crs1026
Superstar
According to the CEO's comments to the Board meeting, the spec was four screws to the tieplate but only two were used.
So the installation inspection would be in question. And every one since.
- Paul
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GO Transit Fleet Equipment and other
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
According to the CEO's comments to the Board meeting, the spec was four screws to the tieplate but only two were used.
So the installation inspection would be in question. And every one since.
- Paul
T3G
Senior Member
1) It's not the job of the transit agency to create work for an industry. The industry is supposed to serve the customer, not the other way around.
2) Any business that was expecting to get by only on orders for locomotives for GO is going to very quickly find themselves in trouble.
3) Why would you assume, from the quoted post, that the F59s would continue to be rebuilt for the lines that won't get electrified, instead of the MP40s?
Bojaxs
Senior Member
Interesting situation earlier today with one of the locomotives entering Union Station. Some people speculating the traction motor gave out?
Anyone with insider knowledge, on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the current state of GO's locomotive fleet?
Anyone with insider knowledge, on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the current state of GO's locomotive fleet?
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smallspy
Senior Member
There's more nuance than that.
The spec when the plates were installed was that only two bolts per plate were needed in that stretch.
Metrolinx changed their spec several years ago so that all plates all the time need four bolts per plate.
TTR, for whatever reason, wasn't aware and didn't update the track.
Could be a traction motor.
But it could also be that the track was slippery. And with a grade in excess of 2% in the flyunder, a fully-laden 12-car train can get caught stuck if there is poor rail.
The dynamics of the way the train is oriented makes a difference, too. If the loco is pushing, all of the cars in front of it clean the railhead so that the loco can maximize its traction. With the loco pulling the leading axle of the loco has to do all of the cleaning for the trailing wheels, meaning that it may only be providing a fraction of the force that it would otherwise be.
Dan
crs1026
Superstar
The comment that the second attempt was very jerky makes me think the wheelslip circuity and/or sanders might have been misbehaving as well. At the very least, loss of adhesion would be reducing power to the wheels, potentially overriding the throttle input..
- Paul
PShells
Active Member
Is GO running its train operators on a stretched fleet? This thread suggests some locomotives and coaches are being refurbished.
Prior to the April 2024 and autumn 2025 increases to train service I naively assumed the constraint to more train service was labour because of the lack of hiring new CSAs by Alstom before OOI took over operations.
After an increase in the frequency of “equipment issues” of varying degrees week in, week out I’m now thinking it’s been difficult to take trains out of service for preventative maintenance due to lack of spare rolling stock.
Perhaps I’m over anchoring to recent service disruptions on the Stouffville line this winter, which only has 7-8 trains at the Lincolnville yard.
Prior to the April 2024 and autumn 2025 increases to train service I naively assumed the constraint to more train service was labour because of the lack of hiring new CSAs by Alstom before OOI took over operations.
After an increase in the frequency of “equipment issues” of varying degrees week in, week out I’m now thinking it’s been difficult to take trains out of service for preventative maintenance due to lack of spare rolling stock.
Perhaps I’m over anchoring to recent service disruptions on the Stouffville line this winter, which only has 7-8 trains at the Lincolnville yard.
crs1026
Superstar
Don't assume that the same trains return to Lincolnville night after night. The interlining of trainsets, and the layover of many peak service trains in the downtown, means that they do cycle to the main shops fairly frequently.
The interlining cycles do tend to cascade delays, because a stalled train on one line can then pass a delay on to whatever line that trainset is scheduled to run on next.
The other factor is indeed the judicious decisions about when to take a trainset out of service to correct a reported defect in one car. GO crews do tell stories about how single cars with a known non-critical fault may be kept in service until it is convenient to take a trainset to the shop.
I don't have data on how often this happens or whether it's done excessively, but you can assume that someone prioritises such moves and deals with some types of faults but defers others.
- Paul
smallspy
Senior Member
While there is a shortage of operators, it's now slight versus dire like it was early last year.
What is a bigger concern internally is the state of the equipment - despite quite a bit of rolling stock getting returned from overhaul, equipment failures have increased at an alarming rate, with some trains having to be put back out into service with flaws still needing to be remedied just because they are in a better state than other trains.
Although this may seem to have become more noticeable in the past several weeks, this has slowly been worsening for the past year or so, and seems to have no signs of abating.
Internally, there is a feeling that Metrolinx has "gone broke" (their words) and has no more money for fixing up the equipment. There are a number of smaller construction projects system-wide that have stopped work because of funding being cut for them.
Dan.
nfitz
Superstar
And yet they've still suspended the 15-minute weekend Lakeshore GO service. (and haven't restored pre-Covid weekday Lakeshore frequencies).
T3G
Senior Member
It's sounding a lot like stage era communism in Eastern Europe.
dowlingm
Senior Member
Dan, what is your view of the desirability of TTR's continuance as USRC signal and track maintainer, given Union's current and future development path? They were involved in the air rights mess over Rail Deck Park - does Metrolinx own the ROW below a certain height now, and are maintaining TTR as contractor out of convenience, or are TTR stuck in there as maintainer indefinitely whether Metrolinx likes it or not?
Metroscapes
Active Member
I am less knowledgable than Dan, but will guess that TTR probably is most familiar with what lies below the tracks. In addition to the signals, there was lots of infrastructure supporting heating from the Central Heating Plant throughout the corridor. The CHP is long gone, but I imagine the complex of tunnels and duct banks are still living out some purpose?
smallspy
Senior Member
Cost savings.
They've been trying for many, many years to give the USRC maintenance contract to quite literally anyone else, and managed to fail exceedingly well at this. That the USRC is a difficult piece of track to operate and maintain is without doubt, and there have now been three organizations that had planned for its rework and resignalling - as well as ongoing maintenance - that have greatly underestimated its complexity and simply walked away or have been forceably removed from the project..
As for air rights over the USRC - I'm going to claim ignorance. It is a very complex topic, and I just don't know enough about it.
Dan
crs1026
Superstar
Complex indeed - see this writeup.
- Paul
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