vegeta_skyline
Senior Member
I'm all for GO building more of their own trackage where ever possible and I'd agree that in order for to get frequent RER service west of Burlington station GO will have to separate passenger traffic in some way from CN's freight traffic coming off the Halton & Dundas sub's. For a start they are already planning a 4th track between Burlington & Aldershot.
Nice job on the map btw, though its a little overbuilt in certain spots. One track would be sufficient for CN traffic coming off the Oakville/Dundas towards to the Grimsby. They don't have enough traffic heading that way to need anything more than the occasional passing track for their own traffic. Anything more would be just spoiling them since it would be paid for by GO in any event. And actually right now the line is just single tracked between Hamilton Jct & James street, the northern track being a yard track. I figure if not for the VIA traffic back then, they probably would of ripped up more than just 10 miles of the second track between Grimsby & St Catherines.
As for the slow order, unfortunately as was discussed a few pages back on this thread(see Sept 15th for specifics) the PSO extending until m.39 has more to do with the number of crossings and poor sightlines rather than CN's maintenance practices. In addition, I'm sure the powers that be are aware of the serious trespasser issue in the area. If we were to operate at 60mph through there, chances are we'd probably hit at least one person every day. Ultimately they'll have to grade separate the busiest crossings and construct a proper barrier in order to eliminate the PSO through there. By no means impossible, but the line will need a lot more money to get it up to snuff. Once that happens GO will probably just share the maintenance costs with CN through the current double track section west of James st where GO's 2 tracks could then merge with CN's 1 into a shared 2 track section, enough for peak service needs between Hamilton and the Yard.
Nice job on the map btw, though its a little overbuilt in certain spots. One track would be sufficient for CN traffic coming off the Oakville/Dundas towards to the Grimsby. They don't have enough traffic heading that way to need anything more than the occasional passing track for their own traffic. Anything more would be just spoiling them since it would be paid for by GO in any event. And actually right now the line is just single tracked between Hamilton Jct & James street, the northern track being a yard track. I figure if not for the VIA traffic back then, they probably would of ripped up more than just 10 miles of the second track between Grimsby & St Catherines.
As for the slow order, unfortunately as was discussed a few pages back on this thread(see Sept 15th for specifics) the PSO extending until m.39 has more to do with the number of crossings and poor sightlines rather than CN's maintenance practices. In addition, I'm sure the powers that be are aware of the serious trespasser issue in the area. If we were to operate at 60mph through there, chances are we'd probably hit at least one person every day. Ultimately they'll have to grade separate the busiest crossings and construct a proper barrier in order to eliminate the PSO through there. By no means impossible, but the line will need a lot more money to get it up to snuff. Once that happens GO will probably just share the maintenance costs with CN through the current double track section west of James st where GO's 2 tracks could then merge with CN's 1 into a shared 2 track section, enough for peak service needs between Hamilton and the Yard.
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