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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

Yeah I was surprised to hear that too. It could also be that its more cost effective(i.e. cheaper) to build it there - the lowest tender always wins.
 
vegeta_skyline said:
Yeah I was surprised to hear that too. It could also be that its more cost effective(i.e. cheaper) to build it there - the lowest tender always wins.
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Yeah, I would have thought that it would have made sense to have the dispatching centre either at Union (the hub), or at the maintenance and storage facility near Mimico.
 
vegeta_skyline said:
^^^ thanks for that photo


other news from the grapevine;

-Kitchener service to begin at the start of January.
-CTC(signaling) to be completed on the Uxbridge sub/Stouffville line in March. Meaning all day service and decreased interval's between rush hour trains will be possible.
-CTC(signaling) Work will than commence on Newmarket sub/Barrie line, it seems as though it won't begin until the Uxbridge is done. So that line won't be ready for increased service until later on in the year. (not sure if this accurate though... why only do them one at a time?)
-Current number of engineer in training; 13. Who should be Qualified in about 5 months (February)
-The GO RTC/dispatching center will be located in Oakville. Once this is complete, several years from now, GO will be able to control the dispatching priority (over freights and even VIA trains) on territory they own; Lakeshore East, Stouffville, Barrie, and about half of the Kitchener/Georgetown, Lakeshore West and Richmond Hill lines.
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Thanks.

What is the status of CTC for the GEXR Guelph Sub? Will GO be able to coexist with VIA and GEXR on the lousy, "dark territory" bolted rail between Kitchener and Silver (Georgetown)?

What part of the Lakeshore West does GO own now again? USRC to Canpa, Oakville, or all the way to Burlington?
 
VIA had a project to signal the route from London to Georgetown but they had some issues with GEXR. I'm not sure they have been resolved yet.

Only USRC to Canpa is owned by GO last I heard.
 
EnviroTO said:
That is surprising. I guess the amount of space in the 3 floors of the west wing of Union Station that GO is moving into don't provide as much space as I thought.
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It's not just GO moving there; it's Metrolinx, meaning the ARL, Presto, etc. It's pretty much open knowledge in head office that not all of their head office operations will end up at Union.
 
ShonTron said:
What part of the Lakeshore West does GO own now again? USRC to Canpa, Oakville, or all the way to Burlington?
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As of now; from the USRC up to, but not including, Campa which is located at mile 8.4 of the Oakville sub. I was expecting them to have purchased a good portion of the rest of it this year but I'd imagine that Queens Park isn't really flush with cash right now.

Oh, forgot to mention the speed upgrade for Eastward trains leaving Union station.
As soon as a train clears the last slip-switch coming out of the shed they can accelerate up to 45mph (previously 30mph max). This was mainly done because of wheel slip issues going uphill between the USRC and Danforth GO. It saves about a minute or two depending on whether or not the train is an express.
 
The GEXR to Kitchener will be OCS/dark territory to begin with but CTC isn't really necessary for that section of the Georgetown line since the number of trains and their frequency is still relatively low. I think VIA is the one that's more interested in pursuing signalization at this time on the subdivision since they want to increase the number of counter-flow trains;

6214367744_1ff21ab888_b.jpg


That schedule is obviously preliminary as for instance there's no way they'll allow the VIA and GO trains arriving at Kitchener just after 1800 to operate so close together on single track OCS, so as to have them arrive at Kitchener at almost the same time.
Everything up to Georgetown is not a problem since its multi-track CTC.

On another note I find it strange that VIA trains traveling in the same direction and time as the rush hour GO trains on the GEXR will apparently service the same stations as GO trains. Surely there's no need from them to stop at Acton and Brealau as well.

trudeau1982 said:
Any updates on the Georgetown South Corridor? Curious to know what the latest is.
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Not sure by how much but they're behind schedule. Also it seems as though they are encountering more problems than expected with the water table in the area.
 
EnviroTO said:
VIA had a project to signal the route from London to Georgetown but they had some issues with GEXR. I'm not sure they have been resolved yet.

Only USRC to Canpa is owned by GO last I heard.
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The timeline at the bottom of this page on the VIA Rail website indicates that they expect construction on the London-Kitchener-Toronto corridor to begin in 2012. That page was written fairly recently, so I'm guessing the project is indeed going ahead.

I wonder how coordinated the two projects are. GO seems to be focusing mainly on the stations and VIA seems to be focusing more on the track between them.
 
reaperexpress said:
The timeline at the bottom of this page on the VIA Rail website indicates that they expect construction on the London-Kitchener-Toronto corridor to begin in 2012. That page was written fairly recently, so I'm guessing the project is indeed going ahead.

I wonder how coordinated the two projects are. GO seems to be focusing mainly on the stations and VIA seems to be focusing more on the track between them.
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VIA has been very busy with the upgrades to their owned Ottawa-Smiths Falls track (two passing tracks, now CTC), as well as the CP Brockville Sub (Brockville-Smiths Falls, two passing sidings, also now CTC). VIA also built a new "station" at Smiths Falls on the opposite end and side of the CP yard that is supposedly supposed to provide more flexibility. I understand that this new infrastructure allows for higher speeds between Smiths Falls and Fallowfield and more reliability to the Ottawa-Toronto service.

The feds also paid for new third tracks on sections of the Kingston Sub between Montreal and Toronto for improved VIA operations (as well as new bridges, tunnels and/or stations at Oshawa, Cobourg, Belleville; I noted that some of the new third mainline tracks are now opened and the new Belleville station and overpass well underway.
 
vegeta_skyline said:
The GEXR to Kitchener will be OCS/dark territory to begin with but CTC isn't really necessary for that section of the Georgetown line since the number of trains and their frequency is still relatively low. I think VIA is the one that's more interested in pursuing signalization at this time on the subdivision since they want to increase the number of counter-flow trains;

6214367744_1ff21ab888_b.jpg


That schedule is obviously preliminary as for instance there's no way they'll allow the VIA and GO trains arriving at Kitchener just after 1800 to operate so close together on single track OCS, so as to have them arrive at Kitchener at almost the same time.
Everything up to Georgetown is not a problem since its multi-track CTC.

On another note I find it strange that VIA trains traveling in the same direction and time as the rush hour GO trains on the GEXR will apparently service the same stations as GO trains. Surely there's no need from them to stop at Acton and Brealau as well.

Not sure by how much but they're behind schedule. Also it seems as though they are encountering more problems than expected with the water table in the area.
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Would anyone know if the Guelph Sub (former Brampton Sub and Thorndale Sub) was ever CTC or anything better than OBS? Before Mulroney chopped VIA, there were five round trips between Kitchener and Toronto, slashed to two, then up to three under Chretien. I imagine CN had more freight operations as well, especially in the 1980s when it had now-abandoned branch lines feeding into that route.

I recall reading that Translink (or the predecessor, BC Transit) had to pay CP to reinstall CTC on the route of the West Coast Express which CP ripped out several years earlier.

What bothers me about the proposed schedules above (how old is that chart?) is that there are no proposed westbound VIA trains towards Kitchener/London in the early or mid morning. It might have been slow, but the old International (VIA/Amtrak to Chicago) schedule at least offered some use for reverse-commuting.
 
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The prototype schedule is from Apr 2009. As for the Guelph sub, it has always been OCS (and crappy jointed track/bolted rail too).
 
vegeta_skyline said:
-CTC(signaling) Work will than commence on Newmarket sub/Barrie line, it seems as though it won't begin until the Uxbridge is done. So that line won't be ready for increased service until later on in the year. (not sure if this accurate though... why only do them one at a time?)
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'tis accurate. The reasoning is that they would rather have the couple of local signal designers already on contract working for longer instead of bringing in more contractors from across the country.

vegeta_skyline said:
-The GO RTC/dispatching center will be located in Oakville. Once this is complete, several years from now, GO will be able to control the dispatching priority (over freights and even VIA trains) on territory they own; Lakeshore East, Stouffville, Barrie, and about half of the Kitchener/Georgetown, Lakeshore West and Richmond Hill lines.
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My understanding was that this was to be temporary until the offices in Union Station are complete in three or four years, and with them a permanent control centre. Oakville is supposed to be occupied by the end of next year.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
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