GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[anb]

I'm still surprised that there isn't any form of transit near the Trafalgar Rd/Hwy 401 interchange. If they had a park and ride here, this would be perfect for the entire west side, and the transit only passengers that would want to travel to the outlet which is shown to be quite busy and attracts a lot of people. If Brampton won't provide a shuttle (for now lets assume) via Steeles, then I think GO should try to take a shot at this. Technically it could also help people travelling from Milton and Waterloo Region to Georgetown or Oakville with cutting down their costs on rideshare or their dying use of legs on a bike since ML doesn't acknowledge any potential inter Halton/Waterloo Region links west of Mississauga.

 

[crs1026]

One thing that stood out to me in the videos of the test runs to London were the train numbers used, 3815 and 3824. In the current schedule, that would imply a Union departure at 11:04 and a Union arrival at 16:28, which in turn would mean a highly ambitious meet at Stratford around 13:45.

Is this actually realistic?

Regardless, I ran with it and did a fantasy schedule based on current speeds west of Kitchener, 30 mph through Guelph, and meets at Stratford like those numbers seem to imply. Tried to squeeze out as many trips as possible without affecting VIA or running out of F59s.

Your schedule sure demonstrates that there won’t be much value added by adding runs unless the line’s deficiencies in passing track capacity and in overall speed.are corrected.

It sounds like in the short term, ML will simply replicate what VIA was traditionally running, ie only another train or two per day . It remains to be seen if VIA has any long term commitment to the line.

The biggest crying need in the whole scheme is counterflow service out of Toronto in the morning. That requires the investment east of Kitchener which is still in procurement somewhere.

The entire line could be brought to a very high standard for less money than the Ontario Line probably has budgeted as contingency…for a single station. We don’t know why ML was motivated to add this service now, but it seems oddly rushed.

Let’s hope we see a full BCA from ML soon.

- Paul

 

[LNahid2000]

I'm still surprised that there isn't any form of transit near the Trafalgar Rd/Hwy 401 interchange. If they had a park and ride here, this would be perfect for the entire west side, and the transit only passengers that would want to travel to the outlet which is shown to be quite busy and attracts a lot of people. If Brampton won't provide a shuttle (for now lets assume) via Steeles, then I think GO should try to take a shot at this. Technically it could also help people travelling from Milton and Waterloo Region to Georgetown or Oakville with cutting down their costs on rideshare or their dying use of legs on a bike since ML doesn't acknowledge any potential inter Halton/Waterloo Region links west of Mississauga.

This would be useful, but the 25 already has way too many stops. Hopefully the express buses to Waterloo come back in September.

 

[smallspy]

It sounds like in the short term, ML will simply replicate what VIA was traditionally running, ie only another train or two per day . It remains to be seen if VIA has any long term commitment to the line.

- Paul

VIA still "owns", and wishes to reinstate a train into the mid-day timeslot.

So yes, I would assume that they do envision long-term plans for this service.

Dan

 

[Tristen]

I'm still surprised that there isn't any form of transit near the Trafalgar Rd/Hwy 401 interchange.

New Station Initial Business Case Milton-Trafalgar

• Toronto Premium Outlets is also located north of this area (approximately 2 km) at the intersection of Trafalgar Road and Steeles Avenue, which is an important trip generator.

I guess they will eventually run shuttle bus between the new station and the outlet?

Right now, GO should run buses to Lisgar (or extend some of them from Lisgar), it just a 5 mins ride but too hard to walk.

 

[ShonTron]

I'm still surprised that there isn't any form of transit near the Trafalgar Rd/Hwy 401 interchange. If they had a park and ride here, this would be perfect for the entire west side, and the transit only passengers that would want to travel to the outlet which is shown to be quite busy and attracts a lot of people. If Brampton won't provide a shuttle (for now lets assume) via Steeles, then I think GO should try to take a shot at this. Technically it could also help people travelling from Milton and Waterloo Region to Georgetown or Oakville with cutting down their costs on rideshare or their dying use of legs on a bike since ML doesn't acknowledge any potential inter Halton/Waterloo Region links west of Mississauga.

The trouble is, the location is just within Halton Hills, which has no transit of its own, though neighbouring Brampton, Milton , and Mississauga do. Halton Hills would have to enter an agreement with one of those municipalities for cross-boundary service.

Brampton would be the most natural service provider; being on the Steeles corridor, connecting with a bus from Milton.

 

[SaugeenJunction]

I feel like a broken record, but GO testing to London is continuing again this week, with what is rumoured to be crew qualification. From my count, this is the 9th round trip to the Forest City?

 

[anb]

The trouble is, the location is just within Halton Hills, which has no transit of its own, though neighbouring Brampton, Milton , and Mississauga do. Halton Hills would have to enter an agreement with one of those municipalities for cross-boundary service.

Brampton would be the most natural service provider; being on the Steeles corridor, connecting with a bus from Milton.

Considering Brampton goes out to Toronto, Vaughan and Mississauga already, I don't think it would be that hard to generate a trip on their end, but its up to the Halton region if they want to. Halton Hills as a whole (which includes the known communities of Georgetown and Acton), is the only major Golden Horseshoe location that doesn't have their own transit, so its kind of hard to see if they would allow another local conventional transit agency (Brampton/Milton in particular), to take some of their potential market. GO on the other hand already runs through the northern end of the whole town via Highway 7 as an all day service, so generating an existing stop to the southern end with routes 25/29 (and maybe 48 too) and/or creating a whole new route would be easier for them.

I feel like a broken record, but GO testing to London is continuing again this week, with what is rumoured to be crew qualification. From my count, this is the 9th round trip to the Forest City?

If this is the big news for September + a longshot but 30 min service to Bramalea, this would be one of the best years for GO (even though the August changes were massive in itself). Unfortunately they seem to be the only ones who still have sense and is growing to their expansion projects compared to Brampton, Sauga and YR that keep on lacking despite their big RT projects coming later this decade.

 

[emphurent]

I think this is the right thread to ask this, I couldn't seem to find the answer searching for it: Is there any official word on why trains go so slow through Georgetown? There's a decent set of tracks there, and no crossings at all. I could swear I remember it being pretty speedy during the summer of 2019 before one night in the fall that was quite slow and it's basically been that way throughout 2020 and 2021. Is it because of the shared corridor or some external factor? It feels like the barrier making service seem far slower than it actually is. I feel like service would feel (and be) incredibly quick once those Guelph and Georgetown corridors get up to speed.

 

[smallspy]

.....with what is rumoured to be crew qualification.

It's not rumoured.

I think this is the right thread to ask this, I couldn't seem to find the answer searching for it: Is there any official word on why trains go so slow through Georgetown? There's a decent set of tracks there, and no crossings at all. I could swear I remember it being pretty speedy during the summer of 2019 before one night in the fall that was quite slow and it's basically been that way throughout 2020 and 2021. Is it because of the shared corridor or some external factor? It feels like the barrier making service seem far slower than it actually is. I feel like service would feel (and be) incredibly quick once those Guelph and Georgetown corridors get up to speed.

While the track through Georgetown is quite high-quality - most of it is CN's mainline across Toronto - the issues stem from the track layout through the area, both historically and more currently.

To access the GO platforms, trains must leave the mainline track, proceed through a number of rather tight switches and curves, make its station stop, regain the mainline and only then can they speed up.

Part of the problem is that the yard and GO platforms at Georgetown are located in a rather old and tiny yard that was situated in between the legs of a wye. There wasn't really a way to lengthen the tracks out to allow them to put higher-speed switches and straighter sections of track to allow for higher speeds. And in fact, the yard there is so constrained that there are very serious restrictions on how trains must be stored there - prior to COVID, it was not uncommon to have a train that was due to overnight in Georgetown to have to deadhead back to Toronto and swap out with a shorter train to allow it to be stored - at considerable cost.

The old station on the south - currently used by VIA - has a very short platform that is only accessible by 3 doors on a GO train. And while it may be on the mainline and thus allow for a quicker entry and getaway from the station, it is also operationally more awkward, as both GO and VIA trains have to cross the entirety of the corridor to then access the track to Kitchener (or cross the corridor first when coming from Kitchener).

There are long-term plans to build a new platform on the north mainline - this coupled with the completion of the third mainline track to Mount Pleasant would hugely increase capacity through this section, would allow passenger trains to stick to the north tracks of the corridor freeing up the south tracks, and most importantly allow GO trains to and from Kitchener to operate much more quickly through Georgetown. But it seems that those plans have stalled in the past several years, and there's been no movement on that front.

Dan

 

[Allandale25]

Metrolinx Press Room

Find the latest Metrolinx news, project updates and more.

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[ShonTron]

The new September schedules are up.

Many train and bus trips cut in 2020 have returned, including express trains on the Lakeshore and Kitchener lines.

A few interesting changes, including route 18K, which operates weekdays between West Harbour GO, St. Catharines GO, and Brock University. This provides the direct Hamilton-St. Catharines bus service that has been missing since Coach Canada/Megabus cancelled its route between Niagara Falls, Grimsby, and Hamilton.

Route 29 only (the Mississauga-Guelph bus) is extended to Kipling, but not Route 25 (Mississauga-Waterloo).

Route 30 (the Bramalea-Kitchener express) is being extended to stop at WLU and UW.

Right now, some of the new PDFs are not loading (Kitchener Corridor, for example) but most train trips between Kitchener and Toronto will run express between Union and Bramalea:

• Kitchener GO at 6:02 a.m., 6:32 a.m., 7:02 a.m., 7:32 a.m., and 8:02 a.m., will make all stops to Bramalea GO then run express to Union Station, arriving at 7:43 a.m., 8:13 a.m., 8:43 a.m., 9:13 a.m. and 9:43 a.m.
• Weekday evening westbound trips departing Union Station at 4:49 p.m., 5:19 p.m., and 6:19 p.m., will run express to Bramalea GO, then make all stops to Kitchener GO, arriving at 6:35 p.m., 7:05 p.m., and 8:05 p.m.

 

[Northern Light]

The new September schedules are up.

A few interesting changes, including route 18K, which operates weekdays between West Harbour GO, St. Catharines GO, and Brock University. This provides the direct Hamilton-St. Catharines bus service that has been missing since Coach Canada/Megabus cancelled its route between Niagara Falls, Grimsby, and Hamilton.

Route 29 only (the Mississauga-Guelph bus) is extended to Kipling, but not Route 25 (Mississauga-Waterloo).

So far I'm getting errors when I try to open the new K-W, Milton and Stouffville schedules, the others work fine.

 

[Northern Light]

Metrolinx has covered the Sept service changes on their blog.

Link here: https://blog.metrolinx.com/2021/08/...eekday-service-across-the-go-transit-network/

Excerpts Below:

Also:

and

Over on the K-W corridor:

Finally:

Lots of other stuff if you follow the link.

******

To me, the key enhancement for rail service is the new express option for K-W passengers.

While the big negative is the absence of express service for LSE customers.

 

[ShonTron]

******

To me, the key enhancement for rail service is the new express option for K-W passengers.

While the big negative is the absence of express service for LSE customers.

Yeah, Lakeshore East doesn't get much. The explanation for that is the work on corridor improvements and the new East Harbour GO/Ontario Line station. Much like how work on the Kitchener Line has left it without useful counter-peak and weekend service, even in the inner section to Bramalea (apart from one AM train to Bramalea).