GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

[Andy_in_Toronto]

Interesting post this week of my German friends of Deutsche Bahn:

Last week I stepped off the plane in Toronto to support Canada's biggest transport project in history, GO Expansion or formerly known as GO Regional Express Rail.

Toronto is already Canada's biggest city and will continue to grow - and so will the commuter public transport system. This program will provide huge improvements to people living in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) with a population of 7.3 million.

Providing a more frequent, all-day service, in both directions
Delivering up to three times more trips than the 3,500 weekly trips in 2019.
Taking 145,000 cars off the road, and passengers will save over 10 minutes a trip on average
Reducing pollution, up to 70% less pollution per passenger trip
Generating more than 8,000 jobs during the first 12 years of construction and delivery

At DB E.C.O. Group we are very proud to be a leading partner in this international joint venture to design, bid, build, operate and maintain (DBOM) a 450 km long rail network. Together with our JV partners, Aecon Group Inc., FCC Construcción and Alstom, collectively known as ONxpress Transportation Partners, we will electrify and expand the entire network and provide new and upgraded rolling stock.

Great to be part of this journey!

Ralph Kuechler on LinkedIn: Great to be back on international soil. 🇨🇦 Last week I stepped | 11 comments

Great to be back on international soil. 🇨🇦 Last week I stepped off the plane in Toronto to support Canada's biggest transport project in history, GO... 11 comments on LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com

Let’s see what German engineering can do for us. I can tell you Deutsche Bahn is not admired for their service in the Vaterland!

 

[crs1026]

Maybe they'll put in a crossover north of it and keep the current bridge as a brief single track section? It seems like that might let them go from 2 tph to 4 tph. I at least would love to see them start offering counter peak service. That 4 hour gap between around 4pm and 8pm with no SB trains is brutal.

Unlikely…. the CTC signals and associated bungalows are mostly installed already.

The same is the case at Kennedy - there is no sign of work to move the yet-to-be-commissioned end of double track switch and control point bungalow from north of the station to the south. Most likely, the second Kennedy platform will sit unused until the double track is completed down to Scarboro Jct. Same at Milliken, and Agincourt, until that last bridge is completed.

One man’s “roughing in for the future” is another man’s “failure to draw a Gantt Chart”, I guess.

- Paul

 

[reaperexpress]

Unlikely…. the CTC signals and associated bungalows are mostly installed already.

The same is the case at Kennedy - there is no sign of work to move the yet-to-be-commissioned end of double track switch and control point bungalow from north of the station to the south. Most likely, the second Kennedy platform will sit unused until the double track is completed down to Scarboro Jct. Same at Milliken, and Agincourt, until that last bridge is completed.

One man’s “roughing in for the future” is another man’s “failure to draw a Gantt Chart”, I guess.

- Paul

Yeah, I think you're right and the second platforms at Agincourt and Kennedy will sit unused for at least the next year. In the meantime they will just use the nearly-complete passing siding between Agincourt and Kennedy to slightly increase service.

Here's a concept for how that new siding could be used to introduce counter-peak service and add one additional peak-direction trip.

Changes compared to the June 2022 schedule are highlighted. Train meets are outlined in black.

Unfortunately it is not possible to have full counter-peak service to Mount Joy until a second platform is built there. Trains to Old Elm need to be able to pass through while the terminating train is sitting in the station in preparation for its southbound run.

 

[smallspy]

Maybe they'll put in a crossover north of it and keep the current bridge as a brief single track section? It seems like that might let them go from 2 tph to 4 tph. I at least would love to see them start offering counter peak service. That 4 hour gap between around 4pm and 8pm with no SB trains is brutal.

No, they won't do that. That's a whole lot of additional wiring and signal installation - and extrememly temporary, at that - that they are very averse to.

Dan

 

[crs1026]

Yeah, I think you're right and the second platforms at Agincourt and Kennedy will sit unused for at least the next year. In the meantime they will just use the nearly-complete passing siding between Agincourt and Kennedy to slightly increase service.

Here's a concept for how that new siding could be used to introduce counter-peak service and add one additional peak-direction trip.

I haven’t studied the new trackwork at Unionville in detail, but from the way ML has been talking there may be room for some turnback trains that don’t go all the way to Mount Joy.

Even adding those counter peak trains would be very useful, as it opens up the route for things like evening attendance at entertainment events downtown…. plus, anything that nails down the regularity of the service pattern is a good thing for marketing.. . Once the pattern is reliable, people do structure their lives around the knowledge that the GO train leaves at ten past the hour.

- Paul

 

[Haydenpoon]

Yeah, I think you're right and the second platforms at Agincourt and Kennedy will sit unused for at least the next year. In the meantime they will just use the nearly-complete passing siding between Agincourt and Kennedy to slightly increase service.

Here's a concept for how that new siding could be used to introduce counter-peak service and add one additional peak-direction trip.

Changes compared to the June 2022 schedule are highlighted. Train meets are outlined in black.
View attachment 408471
View attachment 408470

Unfortunately it is not possible to have full counter-peak service to Mount Joy until a second platform is built there. Trains to Old Elm need to be able to pass through while the terminating train is sitting in the station in preparation for its southbound run.

I don't think Metrolinx will implement the schedule you are proposing. In the afternoon peak, the Stouffville Line used to run every 30 mins to Old Elm (See Stepember 2021 schedule before Omicron), and it is unlikely for Metrolinx to reduce service for riders north of Unionville.

There is, however, 3 platforms at Unionville. Therefore, I think it should be possible for Metrolinx to stage 2 trains at Unionville just before the afternoon rush hour for the reverse peak service. There will still be a 2-hour gap for the reverse peak direction as 3 trains are required to fill the current 4-hour gap.

 

[reaperexpress]

I haven’t studied the new trackwork at Unionville in detail, but from the way ML has been talking there may be room for some turnback trains that don’t go all the way to Mount Joy.

Even adding those counter peak trains would be very useful, as it opens up the route for things like evening attendance at entertainment events downtown…. plus, anything that nails down the regularity of the service pattern is a good thing for marketing.. . Once the pattern is reliable, people do structure their lives around the knowledge that the GO train leaves at ten past the hour.

I did look into the option of running 2tph midday (1tph to Unionville, 1tph to Mount Joy), but that would result in a 57-minute layover at Unionville, which is an extremely inefficient use of resources. It wouldn't be possible to shift the timings to reduce that layover because the siding locations lock in a regular 30-minute patten. On that basis I was wondering if they would wait until the Highland Creek bridge is complete before introducing an hourly midday service to Unionville.

I don't think Metrolinx will implement the schedule you are proposing. In the afternoon peak, the Stouffville Line used to run every 30 mins to Old Elm (See Stepember 2021 schedule before Omicron), and it is unlikely for Metrolinx to reduce service for riders north of Unionville.

There is, however, 3 platforms at Unionville. Therefore, I think it should be possible for Metrolinx to stage 2 trains at Unionville just before the afternoon rush hour for the reverse peak service. There will still be a 2-hour gap for the reverse peak direction as 3 trains are required to fill the current 4-hour gap.

I did wonder about the fact that the schedule limits the PM Peak frequency north of Unionville to hourly. But I think that Metrolinx might accept it given that:
- They have been extremely reluctant to reintroduce the September 2021 service levels anyway
- The limitation would only exist for a few months from the intoduction of counter-peak service until the completion of the Highland Creek bridge. At that point it would once again be possible to run more more than 2 tph in the peak direction, enabling 2 tph to Old Elm plus 1+ tph turning back at Unionville.

Here's an updated concept which improves the peak frequency north of Unionville by storing one train at Unionville for PM counter-peak service.

I don't think they would store a second trainset at Unionville for two hours, since it is an inefficient use of resources, it could potentially obstruct the southbound trains at 15:48 and 16:48, and Metrolinx doesn't seem to be that bothered by the massive gaps in counter-peak service. The aforementioned September 2021 service also had counter-peak service to/from Bramalea, and that still hasn't been restored despite the track capacity already being available for an elegant service pattern.

It's really unfortunate that they didn't expand Mount Joy station simultaneously with the double-tracking from Kennedy to Unionville - it would have enabled much more regular and cost-efficient peak-period operations.

 

[smallspy]

I did look into the option of running 2tph midday (1tph to Unionville, 1tph to Mount Joy), but that would result in a 57-minute layover at Unionville, which is an extremely inefficient use of resources. It wouldn't be possible to shift the timings to reduce that layover because the siding locations lock in a regular 30-minute patten. On that basis I was wondering if they would wait until the Highland Creek bridge is complete before introducing an hourly midday service to Unionville.

I'm pretty sure that they realized that there would be the problem that you pointed out, and about 2 or 3 years ago announced that they were going to build a siding immediately south of Mount Joy. Except that I can't find anything since that indicates that anything ever came of it.

That said, I can totally see them pulling off that kind of schedule, mainly because they've done exactly that kind of thing before. Look at the old schedules of the Lakeshore Lines, when they had 15 minute service east of Union, and the 30/15-ish service west to Oakville. But yes, I suspect that they will wait until the work around Highland Creek is finished, because launching that kind of service past an active work site - where the work will have to stop as each train rolls by - will only cause this very delayed project to be delayed even further.

Dan

 

[Mr Finish Line]

From 1 tph to 2 tph you mean?

I get confused as to whether tph refers to total track capacity or directional capacity. I was referring to the total capacity, because I think that's a more accurate reflection given how they move 2 trains per hour in one direction but zero in another during peak times vs 1 train per hour in each direction off peak.

 

[Mr Finish Line]

I suspect that they will wait until the work around Highland Creek is finished, because launching that kind of service past an active work site - where the work will have to stop as each train rolls by - will only cause this very delayed project to be delayed even further.

I can accept that. As much as Reaper's schedule would make a difference to me now (and others in the neighbourhood), I'd rather get towards RER level service sooner because that's the real transit breakthrough for this line.

 

[emphurent]

Double tracking progress in Guelph:

Off topic, but the top of this garage really would've made for a nice rooftop park. Lots of people taking in the sunset from up here. (Not pictured obviously)

 

[Allandale25]

^ Awesome shots!

 

[emphurent]

^ Awesome shots!

Thanks! That was my first time to the top of all my time living here, and realised there was a great vantage upon the tracks from up top (which my phone would fit through!)

Ill be back when more progress occurs, as other than on the platforms its a great vantage of the work without breaking any laws.

Speaking of, a minute before taking this photo some guy was taking photos of the river right up there on the bridge. Its crazy people don't bother to check the schedules at least.

The completed new beams here are ready for tracks on this side, hopefully happening soon, I've always been fond of this bridge into Guelph, great views from the ground and on the train.

 

[Bordercollie]

Thanks! That was my first time to the top of all my time living here, and realised there was a great vantage upon the tracks from up top (which my phone would fit through!)

Ill be back when more progress occurs, as other than on the platforms its a great vantage of the work without breaking any laws.

Speaking of, a minute before taking this photo some guy was taking photos of the river right up there on the bridge. Its crazy people don't bother to check the schedules at least.

The completed new beams here are ready for tracks on this side, hopefully happening soon, I've always been fond of this bridge into Guelph, great views from the ground and on the train.

View attachment 409116

Will that be extended to Acton? Since there is a second track that is not in service there.

 

[reaperexpress]

Will that be extended to Acton? Since there is a second track that is not in service there.

No, it will be extended the other direction, to Hanlon Pkwy. The second track in Acton will be reactivated as part of a separate siding, but we don't yet know exactly where it will extend to.