GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[TOareaFan]

Anyone know how they picked which two trains on the Gtown/KW line were extended to KW?

If we look at their two morning SE bound trains they got a 5:49 a.m. departure that makes all stops. That is the train that leaves Bramalea GO at 7:12 and arrives at Union Station at 7:53. If they had extended the next train (the one that leaves Bramalea at 7:30 and goes express to Union (the only quasi express train on the line) arriving at 8:01) they could have had a more civilized departure time from Kitchener (6:07 presumably) and cut the travel time to Union by 10 minutes.

Was there a reason they picked that earlier departure time over the next one?

As for taking some of the very few additional trains being added in 2015 and making a bunch of express runs for KW folks, this will lead to a very uncomfortable political situation.....cause every express train means it will not serve folks further down the line and those are folks that have a) been waiting a long time for additional service and (in the case of many of them) have suffered through years of construction and aggravation with the only saving grace being "more service will come from it".....if they see that "more service" diluted by more trains that whiz through their communities without stopping...I can't think they will be all too pleased.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

Anyone know how they picked which two trains on the Gtown/KW line were extended to KW?

If we look at their two morning SE bound trains they got a 5:49 a.m. departure that makes all stops. That is the train that leaves Bramalea GO at 7:12 and arrives at Union Station at 7:53. If they had extended the next train (the one that leaves Bramalea at 7:30 and goes express to Union (the only quasi express train on the line) arriving at 8:01) they could have had a more civilized departure time from Kitchener (6:07 presumably) and cut the travel time to Union by 10 minutes.

Was there a reason they picked that earlier departure time over the next one?

As for taking some of the very few additional trains being added in 2015 and making a bunch of express runs for KW folks, this will lead to a very uncomfortable political situation.....cause every express train means it will not serve folks further down the line and those are folks that have a) been waiting a long time for additional service and (in the case of many of them) have suffered through years of construction and aggravation with the only saving grace being "more service will come from it".....if they see that "more service" diluted by more trains that whiz through their communities without stopping...I can't think they will be all too pleased.

I assumed they just picked the two earliest trains. I guess I was wrong.

 

[TOareaFan]

I assumed they just picked the two earliest trains. I guess I was wrong.

In the morning they picked the second train that covers the whole line (some might call this the 3rd train as there is another train before it but that only starts service in Bramalea so was not a candidate for extension...I guess) and the last train (again it is the last train that covers the whole line...there is a later train from Bramalea only).

In typing that answer it does make me wonder how much train storage capacity there is at Kitchener....presumably the very early train (5:55 from Bramalea) and the very late train (9:40 a.m.) commence at Bramalea because there is not enough storage capacity at GT....if those trains could be parked at Kitchener overnight is that not 4 trains that could serve Kitchener while also providing additional travel options to other stations on the line.

 

[royalrivers]

I assumed they just picked the two earliest trains. I guess I was wrong.

The times chosen to depart at 4:45pm and 5:45pm from Toronto was because there was already bus connections for Guelph at the 4:15pm and 5:15pm train departures and nothing after.

As for the Morning run, it was chosen in the same fashion. There is still one earlier bus at 5:20am from Guelph connecting to Georgetown. All they did was sneak a train in between the existing bus-train services.

 

[innsertnamehere]

anyone know when the next schedule changes are going to happen? January 1st? I want to see if there are any improvements on the Stouffville line haha. They need to make the 3:18 union departure train go the full length, they are running 4 different buses out of unionville to pick up the extra slack at this point, and those buses are typically full with people standing.

 

[smallspy]

The first of the two departures from Kitchener was chosen to allow GO to run a 12-car trainset. The second was slotted for late starts into the city.

The two evening trips back were also slotted to become L12s.

anyone know when the next schedule changes are going to happen? January 1st? I want to see if there are any improvements on the Stouffville line haha. They need to make the 3:18 union departure train go the full length, they are running 4 different buses out of unionville to pick up the extra slack at this point, and those buses are typically full with people standing.

Until they expand the layover at Lincolnville (and AFAIK there are no short-term plans to do so), there will be no other trains running the full length runs. All additional trains will be short turned at Unionville or perhaps Mt. Joy.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

In the morning they picked the second train that covers the whole line (some might call this the 3rd train as there is another train before it but that only starts service in Bramalea so was not a candidate for extension...I guess) and the last train (again it is the last train that covers the whole line...there is a later train from Bramalea only).

In typing that answer it does make me wonder how much train storage capacity there is at Kitchener....presumably the very early train (5:55 from Bramalea) and the very late train (9:40 a.m.) commence at Bramalea because there is not enough storage capacity at GT....if those trains could be parked at Kitchener overnight is that not 4 trains that could serve Kitchener while also providing additional travel options to other stations on the line.

The times chosen to depart at 4:45pm and 5:45pm from Toronto was because there was already bus connections for Guelph at the 4:15pm and 5:15pm train departures and nothing after.

As for the Morning run, it was chosen in the same fashion. There is still one earlier bus at 5:20am from Guelph connecting to Georgetown. All they did was sneak a train in between the existing bus-train services.

Thanks guys. Seems there is a lot of planning involved in this.

The first of the two departures from Kitchener was chosen to allow GO to run a 12-car trainset. The second was slotted for late starts into the city.

The two evening trips back were also slotted to become L12s.



Until they expand the layover at Lincolnville (and AFAIK there are no short-term plans to do so), there will be no other trains running the full length runs. All additional trains will be short turned at Unionville or perhaps Mt. Joy.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

The Big Move says mount Joy but I guess that will change

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Given Hamilton's population is what? 500 000? ~120 000 in Cambridge, ~100 000 in Waterloo, ~200 000 in Kitchener, and ~90 000 in Milton. Total population of 1 million.

Isn't it wise for GO to provide some sort of inter city transit between these centres? Obviously the train lengths won't be 12 cars like with Toronto service but wouldn't some sort of service be of benefit?

 

[ssiguy2]

Although inner city transport is needed for these cities it won't happen. GO and Metrolinx long ago made the decision that the GO rail service is to be nothing more than a 905 to Union service and nothing more. This explains the lack of rail between the other cities and why Torontonians themselves don't take the service. A $5 fee from Dundas West to Union is an insult made worse by the fact that it doesn't even cover your TTC fare.

 

[drum118]

The first of the two departures from Kitchener was chosen to allow GO to run a 12-car trainset. The second was slotted for late starts into the city.

The two evening trips back were also slotted to become L12s.

Until they expand the layover at Lincolnville (and AFAIK there are no short-term plans to do so), there will be no other trains running the full length runs. All additional trains will be short turned at Unionville or perhaps Mt. Joy.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

They were upgrading the yard to L12 when I saw it at the end of June.

To add more tracks would require 2 option:
I) build a new yard on the north side of the Uxbridge Line for storage as well extra moves and will require buying land for it.
2) expand the yard on the south side and this will require removing part of the parking lot as well how to deal with the ladder track so they are all L12. There is room to build more parking spots to replace the ones that would have to go for the expansion.

 

[mpd618]

In typing that answer it does make me wonder how much train storage capacity there is at Kitchener....presumably the very early train (5:55 from Bramalea) and the very late train (9:40 a.m.) commence at Bramalea because there is not enough storage capacity at GT....if those trains could be parked at Kitchener overnight is that not 4 trains that could serve Kitchener while also providing additional travel options to other stations on the line.

The original plans for a layover facility in Baden to go with the original plans of 4 morning and 4 evening trains were cut back. What was built was a very small layover facility just past King Street in downtown Kitchener. There's space for two trains but nothing more.

 

[drum118]

The original plans for a layover facility in Baden to go with the original plans of 4 morning and 4 evening trains were cut back. What was built was a very small layover facility just past King Street in downtown Kitchener. There's space for two trains but nothing more.

You could put in more tracks on the south side of the London Line in between the Wye tracks. It would require buy land and business.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Drum, the lincolnville parking lot is very, very lightly used, so expansion would really effect parking space. Even having the train run to mount joy would be nice, a singular bus could deal with stouffville demand after that.

All day on stouffville is planned to run to mount joy.

What annoys me about the unionville trains are that it's very very slow to take, as the buses travel slowly through Markham, but faster on the highway when they do the full run. The trains comparively move much faster through Markham than the buses, but also much slower than the buses when they are on the highway. When the trains end at unionville, it's the slow way to unionville, and the slow way through Markham.. It's just a really damn slow trip.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

Drum, the lincolnville parking lot is very, very lightly used, so expansion would really effect parking space. Even having the train run to mount joy would be nice, a singular bus could deal with stouffville demand after that.

All day on stouffville is planned to run to mount joy.

What annoys me about the unionville trains are that it's very very slow to take, as the buses travel slowly through Markham, but faster on the highway when they do the full run. The trains comparively move much faster through Markham than the buses, but also much slower than the buses when they are on the highway. When the trains end at unionville, it's the slow way to unionville, and the slow way through Markham.. It's just a really damn slow trip.

Is there track restrictions on the line?

 

[mpd618]

You could put in more tracks on the south side of the London Line in between the Wye tracks. It would require buy land and business.

Not sure where you found a wye... But if you mean expansion of GO train parking close to King Street, I think that is unlikely. Land in the immediate vicinity is planned for high-density office and residential use, and should be quite expensive.

Stratford has been quite eager to offer its existing rail yard for use by GO Transit.