GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[mdrejhon]

Very interesting! An experimental GO locomotive, destined to be one of North America's cleanest full-size diesel locomotives.

I really, really hope this is really truly cleaner -- and not Volkswagen-style tweaks.

We'll be electrifying, but a lot of diesels are going to continue to be used till EOL -- ala 2030s -- and we need Phase 2/Phase 3 electrification to London, Niagara, et cetra (also preps these corridors for eventual high speed service). So we NEED to milk the life out of our locomotives for a long time to come, considering the expansion from 1,500 trips per week to 6,000 trips per week and the attendant extra wear-and-tear that will force upon these gentle diesel giants.

Our $13.5bn 10-year electrification is only going to add parallel additional equipment, not even replacing our existing locomotives (except the ones that go "EOL") -- just merely reassigning diesels to increase service on different routes. A subsequent "10-year" Phase 2/Phase 3 RER (2025-2035+) is required for complete electrification.

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

I thought I had heard 647 was a bust? Sacrificed too much cab space or something?

Waiting for new pics that help give us a sense of scale, it looks like a monster.

EDIT: comparison shot with GO 666

 

[Allandale25]

I thought I had heard 647 was a bust? Sacrificed too much cab space or something?

Waiting for new pics that help give us a sense of scale, it looks like a monster.

Not sure I fully understand. Is 647 now longer? Hard to tell from the comparison picture of 666. I can see that it looks like some panels were added on the side. 666 has a double panel door whereas 647 has two single panels/doors and one double panel/door.

 

[robmausser]

I thought I had heard 647 was a bust? Sacrificed too much cab space or something?

Waiting for new pics that help give us a sense of scale, it looks like a monster.

EDIT: comparison shot with GO 666

That was Drum118 on this forum. I'm not sure his sources are always, erm, accurate.

 

[robmausser]

I was wondering how much power they sacrificed for this - but I'm reading it's now rated at 5400 HP up from 4000 HP. Is that accurate? I guess the proof will be in the pudding though.

It will be 5400HP because it uses DUAL QSK60 cummins engines. So it has two engines rated at 2700 HP in it.

 

[crs1026]

It will be 5400HP because it uses DUAL QSK60 cummins engines. So it has two engines rated at 2700 HP in it.

That may help acceleration....but I wonder how the emissions are calculated. On an absolute basis, does it emit more or less than an existing GO engine?

You can get to Tier 4 by changing the denominator of the (noxious stuff)/hp equation, but if there are 20 trains a day on a line, and the existing loco's put out less pollution per train, you get less pollution per day with the existing locomotives. They just go by a bit slower.

Don't you love statistics?

- Paul

 

[robmausser]

That may help acceleration....but I wonder how the emissions are calculated. On an absolute basis, does it emit more or less than an existing GO engine?

You can get to Tier 4 by changing the denominator of the (noxious stuff)/hp equation, but if there are 20 trains a day on a line, and the existing loco's put out less pollution per train, you get less pollution per day with the existing locomotives. They just go by a bit slower.

Don't you love statistics?

- Paul

Considering Tier4 is supposed to emit 95% less particulate matter than Teir 2, which the current GO trains are, i'd say that unless its 95 times more powerful than the current trains, its much less polluting.

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

Another pic of 647

 

[dowlingm]

These locos were supposed to be 1 x QSK95, the engine the Siemens Chargers are getting. For some reason (time? Cost? Systems integration? cooling?) this became 2 x QSK60. Gonna be interesting to see what happens next.

 

[mdrejhon]

Considering Tier4 is supposed to emit 95% less particulate matter than Teir 2, which the current GO trains are, i'd say that unless its 20 times more powerful than the current trains, its much less polluting.

Fixed it for ya.
5 percentage points times 20.

Still a big margin! So it should be cleaner.

 

[Adjei]

http://www.insidehalton.com/news-st...nticipates-increase-in-ridership-this-winter/

 

[smallspy]

These locos were supposed to be 1 x QSK95, the engine the Siemens Chargers are getting. For some reason (time? Cost? Systems integration? cooling?) this became 2 x QSK60. Gonna be interesting to see what happens next.

Cummins couldn't guarantee that they'd have the rail-certified QSK95 in time, so MPI decided that they were going to go in another direction. And considering that they only delivered the first one last month, I'd say that they guessed right.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[TOareaFan]

You may recall the pre-election promise of doubling GO train service to KW by end of the year.....it was always carefully worded and had some people excited that it meant a doubling of the service in the hole corridor.....of course what GO/ML really meant that instead of two of the current (or recently expanded) trains in each direction serving KW, 4 would do so. It always meant "2X trains to KW" not "2X as many trains in the KW corridor".

Anyway, as things do, the key part of that (a new, expanded layover area) was slow in starting...it has now started and the doubling of trains to KW now looks to be a late 2016 thing.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitch...-service-thwarted-by-30-km-of-track-1.3320962

EDIT....now that I think of it....even the date may have been a careful wording thing...I can't recall if they said before 2016 or before end of 2015 or "by" 2016....if it was the latter, I may have falling into the trap of forgetting that any date in 2016 is as much meeting that promise as the first of January.

 

[salsa]

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

Ontario government wants railways to make room for GO transit

Ontario Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca said it’s time to formalize discussions on rationalizing the Kitchener and Milton tracks, which are still owned in sections by CN and CP.

It shouldn’t take more than two hours to travel by rail between Toronto and Waterloo, he told a transit conference organized by the Toronto Region Board of Trade on Monday.

Without an agreement with the railways, the province won’t realize the potential of its plan to build high speed rail to connect the tech hub in Waterloo or provide the commuter benefits of its $13.5 billion GO electrified regional express rail program.

The municipalities along those corridors have already suggested ways of rerouting freight to free up the tracks for commuters.

One solution is called, the “Missing Link,” a new freight connection between the Milton line west of Trafalgar Rd. and the CN line at Bramalea, to travel along a track adjacent to Highway 407. It would leave the Milton tracks free for commuters and keep dangerous cargo away from more populated areas.

“I think there’s an opportunity there for us to really unlock those two corridors and perhaps do some other interesting things but I can’t force it. The province does not have jurisdiction over the rail companies so we need to work together to make it happen,” said Del Duca, who added that he would “like to believe” that a new federal Liberal government would be onside.

He said he’s spoken to new Liberal Transport Minister Marc Garneau and hopes they will meet soon.