GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[junctionist]

It's unfortunate that GO is completing a large grade separation project at West Toronto Diamond (the railway junction from which the Junction gets its name), yet there's still going to be a level railway crossing at Old Weston Road and Junction Road. That crossing will be for CP Rail tracks.

GO is also planning an architecturally interesting pedestrian bridge in Weston at John Street that will cross their rails, but will force people to walk down a ramp to cross the CP tracks at grade. It's ridiculous.

 

[ShonTron]

Weston Subdivision/Kitchener line
-Scarboro St.
-Torbram Rd.

And nothing for a few kilometres until Downtown Brampton

CN Halton Subdivision (Georgetown/Kitchener)
- James Street
- Mill Street
- Mississauga Road
- Heritage Road
- Winston Churchill Blvd.

The next crossing is Trafalgar Road, once the two R/T GO trains are on the CN/GEXR Guelph Subdivision, and many more into Kitchener.

I expect that one day Mississauga Road will be grade separated, but I don't expect Mill or John Streets to be closed or grade separated (much like Stavebank remains as is, adjacent to Port Credit Station). James Street, which was adjacent to and almost the same crossing as John, was closed when that section was double tracked on behalf of GO Transit a few years back and the pedestrian crossing shifted to the John St crossing.

There were plans years ago to grade-separate Torbram at both the Halton and Weston subs, I don't know what happened to that.

Oakville Subdivision/Lakeshore West line
-Haig Blvd.
-Ogden Ave.
-Alexandra Ave.
-Revus Ave.
And a little further down(3.5 to 10 km);
-Stavebank Rd. N
-Lorne Park Rd.
-Clarkson Rd. N

And in Oakville/Burlington (nothing past Burloak Drive into Hamilton GO Centre or the planned James St. Station with King Road completed)
- Kerr Street
- Fourth Line
- Burloak Drive (in long term plans for separation)

 

[scar_resident]

In the meantime, there's not going to be any sort of Toronto only service on regional rail lines. That is the TTC responsibility and don't hold your breath expecting the province to upload that service to Metrolinx.

The LSE local during rush hour pretty much is Toronto only service, the exception being the pickering stop which was to allow transfers from the express train for durham riders to get to destinations in Toronto that are not near Union Station. Some get off at Danforth to transfer to BD subway. 3 trains WB in the a.m rush hour, 2 trains EB in the p.m. It's getting quite full on these trips but they can't add more trains because they increased the express trains from Pickering.

 

[MafaldaBoy]

New locomotive livery from the front:

Don't really like the all-white front; it looks really dated. The white horns stick out like a sore thumb too. Kinda like the new scheme for the coaches though.

 

[Dan416]

I wish they'd just changed the colours without changing the design. Much prefer the swoosh of the previous livery.

 

[EnviroTO]

It's unfortunate that GO is completing a large grade separation project at West Toronto Diamond (the railway junction from which the Junction gets its name), yet there's still going to be a level railway crossing at Old Weston Road and Junction Road. That crossing will be for CP Rail tracks.

The cost of eliminating that grade crossing, for how many cars use it, would be a real waste of money. CP trains can't hit that curve at full speed and getting rid of the level crossing would require a bridge over the CP tracks which is in turn above the Georgetown corridor.

 

[innsertnamehere]

They should just close the street, it doesn't look like it handles much traffic and the detour around it isn't that large.

 

[junctionist]

The cost of eliminating that grade crossing, for how many cars use it, would be a real waste of money. CP trains can't hit that curve at full speed and getting rid of the level crossing would require a bridge over the CP tracks which is in turn above the Georgetown corridor.

A lot of cars, pedestrians and cyclists travel through that crossing daily when it's open. There's a steady flow of traffic throughout the day, and it's a vital neighbourhood connection for pedestrians and cyclists. The long freight trains moving slowly on that curve can create substantial delays for everyone. After more than a century, it makes sense to get rid of all the crossings. Traffic is only going to increase over the next decades. If this project was being undertaken in the 1960s, they probably would have eliminated everything.

 

[drum118]

They should just close the street, it doesn't look like it handles much traffic and the detour around it isn't that large.

Once the crossing is in place again, better spend a few different days to see what traffic looks like on that road, especially peak time?? You will have to eat your words.

Stavebank can be grade separated with some issues and should be.

Kerr was to see an overpass and it looks like it been push back since 2014 was the last schedule date I had for it.

Mill & James St will never see a grade separation in Brampton.

All the crossing in Mississauga will have major impact on those areas when separation happens to the point homes will have to be torn down and side street close or move.

Torbram Rd is going/is to be grade separated by 2015 since Mississauga bought land to do it.

Fourth & Burloak is down the pipeline.

You are looking at between $10-$25m per crossing if not more in some cases based on the number of lanes it has or to have.

Trying to do Mississauga Rd in Mississauga will be very expensive as well destroying part of the area, but can be done as well should be done.

Thomas Rd is already graded to be grade separated. One of the other 2 roads in Streetville should be close.

 

[vegeta_skyline]

I expect that one day Mississauga Road will be grade separated, but I don't expect Mill or John Streets to be closed or grade separated (much like Stavebank remains as is, adjacent to Port Credit Station). James Street, which was adjacent to and almost the same crossing as John, was closed when that section was double tracked on behalf of GO Transit a few years back and the pedestrian crossing shifted to the John St crossing.

There were plans years ago to grade-separate Torbram at both the Halton and Weston subs, I don't know what happened to that.

And in Oakville/Burlington (nothing past Burloak Drive into Hamilton GO Centre or the planned James St. Station with King Road completed)
- Kerr Street
- Fourth Line
- Burloak Drive (in long term plans for separation)

I do agree that Mississauga rd. would seem to be the most likely candidate for separation and also that John or Mill st. won't be separated due to built up nature of the area which would make any such project more expensive than the norm and it can't be justified by the level of traffic which use the roads(I know3 you agree, just explaining for those who are wondering why not).

Burloak definitely makes sense, its most likely the busiest grade separation on the Lakeshore East and it would be one of the easiest to do, being adjacent to vacant lands(for now). Its certainly much busier than King rd. I believe an environmental assessment for grade separating Kerr street has been completed and like drum mentioned there has also been some talk of separating Fouth Line.

It would of been easy to grade separate Stavebank back when they were realigning the tracks. Shame they weren't more forward thinking. Operationally its a little bit of a bottle neck. Instead of being up to accelerate immediately, every train that stops westward at Port Credit will have to continue approaching the crossing at 10mph after leaving the station until its 'fully occupied' as per CROR 103.1 (b). This adds about 20-30 seconds to the trip, which may not seem like much, but multiplied by the 36 trains that stop there daily, that adds up to 12-18 wasted minutes a day. Which in turn adds up to 60-90 hours per year.

 

[reaperexpress]

Here's a quick shot of a repainted MP40 in service on the Lakeshore West line yesterday:

[video=youtube;jE11ERvSJSw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE11ERvSJSw&feature=c4-overview&list=UUwAo-N1m-eTiiBzFXk8ornw[/video]

I'm not a huge fan of the new livery, but it wasn't as bad in person as I expected.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I saw one fly by me on the Lakeshore East on friday. Also saw a bus in the new livery at Unionville on Monday. I agree that it looks better in person than photos, but still not the best. I liked it more on the bus than the train.

 

[drum118]

I hope it is true that Metrolinx has gone back to the board to redesign the new cough cough (Metrolinx) GO Colour Scheme for the current test one, as it is a failure after seeing it in person.

When I saw the photos of the new colours on the bus, Loco and coach, was not impress, but had to see it first for final assessment.

Caught 2338 on the off ramp on the 16th for York and caught the tail end of it at the terminal as it was departing the bus terminal.

Metrolinx logo is near the rear of the bus. Don't have a photo of it, but I think the rear was another colour than these ones.

Have no issue in rebanding GO colours, but not this one. Too much white, lime green? DOA. It doesn't have to be Green

This will delay painting new equipment on order that supposed to be delivery in the new scheme.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I actually like the style of it, it just needs different colours.

 

[khris]

So glad to hear it's going back to the drawing boards! This new livery was awful.