GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

[Northern Light]

It's a nice post - except that almost none of it is true.

That's a bit extreme. I'm not a CN guy and noted as much, but all my info came from one, who had driven GO on behalf of CN for a number of years.

GO didn't "fire" CN - they decided that rather than sole-sourcing the operating staff contract (for which they felt they were getting hosed on), they would tender it out. CN, and CN alone, chose not to bid on it. Bombardier did, and won. I had heard rumours of doing the same with the CP contract, but thus far nothing has come up.

According to my source, and to a GO management official I spoke with, the main issue was Friday sick-outs, causing massive cancellations of Friday trains. A problem that became acute after GO cut the number of crew from 4 to 3 on its trains. GO repeatedly expressed its displeasure to CN, and I am told that it was made clear to CN that their performance in crew supply was not acceptable, discouraging them from bidding.

The vast majority of CN crews who had been operating GO trains stayed on with CN

Very possible, I only know the one fellow. I will tell you he took early retirement and was far from alone in that. He also asked Bombardier about staying on and was told not to bother. That may have changed as later as Bombardier had staffing issues, not sure.

***

In any event, I did have 1 good inside source from CN, as noted, and 1 from GO on certain material.

As a non-insider I will defer to those with better insight than I

But I was endeavouring to provide a good info, which I believe I did, as best I can tell.

In any event the original point (I was replying to another post that said have you ever heard of complaints about GO Staff) and the answer was yes, with the associated explanation.

 

[vegeta_skyline]

The current roster of employees is a very diverse mix.

There is appox. 15 CN engineers. All of whom have previously worked full-time on the GO service, their wages are being paid for by GO and GO dictates how they are to be used, within the provisions of a “Schedule A” agreement. This agreement is set to expire in Nov 2010, at which point they will either return CN, be hired directly by Bombadier(unlikely as GO/Bombadier do not want them, some are really good guys, however others have a bad reputation...) or retire. Since most are eligible to receive their full pensions they will most likely retire. However because of a future crewing shortage (read below) there are rumors this agreement my be extended.

Another 5 or so CN conductors have been trained and are qualified as engineers and are in the same boat, unfortunately for them they are to young to retire and will have to decided whether or not to come over to Bombardier at that time(if Bombadier/GO will even accept them) or return to CN at that time.

Then theres 15 engineers who came from CN at the start (with varying degrees of experience in GO service) who have been hired directly with Bombardier.
Appox. 15 engineers came from CP (a large group of 12 recently who were laid off at CP).
There another 5 or so engineers who came from different companies(VIA, SOR/RailAmerica).

There is about 20 x-CN/CP conductors(most of whom had very little or no previous involvement with GO service) who have been hired by Bombardier most of whom have been trained and are qualified as engineers now.

Then there are appox. 65 "off the street people" who have no back ground experience in the railways and thus because of CN regulations, cannot begin training to become engineers until after they have accumulated 2 years of conductor experience as previously mentioned in this trend.
As of now most are coming up to this time frame. Unfortunately, the training process is proceeding at a very slow pace. Only 6 are currently being trained and their training will take appox 6 months to complete from now.

That means that after Nov 2010(once the Schedule A engineers retire/return to CN) we'll only have appox. 60 qualified engineers - Barely enough to cover all the current jobs. Never mind the staffing that’ll be require for any expansion plans!
(currently there are 55 jobs, not including provisions for spare board which should be appox. 8-10, 5 is tight).


Its rumored that Bombardier does have another 10 qualified engineers in the wings the source of which is unknown. However the training program is proceeding at an very tedious pace and is constantly being extended, due to a multitude of issues and will likely continue at a snails pace (12 per year) unless some major changes are made.

The great mystery that we've all been wondering is if theres all these expansion plans in place for the future then why is Bombardier not hiring employees to fill this future demand?

I recently found out the answer, to hire more people Bombardier would first need to get the go-head and funds from GO since its not part of the current agreement. Unfortunately, apparently GO has been told by the Mcguinty government to cut the operation budget by 25 million. How that’ll effect everything, if that kind of a cut is even possible, is yet to be seen.

So even if all the GO conductors become qualified engineers, its still leaves us in the same place because each train requires two employees (either 2 engineers or 1 engineer and 1 conductor)
60 current engineers + 65 GO conductors/future engineers = 125 total - 10 to 15 provision for spare board = 110 divided by 2 = 55 jobs.

Needless to say, I'm feeling a bit uncertainly about the expansion plans due to the current situation here...

 

[drum118]

Lakeshore West

GO was sending out a lot of BS regarding the delay in service today and blaming
VIA for it. Pure crap as I have the video's to say it and prove it.

I caught the 12:06 train out of Port Credit on time going westbound and no delay
noticed posted. Try shooting the front, but gave up as too rough to shoot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvzpyRLTY_g

The tamper was sitting east of Lorne Park Rd.

Clarkson GO Station still waiting ballast for the new #1 track.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-LKuft7Q34

Ballast was taking place at Ford Dr.

Track equipment sitting on the new #3 track east of Royal Windsor Dr waiting to
leave the yard area. There been no more track work on the new mainlines in the
yard since my last trip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viSvpR0DhYw

New #1 track laid in Oakville Station and not sure how far to the east as a CN
freight was blocking the view.

Got off at Oakville and no notice of delay posted.

The mainline was single track between Port Credit and Oakville due to track work
on the new track as well CN had a train parked on #1 track in the yard.

12:38 an westbound VIA with 917 on point arrives at Oakville with a eastbound GO
train departing the station with 542 on point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAPMViYRPLU

Site tour was going on with very little construction work taking place. Crews
were working on the underground wiring well another crew was installing roofing
on a new stair enclosure at the west end.

New steelwork up between the VIA station and the GO Station wailing for roofing
as well concrete around the columns.

Once the track is align, ballast, the existing platform edge can be install to
get work underway for upgrading it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi-ejUbQAm0
I went and waited for the 13:22 westbound train.

12:55 the CN freight from the yards head westbound.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcWhqL59SCo

13:22 comes and goes with no train. 13:35 walked over to the station to see what
the hold up was with the board saying 20-25 delay due to VIA traffic. NO PA
announcement made regarding the delay.

13:40 an eastbound VIA train pull into the station and gone in a couple of
minutes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOBXwNndya8

13:53 the 13:22 pulls into the station with cab car 239 on point.

Appleby is moving alone with no delays.

At Burlington, The main entrance stair is poured and waiting tiling and
handrail.

The 2 platforms stairs are formed and waiting concrete and that should happen
tonight. Will be interesting getting a cement truck out to the platforms. It can
be done with no train on the tracks or in the system.

Eastbound video from Kerr to Oakville showing the new #1 track.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFXpqSg5Z1k

Eastbound video from Oakville to Oakville Yard showing the new #1
track. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyPceyN3ens

When I get home, I have 8 Delays emails from GO setting in my mailbox about
these delays and a pour excuse to used in the first place when the problem was
on their end in the first place. Where the customer service at the station??

My virus checker has these email red flag as blocked for safety reason. This
started a few weeks ago.

 

[drum118]

Brampton March 18[video=youtube;Sa3Di-GoWZc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa3Di-GoWZc[/video]

 

[Hipster Duck]

Thanks for the updates, drum. These GO construction projects are baby steps but I think they are the most important transit projects going on in the region right now*

*the Spadina line extension is probably more important in ridership-generation and visibility terms, but the GO improvements are certainly a bigger bang for the buck.

 

[TOareaFan]

After a long construction period the Brampton station work has seemed to pick up pace lately (likely just that whole illusion that is created by finishing work making things look like they are moving faster compared with the early phase heavy/grunt work).

The sweet irony is that the new platform, tunnels and entraces will be ready right around the same time as most (all but 2) of the extra trains they were supposed to accomodate are cancelled!

 

[Dan416]

After a long construction period the Brampton station work has seemed to pick up pace lately (likely just that whole illusion that is created by finishing work making things look like they are moving faster compared with the early phase heavy/grunt work).

The sweet irony is that the new platform, tunnels and entraces will be ready right around the same time as most (all but 2) of the extra trains they were supposed to accomodate are cancelled!

Wow that is sad.

 

[hwy7]

After a long construction period the Brampton station work has seemed to pick up pace lately (likely just that whole illusion that is created by finishing work making things look like they are moving faster compared with the early phase heavy/grunt work).

The sweet irony is that the new platform, tunnels and entraces will be ready right around the same time as most (all but 2) of the extra trains they were supposed to accomodate are cancelled!

I'm hoping that at least the new platform will mean that the last GO train out of Georgetown will no longer have to wait until the Via train clears out of Brampton station. That's been much less a problem than it was a few years ago, but it's still irksome. As a GO transit customer, I am, by default, impatient.

 

[drum118]

After a long construction period the Brampton station work has seemed to pick up pace lately (likely just that whole illusion that is created by finishing work making things look like they are moving faster compared with the early phase heavy/grunt work).

The sweet irony is that the new platform, tunnels and entraces will be ready right around the same time as most (all but 2) of the extra trains they were supposed to accomodate are cancelled!

Sad to a point, but will allow better train movement for both GO and CN with this platform in place.

It took some real crane movement a few weeks ago to get the steel and core slabs in place over a weekend to get to where we are today.

Then, if the screw up for the east end had not happen, platform would be in service now.

Same goes for the west end tunnel. If that had not happen, service for the west end would started in Dec.

This one and the Lakeshore are the top one at this point.

Once Milton Line work starts, it will have great impact as well the West Toronto section on GO Service.

Bathurst Yard is finish and expect to see train store there again in April. Widening the fly-under still has not started for some reason, but should take only a few months.

 

[TOareaFan]

Sad to a point, but will allow better train movement for both GO and CN with this platform in place.

How does the platform help with that? Surely it is the track that does that? Once the double tracking was done couldn't they have gotten all the benefit they needed by having trains that might stop (GO and VIA) use the north track going through the station and those that don't want to stop (CN) use the south track going through the station? Not sure how a platform is needed for that.

 

[Platform 27]

Bathurst Yard is finish and expect to see train store there again in April. Widening the fly-under still has not started for some reason, but should take only a few months.

The north side of the flyunder trench has been spraypainted and staked for a few weeks. I imagine work will consist of first replacing a signal gantry that looks like it's in the line of fire, and then pushing back two stretches of retaining wall deeper into the embankment. The actual flyunder box as it exists now is already wide enough for a third track.

Once Milton Line work starts, it will have great impact as well the West Toronto section on GO Service.

As far as I know, the next improvements on the Milton line will be (a) extending the three-track section of the line from where it stops now (just east of Dixie station) deeper into Mississauga, and (b) building the Humber flyunder, which will involve a new bridge over the river as well as a rail-rail grade separation that allows GO trains to flip from the south tracks of the corridor (where they are through Lambton) to the north tracks (where they are through Etobicoke). As of last July, GO was saying they were going to EA this "from Summer 2009 to Summer 2010" although, as far as I know, there've been no public hearings to that effect since then. The flyunder alone will be a pricey enough bit of work that it's unlikely to be funded out of GO's regular budget lines, but instead require a specific grant from the province.

How does the platform help with that? Surely it is the track that does that? Once the double tracking was done couldn't they have gotten all the benefit they needed by having trains that might stop (GO and VIA) use the north track going through the station and those that don't want to stop (CN) use the south track going through the station? Not sure how a platform is needed for that.

Adding a second platform at Brampton (and Malton, too) allows traffic to be reorganized so that (most) westbound trains use the north track and eastbound trains use the south track.

 

[Dan416]

As far as I know, the next improvements on the Milton line will be (a) extending the three-track section of the line from where it stops now (just east of Dixie station) deeper into Mississauga

Good portions of the Milton trackage is already 3-tracks, e.g. around Erindale. Looking on Google Maps, most of the bridges have space for 3 tracks already or already have 3 tracks.

 

[drum118]

CP wants 4 tracks, not the current 3 in place at various locations.

Getting 4 tracks in at some locations will be fun.

The bridges are design for 3 tracks except for a few locations. They just fix the Cawthra bridge and added centre support for the 4th track.

3 tracks west of Confederation to north of Eglinton is not class as a good portion of the line when looking a the whole route.

There is a 3rd track at Kipling, but CP use it as a storage track. CP does need 4-5 track there when they are doing drop off or pickup for COFC cars.

 

[drum118]

Work is to start this fall and for the next 2 years on the Denison Rd East underpass on the Georgetown line. There will be 2 bridges with CP seeing 3 tracks and Metrolinx seeing 4 tracks. A video of the area shot April 22. The houses on the north side, west of the tracks will be lost.

The work at Clarkson Station will not be finish this year, but the fall of 2011. Schedule was end of 2009. Work has started to put the tunnel in on the south side. Once the new #1 track is put into service shortly finally, the north side of platform 1 will be rebuilt. Once that is done, the Platform 2 will be close so it can be rebuilt. It is possible that haft of platform 2 could be close during the rebuilding.

The long awaited track shifting at Ford Dr-Royal Windsor Dr is underway with the new block signals working for all 3 tracks. Will have a look at Oakville next week on the track work. Could see in the distance work taking place on the yard tracks to the south.

 

[nfitz]

Work is to start this fall and for the next 2 years on the Dension Ave underpass on the Georgetown line.

If anyone else has been scratching their heads wondering why an underpass was needed on the little used level-crossing on Denison Avenue in Brampton ... Drum was referring to Denison Road in Toronto.