing two lines like Gerrard go from 7.5min to 15min. And only the Express stations get the originally-promised service frequency?
Click to expand...

It's not clear to me whether the new format is still 15 minute headways, with some stopping and some express, or a higher number of trains per hour with locals following the expresses.

For an example of what express may mean, see this schedule in Chicago. You have a 25 minute headway, but three trains in that 25 minute span. The first runs express to the outermost stops, the next follows right behind, starting to make stops partway out, the last doing the local stops close in.

I suspect ML is still trying to figure this out. It may mean some triple tracking sooner than planned.

- Paul
 
Paris RER has a bunch of complex stopping plans.

Where you've got 3min at some stations, 6min at others, and 12min at yet others.

There are often 5 simultaneous different stopping plans running concurrently at the same time.

Eventually we'll have to modify the UI of our info displays to something similar to the checkbox-based system that I see in Paris. Basically the screen displays a list of checkboxes that the currently berthed train will later stop at. That way, you board the correct train.
 
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