GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

[mdrejhon]

This glacial pace I have 0 hope of electrification before 2040

Pace is glacial but not THAT glacial. Throw in a few years delay max & route-count reduction max.

Sure, completions could be 2030 instead of 2025. I can see that unfortunate delay. But 2040 for the first electrified route? Nah.

Toronto's growing too fast -- and too much has been spent on Union Station -- to not do the electrification necessary to milk the expanded Union Station to full potential.

Even the conservatives (named "Progressive Conservatives" won't tolerate a boondoggle of an empty or underutilized Union station from cancelled electrification.

 

[mdrejhon]

View attachment 159958

I have edited Wikipedia, using my registered account there, to match correct route length of 101.4km

Barrie line was extended from Bradford to Allandale Waterfront a few years ago, and somebody forgot to update the "Line length" to match the Route map with the extended stations. Surprised that outdated length persisted for so long.

reaperexpress, do you have a registered Wikipedia account? If not, get one! Your edits with good citations should be well trusted by Wikipedia moderators.

 

[nfitz]

reaperexpress, do you have a registered Wikipedia account? If not, get one! Your edits with good citations should be well trusted by Wikipedia moderators.

Anyone can edit - particularly for minor and obvious corrections. No need to register. It's recorded by IP number. A simple "fixing line length as it's clearly not 60 km from Barrie to Toronto" should not be challenged, given the other number was already in the article!

 

[Allandale25]

To set your mind at ease - the area through Guelph now has new 136 lb CWR and plenty of new ties - I could smell the creosote the moment I stepped out of my car today. In addition to renewing the switches around Edinburgh Ave, which are used by freight but were pretty worn, the switch at the west end of the former siding at the Guelph depot was replaced with the new one also being 136 lb rail. Crossings still have segments of 115 lb rail, presumably because they are about to be renewed. Much grubbing to improve sightlines. No fencing yet - this will be interesting because the community makes extensive use of the ROW for pedestrian shortcuts and dogwalking. Wonder when an enforcement canpaign will start.

- Paul

Great shots Paul. What's that switch for? An industrial siding or a rarely used second track? I guess someone wants to maintain access to it if they went through with the expense of upgrading the rail through it?

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

Thank you for supporting my argument. Basically 9% of the track.

Wikipedia has two lengths for the Barrie Line, so I averaged the two of them.

View attachment 159954 View attachment 159955

Yeah don't rely on Wikipedia. The rail services pages is pretty good for the rail network history, but ideally you gotta learn the subdivisions and look up the timetables. Rails in Toronto isn't too bad.

 

[crs1026]

Great shots Paul. What's that switch for? An industrial siding or a rarely used second track? I guess someone wants to maintain access to it if they went through with the expense of upgrading the rail through it?

It's the west end of a long-disused siding that has its east switch just east of the station platform at Guelph. The east end was used as the main track for a while, back when the renovations at Guelph station were in progress. The east end is already in good repair, so this is likely a step towards bringing the full length of the siding back into service as a passing track.

That will be a big step forward for GO and VIA, towards enabling 2-way traffic on the line. Right now there is nowhere that trains can pass between Kitchener and Georgetown. Getting those sidings back is a big step forward.

- Paul

 

[crs1026]

Isn't there still a bunch of Double Tracking going on on the Barrie Line??

Also is this new:

" In the next ten years we’re aiming to bring you 15-minute, two-way service between Milliken GO and Union Station."

Was that ten years mentioned before....

1) Re Barrie - there are two procurements in progress. One is for the Davenport overpass, the other is for double tracking of the line from Strachan to Aurora. Neither of the RFP's have been awarded. When these are confirmed, it will be 3-4 years to complete the work. When completed, there is a commitment from the Davenport EA limiting the number of diesel powered trains that will be run. So, improvements will be limited until ML gets serious about electrification (Or DoFo renegs on the commitment, which is certainly his style)

2) Re Milliken - That quote is the first time I have seen Milliken stated as the end point as opposed to Unionville. That may just be a copywriter's slip - the current double tracking project ends just north of Milliken, but the double tracking runs all the way to Unionville. Milliken makes no sense as a terminal point because the CTC crossovers are to the north, and trains would easily have to go to Unionville anyways to change ends.

However, while GO has maintained 15 min 2WAD, there is really no official position on what the service pattern will look like post-ST, if ST actually ever happens.

The other issue is that 15-2WAD on the Stouffville line depends on signal and track improvements on the Kingston Sub (also in procurement) as well as south of Kennedy, where work does not appear to be progressing.

All of this speaks to your question about what's coming - ie why things will not be completed within the next couple of years.


- Paul

 

[reaperexpress]

reaperexpress, do you have a registered Wikipedia account? If not, get one! Your edits with good citations should be well trusted by Wikipedia moderators.

Look through the edit history on that very article. I'm embarrassed that in all the years of editing the article I never noticed that error. Thanks for fixing it.

 

[reaperexpress]

I looked back through the revisions to trace the error, and it turns out my earlier guess was wrong. It wasn't an out-of-date number from before the extension to Barrie, it was a conversion error. The length wasn't 63.0 km, it was 63.0 miles. On 11 February 2018, user Blaixx was updating the formatting of the infobox and misplaced the route length (which was in miles) into the new metric template without accounting for the change in units.

So I'm not crazy after all, that number was still correct the last time I edited the article.

 

[mdrejhon]

So I'm not crazy after all, that number was still correct the last time I edited the article.

Mystery solved!

Thankfully this wasn't a space probe we had to contend with.

Just a few months. A metric conversion error on a Mars probe went undiscovered for longer than this -- and the Mars space probe was destroyed.

 

[Garuda]

I was at Five Guys in Hamilton this weekend destroying my arteries and managed to snap thisnpick of Confederation GO under construction. So happy they over built the underpass for future rail use.

 

[blaixx]

I looked back through the revisions to trace the error, and it turns out my earlier guess was wrong. It wasn't an out-of-date number from before the extension to Barrie, it was a conversion error. The length wasn't 63.0 km, it was 63.0 miles. On 11 February 2018, user Blaixx was updating the formatting of the infobox and misplaced the route length (which was in miles) into the new metric template without accounting for the change in units.
View attachment 160093

So I'm not crazy after all, that number was still correct the last time I edited the article.

Wow, I didn't expect to see my 8 month old Wikipedia edit discussed in such detail on the UT forums! Anyways, thanks for the fix!

 

[smallspy]

I know it has tons of 100mph 'LRC' zones, but I've haven't seen any trains top 95mph on it recently. Meanwhile I see plenty of trains hitting 100mph on the VIA lines:
View attachment 159946 View attachment 159947 View attachment 159948

There is a 100mph passenger zone speed - not LRC speed - from mile 49.3 to mile 124.0, and from mile 143.5 to mile 262.0.

(Now, within those zones there are many locations where a lower speed limit has been imposed, due to track geometry, surface conditions, or other factors. And in some cases the limits are so close to each other that the train is not capable of accelerating back to its zone speed before it needs to slow down for the next one.)

Also remember that the speed limit is defined by a number of issues, and that the speed limit of the particular piece of track is but one of those factors. For instance, there was a temporary maximum speed of 90mph on all P42-led trains operating on the Kingston Sub a couple of years ago due to track and equipment conditions.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Anyone know if the URSC signalling project is still due for completion next year? I can find almost no information on it beyond the initial press release on it from 2014.

 

[robmausser]

Anyone know if the URSC signalling project is still due for completion next year? I can find almost no information on it beyond the initial press release on it from 2014.

This is Ontario, we only announce projects we don't actually do them.