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It boils down to ridership numbers with the Lakeshore being #1. If the numbers are not there to justify 30 minutes, then it has to be hourly regardless you want more.
Service should start earlier on all lines as there are things going on on the weekend that you may miss something with service starting later, especially if you are taking part in it.
Until there are shorter trains for weekend with good ridership, it is the cost of the crews as well the equipment to put more service on line for a small number of riders.
If Aldershot-McMaster needs a boost in service while cutting the connection on the 17, they could easily make the 41/47 stop there and call it a day. These routes have express branches anyway during weekdays so it wouldn’t be that much of a hassle and it would be a lot more frequent between the two points.I think the issue with removing Aldershot from the route is that the busiest portions of the route are McMaster - Aldershot and Guelph - Aldershot (from what I've observed riding the 17). Lots of latent demand for travel between Guelph and Halton and McMaster to Burlington/Oakville that this route unintentionally partially fulfilled. The only way they could get away with removing Aldershot from 17 is boosting 15A service or making 17B run year-round.
Not true.To nitpick a bit on a technical level..... what the RTC would see is simply an indication that the track beyond the red signal has become occupied.
counter argument, why does Mississauga, a city of around 800k, have 9(.5 if you count long branch) GO stations, when Waterloo region, a region of around 700k (and growing faster), has only 1. Neither Mississauga or Waterloo region get adequate service for cities of their size, but we should blame that on the province instead of antagonizing other cities.Same. Can’t wait to see how Kitchener with a population of 282000 and 106kms away from union gets more frequent and all day service before Mississauga with a population of 770000 and 26kms away from union. Makes total sense.
Yes, there's little point in us all squabbling here about which line deserves adequate service, let's all send letters to our MPPs asking for a proper, published, plan for the expansion of GO services!
Right!?!! This is the fault of this Ministry and CP Rail, not Waterloo.counter argument, why does Mississauga, a city of around 800k, have 9(.5 if you count long branch) GO stations, when Waterloo region, a region of around 700k (and growing faster), has only 1. Neither Mississauga or Waterloo region get adequate service for cities of their size, but we should blame that on the province instead of antagonizing other cities.
It's a good idea in concept. But what's the goal here. Brantford to Six Nations service? For which this is a good start. Though reliability is going to be variable by the time it get's to the Six Nations.New GO bus connection for First Nations
Route 15 extension part of commitment to building meaningful relationships with First Nations.www.metrolinx.com
Route 15 will extend service to Six Nations and Missisaugas of the Credit for April board with three daily round trips. This is the first time GO has extended service to a First Nations reserve and is likely part of the provincial government's reconciliation efforts. Great initiative and I wish this service success.
I only knew about this incident the morning after after because it came up in the safety talk we have with a supervisor before commencing a shift at CN...One year ago today, we came dangerously close to witnessing the most catastrophic accident in GO Transit history—an incident that has never really been publically acknowledged by Metrolinx. Instead, it was swiftly swept under the rug, with passengers being told their trains were simply delayed due to a ‘signal issue’ when in reality, two GO trains nearly collided head-on.
The Transport Safety Board of Canada is currently conducting an investigation on this incident, here is their brief on the incident;
Rail transportation safety investigation R24T0064 - Transportation Safety Board of Canada
The occurrenceOn 14 March 2024, GO Transit commuter train 1028 (GO 1028), was departing Aldershot station in Burlington, Ontario, heading east when it passed a stop signal. Consequently, it ran through the crossover switch and entered the main track at Mile 34.4 of the Canadian National Railway...www.tsb.gc.ca
"On 14 March 2024, GO Transit commuter train 1028 (GO 1028), was departing Aldershot station in Burlington, Ontario, heading east when it passed a stop signal. Consequently, it ran through the crossover switch and entered the main track at Mile 34.4 of the Canadian National Railway Company (CN) Oakville Subdivision.
At the same time, from the opposite direction, another GO Transit commuter train (GO 1775) was approaching the Aldershot station on the main track. The crew of GO 1775 saw headlights ahead and, when they realized that GO 1028 was on their track, they made an emergency application of the air brakes, stopping their train within six car lengths (approximately 450 feet) of GO 1028.
Both trains had passengers on board. There was no derailment, and no injuries were reported. The TSB is investigating."
What the TSB brief doesn't say is that the two trains had a combined 232 people on board! 227 passengers along with 5 crew members.
Here is the Alstom brief on the incident, which emphasizes how dangerous the situation was:
"During the late afternoon on Thursday, March 14th, a GO train crew advised that they went past the stop signal 344 at Waterdown East and ran through the switch at mile 34.34 Oakville Subdivision traveling approximately 13-14 mph with 110 passengers onboard. ENGR stated that he heard a snap while running through dual control switch, observed oncoming head lights and came to a controlled stop approximately 11 coaches past the stop signal. CNDR made an emergency broadcast and went flagging. The ENGR proceeded to make an emergency broadcast to the RTC.
Simultaneously, a westbound GO train crew observed headlights on approach while traveling at approximately 55 mph with 117 passengers onboard and contacted the opposing movement to dim their headlights. Once the westbound trip realized that the opposing movement was on their track, they placed the train into emergency east of Waterdown East and stopped approximately three coach lengths from the opposing movement.
The event had high risk potential for catastrophic consequences."
Truth be told, we were incredibly lucky that there was no collision. Normally, a westbound train approaching Aldershot would be traveling at a higher rate of speed, approximately 65 mph. However, this particular train had a trainee operating it, and he was running at a slower speed. At 65 mph, their train would not have been able to stop in time.
This incident highlights serious deficiencies within the GO train network and exposes a troubling lack of transparency within MX. PTC would address many of these issues, yet very little progress has been made in implementing it. Worse still, rather than openly acknowledging the severity of the incident, it was downplayed and essentially concealed from the public. Furthermore, one of the employees on the train that passed the stop signal without authority had a known medical condition that may have interfered with his ability to operate—yet he was still allowed to continue in such a critical role. This raises serious concerns about their hiring practices and ability to retain qualified staff. The fact that he was allowed to remain on duty even after the issue became apparent—prior to this incident—can almost certainly be attributed to chronic understaffing and a growing exodus of experienced personnel driven by low morale, high stress levels, and overall dissatisfaction with the company and agency.
Without immediate action to modernize safety systems, enforce stricter operational standards, and commit to greater transparency, we may not be as fortunate next time.
I'm aware of at least 4 main track authority violations that happened in 2023 with GO trainsTo take this a little further, the most recent data I can find on occurrences on Canadian railways is here.
The incident described would be classed as “Movement exceeds limits of authority” The table states there were 161 such incidents in 2023 across Canada..
Metrolinx is required to have a Safety Management System, and would doubtless be keeping data on its own occurrences. I’m not sure how much of this data could be obtained by an FOI request, but perhaps some might be discoverable.
The problem of course is complicated by the fact that a contractor, and not ML proper, is reaponsible for staffing and operation. And while I’m not conversant with the specifics, the regulatory oversight of GO safety management may fall partly at the federal and partly at the provincial level.
The cautionary tale here is that once Onxpress assumes operation, ML and the provincial government are comfortably firewalled from any real accountability for safety on the GO network. It remains to be seen whether their operation will be any more transparent.
It would be interesting to know how many of those 161 (2023) incidents happened on GO transit, and whether that number is trending up or down. From what one hears on the grapevine, the number is not zero.
- Paul
But there is money when they want there to be money.Right!?!! This is the fault of this Ministry and CP Rail, not Waterloo.
Honestly Milton should been done in 2009, the OLP punted and now there's no money.
Doug Ford's MO for sure.But there is money when they want there to be money.
