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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

For the purposes of better integration with the region I am hopeful that a some point they will see the value of a station in Merritton which would provide better transit connections (shorter distances) to Pen Centre, Thorold, 406 South, Brock U, Niagara College (NOTL), and biking to Niagara-on-the-lake.
 
IIRC NIagara Falls has long term plans to construct a Detroit-people-mover type system along the former rail alignment as well, which would help somewhat.
I've been hearing that since the late 1990s. It was supposed to be elevated, then they changed it to at-grade because it'd be half the cost, but then there was concerns about the hazards of at-grade. Either way I doubt anything will happen along that corridor.
 
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Hey Richard, you caught me in the photo! I'm wearing the Adidas pants next to the bench. I will say that Niagara is one of my favourite train rides! I'm in China now for university, but I do miss the Niagara train! Too bad they reduced the service this year.

Wow! Small world. Had I known, I would have introduced myself.

Same goes for you lot, if anyone on here sees me in real life feel free to say hi.

Don't miss it too much. A couple countries over you have the bullet trains!
 
Have we had a post noting the additional service improvements post May 21? (ie. May 24 and May 28?)

I don't see one, but thought I might be missing it, perhaps it was noted earlier.

Apologies for any duplication:

Kitchener:

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Stoufville:

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Barrie:

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In light of today's news release from Metrolinx regarding rail safety, on April 28 I reported the incident below to the Go Transit safety line while it was happening. I was kept on hold briefly, and after gathering details the agent said "I'll try to get someone out there". I assumed they'd hold train service - this was at 5:45 pm. I had mentioned I knew it was an active track at that time of day. About 10 minutes later, my heart stopped when I saw the outbound train approaching. Metrolinx hadn't stopped the train, despite being advised of the location and with adequate lead time. The trespassers survived. But it feels like today's Metrolinx warnings need more action from the agency itself. Perhaps the train operator was warned, but the trespassers were just a few feet from the passing train. As recently as this past weekend I saw another trespasser going through the insecure fencing.

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In light of today's news release from Metrolinx regarding rail safety, on April 28 I reported the incident below to the Go Transit safety line while it was happening. I was kept on hold briefly, and after gathering details the agent said "I'll try to get someone out there". I assumed they'd hold train service - this was at 5:45 pm. I had mentioned I knew it was an active track at that time of day. About 10 minutes later, my heart stopped when I saw the outbound train approaching. Metrolinx hadn't stopped the train, despite being advised of the location and with adequate lead time. The trespassers survived. But it feels like today's Metrolinx warnings need more action from the agency itself. Perhaps the train operator was warned, but the trespassers were just a few feet from the passing train. As recently as this past weekend I saw another trespasser going through the insecure fencing.

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Good on you for doing your best in the circumstances; the angry face is for Mx who blew it on their end!

May I suggest you tweet this to GO/Mx or AMA. It might not make a difference, but once and a while some public embarrassment serves a useful purpose.
 
In light of today's news release from Metrolinx regarding rail safety, on April 28 I reported the incident below to the Go Transit safety line while it was happening. I was kept on hold briefly, and after gathering details the agent said "I'll try to get someone out there". I assumed they'd hold train service - this was at 5:45 pm. I had mentioned I knew it was an active track at that time of day. About 10 minutes later, my heart stopped when I saw the outbound train approaching. Metrolinx hadn't stopped the train, despite being advised of the location and with adequate lead time. The trespassers survived. But it feels like today's Metrolinx warnings need more action from the agency itself. Perhaps the train operator was warned, but the trespassers were just a few feet from the passing train. As recently as this past weekend I saw another trespasser going through the insecure fencing.
The location in your photo is the Richmond Hill line at Queen Street. The speed limit there is 35 mph (56 km/h), but it is immediately adjacent to the 25 mph (40 km/h) Permanent Slow Order around the sharp curve at Corktown Common park, so trains would be going less than 40 km/h.

I recently encountered some teenagers playing football on the tracks in Rijswijk station - an underground station where intercity trains pass through at 140 km/h, six times per hour in each direction (plus four local trains per hour which stop). These teenagers were well aware of the risk of approaching trains, as every few minutes when a train whizzed through, they climbed up to the platform and held their ball tight. Standing on the platform in an underground station while a double-decker train whizzes by at 140 km/h is already a heart-pumping experience, which certainly makes one well aware of the danger of being on the wrong side of the platform edge line.

The reason they were playing there, rather than the park directly above the station, is likely because of the deadly danger every few minutes - they think that defying the rules about staying off the tracks makes them seem tough to their friends.

Given that the people in your picture are likely fully aware of the danger of trains, I don't think it would be essential to stop the evening Richmond Hill line service. Slowing to a crawl and applying the horn seems like it would be perfectly adequate in this situation.

If the customer service rep with whom you spoke also didn't feel that it was an urgent life-and-death situation, then they might not have immediately called the emergency number for train dispatch (the one posted at every level crossing), and it may have taken more than 10 minutes for the message to reach the applicable train crew.
 
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The location in your photo is the Richmond Hill line at Queen Street. The speed limit there is 35 mph (56 km/h), but it is immediately adjacent to the 25 mph (40 km/h) Permanent Slow Order around the sharp curve at Corktown Common park, so trains would be going less than 40 km/h.

I recently encountered some teenagers playing football on the tracks in Rijswijk station - an underground station where intercity trains pass through at 140 km/h, six times per hour in each direction (plus four local trains per hour which stop). These teenagers were well aware of the risk of approaching trains, as every few minutes when a train whizzed through, they climbed up to the platform and held their ball tight. Standing on the platform in an underground station while a double-decker train whizzes by at 140 km/h is already a heart-pumping experience, which certainly makes one well aware of the danger of being on the wrong side of the platform edge line.

The reason they were playing there, rather than the park directly above the station, is likely because of the deadly danger every few minutes - they think that defying the rules about staying off the tracks makes them seem tough to their friends.

Given that the people in your picture are likely fully aware of the danger of trains, I don't think it would be essential to stop the evening Richmond Hill line service. Slowing to a crawl and applying the horn seems like it would be perfectly adequate in this situation.

If the customer service rep with whom you spoke also didn't feel that it was an urgent life-and-death situation, then they might not have immediately called the emergency number for train dispatch (the one posted at every level crossing), and it may have taken more than 10 minutes for the message to reach the applicable train crew.
I understand your points. I had actually called the Go Transit Safety line itself - not just Metrolinx customer service. And when the train passed about 10 minutes later, with people still on the tracks, it appeared to me to be going at the normal speed for this time/area, with no horns blaring, and certainly not at a crawl. I figured the Go Transit Safety line was the most direct route. Weeks later they've done nothing to secure the perimeter, having seen someone slip through the fence this past weekend. I've avoided getting a Twitter account, so I did email a follow-up to Metrolinx customer service today contrasting their news release with their own inaction.
 
In light of today's news release from Metrolinx regarding rail safety, on April 28 I reported the incident below to the Go Transit safety line while it was happening. I was kept on hold briefly, and after gathering details the agent said "I'll try to get someone out there". I assumed they'd hold train service - this was at 5:45 pm. I had mentioned I knew it was an active track at that time of day. About 10 minutes later, my heart stopped when I saw the outbound train approaching. Metrolinx hadn't stopped the train, despite being advised of the location and with adequate lead time. The trespassers survived. But it feels like today's Metrolinx warnings need more action from the agency itself. Perhaps the train operator was warned, but the trespassers were just a few feet from the passing train. As recently as this past weekend I saw another trespasser going through the insecure fencing.

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When I called CN police a few months ago for tresspassers they shut everything down within 90 seconds (I had a scanner on me and heard rtc asking trains to stop), not sure why metrolinx couldn't do things as quickly
 
In light of today's news release from Metrolinx regarding rail safety, on April 28 I reported the incident below to the Go Transit safety line while it was happening ...
Not a surprise. The media folks are keen about the trespassing issue, but many of those in the field, don't give a shit. The endless Metrolinx lectures about trespassing and safety fall flat, when you point out to them that the fences that keep telling you not to cross vanished years to decades ago, before CN sold the tracks to Metrolinx - and they've clearly not once ever checked. Let alone fixed the big holes in the fences you can clearly see from the tracks - which CN used to maintain.

Hopefully they've hired some good contractors to build the new systems - because their competence managing what they already have is beyond pathetic.
 

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