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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

My understanding that GO will use track 2 and 3 to get to Brampton for service during the day as it will not have an impact on CN getting to/from MacMillan Yard. Unless CN has train running in opposite direction at the same time, they can use track #1.

It is very possible that VIA could end up using #2 if CN has traffic on the line.

As it stands now, the line is single track south of the Junction to Etobicoke North station and this will have an impact on improve service until the grade separation is done as well adding the extra track or 3 to Etobicoke North station.

Based on what has taken place on the Lakeshore between Port Credit and Kerr St, the 2015 date for more service could be a year or 2 longer in coming.

Brampton will be a bottleneck until a 3rd track is put in there if you want less than hour service.

Going under the 401 is going to be fun for more than 2 tracks.

In the next year or so, a new bridge has to be built over Weston Rd to replace the current one.

All this new construction is going to have an impact on existing service.

Once GO starts adding more service, ridership will take a jump and more so once you go west of Brampton.
 
I did a bit of a search, and it seems like this thread has hosted most of the updates in the past related to the GO extension to Kitchener-Waterloo. In retrospect, it would be nice if they had been spun off into a thread of their own (mods - can this be done retroactively?), not least because this thread was intended to pertain to added trains and such on the existing network, rather than a very major expansion of it.

Anyway, as best I can tell, there has been no formal approvally-type progress since the EA was finished. Even though the extension has yet to be funded, Metrolinx seems to going ahead under the assumption that it will be (in the coming provincial budget, perhaps?). In any event, they seem confident enough to spend their own money on advancing things along to the detailed design stage.

Today the following went to tender:

Call For Request to Qualify and Quote

RQQ No. 2009-RCI-060

Engineering Assignment for Temporary and New Kitchener GO Train Layover Facilities

Metrolinx is accepting Requests to Qualify and Quote for Engineering Assignment for Temporary and New Kitchener GO Train Layover Facilities

A Mandatory Site / Information Meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. on January 14, 2010 at Metrolinx’s Head Office, 20 Bay Street, Suite 600, Toronto, Ontario (Consultants to meet at reception and wait to be directed to a meeting room). Failure of Consultants to be present and registered from the time the meeting is called to order until the meeting is adjourned will result in exclusion from the site.

[...]


Sealed Requests to Qualify and Quote will be accepted until 3:00 p.m. on Thursday January 28, 2010 at the same Procurement and Contract Services Office.

Metrolinx reserves the right to reject any or all Requests to Qualify and Quote at its sole discretion.

Only Consultants who possess the following experience and qualifications will be considered for award of this Contract:

[*]Design and construction of railway passenger train storage facilities;

[*]Design and construction of fuelling facilities;

[*]Design and construction of high voltage sub-stations and wayside power system; and

[*]Civil works, including grading and storm water management.
Click to expand...

This "Temporary plus New" thing is a new one on me... I assume that means two separate layover sites to be used in a staged format? FWIW, the EA placed the layover yard in Baden. Anybody have any ideas what they mean by this?
 
GO Transit Notice of Public Meeting - Niagara rail service

In November 2009, we started a Preliminary Design Study and Class Environmental Assessment (EA) for the expansion of rail service into the Niagara Peninsula.

You’re invited to attend any of the upcoming Public Information Centres being hosted on Jan. 26 (Hamilton), Jan. 27 (St. Catharines), Feb. 3 (Niagara Falls), and Feb. 4 (Grimsby). Stop by to find out more about our preliminary plans for new stations, train service centres, and track improvements happening in your community.

GO Transit staff and the study consultants will be on hand to discuss plans, answer questions, and receive your comments.

For more information, visit the Projects and Studies page at gotransit.com or click on the link http://www.gotransit.com/PUBLIC/en/news/projectsandstudies.htm
 
On January, 21, 2010, GO Transit received Environmental Assessment acceptance from the Minister of the Environment (MOE).

The Minister of the Environment has accepted GO Transit’s Environmental Assessment for rail expansion from Georgetown to Kitchener based on our final Environmental Study Report.

The acceptance of this environmental assessment means there is the potential for expansion and is dependant on government funding.
 
The plot thickens... as the letter from the Minister implies, the reason there's been a slight holdup to date was that some party or parties unknown to us appealed during a special window provided-for within this new whiz-bang transit EA process. One assumes they weren't happy with the conclusions it reached in terms of the project being environmentally satisfactory, and they apparently requested special individual EAs for some or all components of the project. This stalled things through the fall, but these objections have now been dismissed by order of the Minister.

As far as I understand governance arrangements, this means the only real obstacle that remains to K-W getting rolling is a formal motion to that effect from the Metrolinx board and/or having the money to pay for it. Beyond funding some of the startup incidentals from its existing budget lines (like this layover study), I imagine Metrolinx will have to ask Queens Park for a new specific allocation to pay for all the capital improvements. In light of it being pre-budget season in the Ministry of Finance at the moment, its possible this request is already in the mix of whatever Metrolinx puts on its annual wishlist, and thus there's a *chance* we could hear this be announced in the provincial budget. (The provincial budget usually gets introduced about a week or two after the federal budget comes down, which in light of the federal prorogration will get pushed particularly late this year... sometime in late March, I reckon.)

In light of provincial finances being deep in the red, it probably won't be a windfall year for new infrastructure commitments. That said, in political terms a project like the K-W GO extension stands a better chance than most of making the cut because it's cheap relative to some of the other big-ticket items out there that remain unfunded, and manages to land on a whole belt of ridings that the provincial Liberals hold fairly narrowly and are eager to reinforce (or, in the case of Wellington—Halton Hills, don't hold but remain vaguely in play for pick-up).
 
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Does anybody know the status of Lakeshore line service improvements?

The GO2020 document from last year called for 30-minute off-peak headways on Lakeshore by 2010... is this still likely?
 
kettal said:
Does anybody know the status of Lakeshore line service improvements?

The GO2020 document from last year called for 30-minute off-peak headways on Lakeshore by 2010... is this still likely?
Click to expand...

Based on drum's last trip along Lakeshore West, the third track should be fully installed within weeks. It'll then need a few months of settling time before it can be used at full speed. Once that's ready, 30 minute service off-peak will be ready to go.

A few pages back on this thread (or possibly over on the GO construction one) we'd been trading guesses for a date. I recall May being floated as plausible. In any event, definitely by the end of the year.
 
Platform 27 said:
Based on drum's last trip along Lakeshore West, the third track should be fully installed within weeks. It'll then need a few months of settling time before it can be used at full speed. Once that's ready, 30 minute service off-peak will be ready to go.

A few pages back on this thread (or possibly over on the GO construction one) we'd been trading guesses for a date. I recall May being floated as plausible. In any event, definitely by the end of the year.
Click to expand...

I'm back to Burlington in 10 days and will have a look at Oakville Station as this is where the main problem for the 3rd track at this time. It also includes the Oakville yard since the new 3 mainlines will be south of the current 2.

Other than these 2 places, the 3rd track is in place waiting operation.

Once the new mainlines are in place and ready for operation, the existing lines will be relocated to the south at Ford Dr. #2 track will connect to a new #3 track that is in place. #1 will connect to the existing #2 track. The new 3rd track will become the new #1 track and will connect to the exiting #1 track. This will take place over a weekend and could happen The Family holiday Weekend.

The west end of Oakville yard will happen over a week as new switches will have to be install to build the ladder track into the station as well the yard itself.

30 minutes service should start in May or by the summer if not sooner depend on GO. Considering the amount of signaling problem CN is having in the Oakville Area, it will not happen soon.

I still say the 4th track should be going in now.-
 
As early as May eh? I can't wait. I take the Lakeshore trains between any two points between Bronte and Ajax on the regular and have to live my life by the way the train runs. Hourly off-peak trains have long been a hindrance, though predictable. I can't wait for this! I know that, ultimately, 15 minute headways are the goal but, honestly, 30 minutes is a HUGE improvement.
 
Kiwi said:
GO Transit Notice of Public Meeting - Niagara rail service

You’re invited to attend any of the upcoming Public Information Centres being hosted on Jan. 26 (Hamilton), Jan. 27 (St. Catharines), Feb. 3 (Niagara Falls), and Feb. 4 (Grimsby). Stop by to find out more about our preliminary plans for new stations, train service centres, and track improvements happening in your community.

http://www.gotransit.com/PUBLIC/en/news/projectsandstudies.htm[/url]
Click to expand...

I'll try and attend tomorrow. Hopefully it'll include information about the James St North station.
 
MTown said:
As early as May eh? I can't wait. I take the Lakeshore trains between any two points between Bronte and Ajax on the regular and have to live my life by the way the train runs. Hourly off-peak trains have long been a hindrance, though predictable. I can't wait for this! I know that, ultimately, 15 minute headways are the goal but, honestly, 30 minutes is a HUGE improvement.
Click to expand...

Well that is TWICE as often! That IS A huge improvement. I don't live down there, but I know people who do and everyone would welcome it.
 
Yup, yup. In fact, I think I'll celebrate by taking the train and visiting all my friends that live along the Lakeshore line in a single week-end.
 
^^That sounds like fun, I think I'd do that. Too bad Lakeshore... south(?) isn't going to get something resembling regular service, let alone off-peak, service in a while, or else an awesome ride would be from Niagara Falls-Ajax (Oshawa and Whitby doesn't appeal much to me.) I'll definitely do the same when the Stouffville and Barrie lines get all day service. It'll finally be cool to ride around the GTA in real trains, instead of those boxy rubber-wheeled imposters that ride the 404 and 407 in their stead.

Speaking of which, aren't the Stouffville tracks all finished? I spy the passing tracks beautifully gleaming yet unused, and there's no indication on the website as of time of opening. Am I missing something?

EDIT: Haven't run Barrie for a while, but it'll be nice in the summer to have an all day link to cottage country. Will it be ready by then?
 
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