GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[SaugeenJunction]

Interestingly, Anne Marie Aikins from Metrolinx reminded us on Twitter that "We (Metrolinx) announce service changes quarterly. Fiscal year is only halfway done". Link: https://twitter.com/femwriter/status/634012677447282688

 

[Dan416]

I thought the new trains would help my coworker who commutes from downtown to Brampton (Hurontario & Bovaird). Not so much. The earliest train arrives at Mt. Pleasant at 9:37, and would then require a transfer to get back to Hurontario.

Furthermore, there's no trains around 5 or 6 pm heading down to Union.

So she'll have to keep taking the bus.

As others have said, there's no reverse-commuting trains which is a huge disappointment.

How long do you guys think until GO can add the reverse-commuting train times?

 

[reaperexpress]

I'm really disappointed by the lack of connections from the new train service at Bramalea to Kitchener-Waterloo. The only improvements I can find in the schedule are:
- The first westbound Route 30 from Bramalea now connects to a train rather than a bus, which cuts the Union-Kitchener travel time from 2h00 to 1h45. This would be a rather attractive service if it existed more than once per day.
- On Fridays it is technically possible to connect from route 25F eastbound at Bramalea, though most of the times don't line up well. If you're willing to risk a 4min transfer, you can get from UW to Union in 1h59 on the 14:35 bus. In the westbound direction you always end up with a 22 minute transfer at Bramalea which translates to a 2h12 travel time Union - UW.

It's also sad to see the elimination of express service to Guelph. It would make sense to extend Route 48 to Guelph Central station for connectivity reasons, but doing so would not get you to Toronto any faster.

Here's the new route 33 + train combo:
70 minutes Rte 33 Guelph Central - Mount Pleasant
15 mintes transfer Mount Pleasant
54 minutes Kitchener Line Mount Pleasant - Union
= 139 minutes Guelph CS - Union

Route 48 takes 77 minutes from the University of Guelph to Bramalea, so it would take 87 minutes from Guelph Central.

With the route 48 schedule coordinated with train service as per route 33, the travel time would be:
87 minutes Rte 48 Guelph Central - Bramalea
15 minutes transfer Bramalea
38 minutes Kitchener Line Bramalea - Union
= 140 minutes Guelph CS - Union. So no change for Guelph CS - Union, though it would be 19 minutes faster for the U Guelph - Union trip

 

[TOareaFan]

I thought the new trains would help my coworker who commutes from downtown to Brampton (Hurontario & Bovaird). Not so much. The earliest train arrives at Mt. Pleasant at 9:37, and would then require a transfer to get back to Hurontario.

Furthermore, there's no trains around 5 or 6 pm heading down to Union.

So she'll have to keep taking the bus.

As others have said, there's no reverse-commuting trains which is a huge disappointment.

How long do you guys think until GO can add the reverse-commuting train times?

When they do arrive, your co-worker will have a quicker and cheaper commute to Main and Bovaird getting off the train one stop earlier and taking the Main Street bus north

 

[crs1026]

As others have said, there's no reverse-commuting trains which is a huge disappointment.

How long do you guys think until GO can add the reverse-commuting train times?

The new schedule maintains UPX's status quo - dedicated use of two of three tracks east of the Airport, leaving only one for GO. At an hourly frequency, there is just enough time for a westbound GO train to clear at the Airport to let an eastbound proceed; when that eastbound gets to Strachan, it clears just in time for the next westbound to proceed.

Using the tracks in this way, two-way service isn't possible during rush hours because the gap between trains going in the "prevailing" direction is much too short to permit a reverse move.

The most that can be accomplished (until we have a fourth track) is to interleave the counter-flow trains onto the UPX tracks. That is trickier because of the different acceleration/stopping profiles, headways and stopping points. That's why the two last new GO eastbounds skip stops - they have to use UPX tracks to stay clear of the first westbound rush hour GO trains. So long as they don't stop anywhere, they can 'go with the flow' without affecting UPX. (Etobicoke North serves only one track, so reverse rush hour stops just aren't happening there for the foreseeable future)

GO seems to be treading carefully with UPX, letting operations solidify - jugglers only add one new object at a time! GO could add semi-express reverse moves later in the day, and perhaps add stops at Bloor and Weston, but two non-stopping trains are likely as much as GO is willing to attempt for now. In particular, UPX is untested under winter conditions. Pushing too fast could lead to meltdowns that would really harm GO's credibility, so there is good reason for taking 'baby steps'.

Bottom line - For true two-way, all-stops reverse commuting - GO needs the fourth track. Some parts of that could be done in a year, some parts are clearly multi-year projects needing additional lead time. Realistically, it's five years away - and only if GO is actually getting that mobilised now.

- Paul

 

[Hairball]

Another catastrophic delay today:

Stouffville Line Passengers: Earlier one of our trains had an engine failure and blocked the tracks south of the Unionville GO Station. The following GO Trains were affected: :

The Lincolnville GO 07:16 - Union Station 08:32 train arrived into Union 2 hours 24 minutes late.
The Lincolnville GO 07:42 - Union Station 08:58 train arrived 2 hour late.
The Unionville GO 09:15 - Union Station 09:58 train was cancelled.

One train had blocked the single track near Unionville and then they tried to couple the trains together, and that didn't work for the longest time, I just decided to get off at Milliken and get a ride home. This is ridiculous, double tracking and RER needs to happen.

 

[robmausser]

I thought the new trains would help my coworker who commutes from downtown to Brampton (Hurontario & Bovaird). Not so much. The earliest train arrives at Mt. Pleasant at 9:37, and would then require a transfer to get back to Hurontario.

Furthermore, there's no trains around 5 or 6 pm heading down to Union.

So she'll have to keep taking the bus.

As others have said, there's no reverse-commuting trains which is a huge disappointment.

How long do you guys think until GO can add the reverse-commuting train times?

Not until they install the 4th track in the Georgetown sub, which requires them to build a new tunnel under the 401.

There are 3 tracks at some points. You've got tons of peak trains coming in on the one track, and then UPX every 15 minutes in both directions on the other 2. Then VIA trains as well, and freight does run between Bramalea and Mount Pleasant.

I could see reverse commute coming to Union-Bramalea before the 4th track, but not to Mount Pleasant.

Will be a while until that happens.

 

[robmausser]

It's an improvement perhaps. It's hardly earth-shattering - especially after dropping over a billion dollars.

Yeah, its not like they built a train that goes to the airport every 15 minutes in each direction or anything...

 

[crs1026]

Yeah, its not like they built a train that goes to the airport every 15 minutes in each direction or anything...

Fair point - but parse out the amount of that billion point three that is attributed to UPX, versus the amount that's attributed to GO. The GO side didn't get much for its half billion, considering there were a few mid day trains before all this work.

- Paul

 

[nfitz]

Fair point - but parse out the amount of that billion point three that is attributed to UPX, versus the amount that's attributed to GO. The GO side didn't get much for its half billion, considering there were a few mid day trains before all this work.

Those using Weston and Bloor heading towards Union went from 4 mid-day trains to 5.

 

[TOareaFan]

Fair point - but parse out the amount of that billion point three that is attributed to UPX, versus the amount that's attributed to GO. The GO side didn't get much for its half billion, considering there were a few mid day trains before all this work.

- Paul

As it sits now the line for public consumption is that UP cost +/- $450mil and none of the $1.3B is allocated to UP. I imagine that is because if they were to say (using your numbers) "the total spent was $1.75B and $1.25B of that was UP" then the heat/public opposition to UP would be much higher than it is presently.

 

[canarob]

Another catastrophic delay today:

Stouffville Line Passengers: Earlier one of our trains had an engine failure and blocked the tracks south of the Unionville GO Station. The following GO Trains were affected: :

The Lincolnville GO 07:16 - Union Station 08:32 train arrived into Union 2 hours 24 minutes late.
The Lincolnville GO 07:42 - Union Station 08:58 train arrived 2 hour late.
The Unionville GO 09:15 - Union Station 09:58 train was cancelled.

One train had blocked the single track near Unionville and then they tried to couple the trains together, and that didn't work for the longest time, I just decided to get off at Milliken and get a ride home. This is ridiculous, double tracking and RER needs to happen.

Yeah, I was on the 07:16. I think the train before that (the one that broke down) was closer to three hours late. I took the subway from Kennedy and door to door it took me almost four hours to get to work! I could have flown to Mexico in that time! That second track can't come soon enough!

 

[TOareaFan]

Those using Weston and Bloor heading towards Union went from 4 mid-day trains to 5.

and yet......the GTS project email update boldly states "This significant service increase would not have been possible without the investment in transit infrastructure expansion delivered by the GTS Project. "

So you have a crappy mid-day service.....you cancel it....spend 5 years and $1.3B.....re-instate a slightly less crappy mid-day service and make pronouncements that a) this is a significant service increase and that b) it is only possible to offer the mid-day service because of the project that caused the cancellation of the mid-day service in the first place.

The messaging on this seems to be based on the hope that no one remembers there ever was mid-day service in the first place.

 

[crs1026]

I'm perplexed why GO didn't go ahead and finish the fourth track from Humberview (Islington) down to Strachan. The Subgrade is all roughed in and there is virtually no concrete to pour (OK, just a bit for the retaining wall at Bloor). So it can't be more than another $75m or so. Given the fast and loose financials it would be lost in the rounding. It would enable a whole bunch more GO service, at least as far as Bramalea. Seems like a dumb place to have applied the sharp pencil.

Perhaps we should be charitable and deduct the cost of the grade separations from the picture. These don't directly add capacity, it's critical for GO to eliminate all of them across the GTA and this will necessarily take part of GO's overall envelope. Perhaps these should have been a separate line item all along.

- Paul

 

[mdrejhon]

Bottom line - For true two-way, all-stops reverse commuting - GO needs the fourth track. Some parts of that could be done in a year, some parts are clearly multi-year projects needing additional lead time. Realistically, it's five years away - and only if GO is actually getting that mobilised now.

Paul,

Excellent analysis. You might be very well be right. Let's hope that one of next year's two schedule updates successfully incorporates the Mt Plesasntville counter-commuter trains.

Likewise, since GO RER (and Tory's SmartTrack) depends on the 4th track existing, it is very prudent to do the easy parts of the 4th track, even without the complex 401 underpass. It would provide passing/siding opportunities.

Even having just one or two very early Mount Pleasant trains (1.5 to 2 hours earlier, a bigger gap than 1 hour) would be far better than nothing. There's also an abberation in the Lakeshore 30-minute schedule for a similar capacity reason (e.g. available tracks at Union) -- one counter-commuter train towards Aldershot is omitted and there was a 1 hour gap if you wanted to commute to a job in Burlington from Toronto downtown. At least, it was during an older schedule.