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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
Perhaps centred around Ottawa would be a reasonable compromise then, since the west end of the platform would still be useful for event-goers, and the east end would be accessible to the Centre site. I'm just concerned that Kenilworth is a bit too far to be used by people going to THF.
Jonny5
Senior Member
So they can build a massive surface parking lot.
More specifically:
This makes sense. The diesel fleet can then be repurposed to boost service to the non-electrified areas, maybe even open up some new markets (Brantford, Niagara, Cambridge, and Peterborough come to mind).
Woodbridge_Heights
Senior Member
Big BIG news!!!More specifically:
salsa
Senior Member
Well I guess that's not surprising at all is it. Metrolinx should take their own advice and rethink their outdated strategies.
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mdrejhon
Senior Member
Exactly what I thought would happen!
New coach purchases going forward become EMUs.
All the diesels can be used to expand all-day services on all unelectrified routes, with EMUs serving the core electric network. A massive train fleet expansion is needed anyway, and it makes total sense.
Next step: HIGH PLATFORMS???
Maybe this is why the "SmartTrack enhancements" are costly: raising the platform height?
- Faster acceleration to shorten headways
- Faster subway-style boarding
- All-door wheelchair boarding
- Safer snagless subway-style trains
- Shorter dwell times to empty Union platforms faster (keep overcrowding down)
- Possibly allow Union platform widenings by a little bit (keep overcrowding down)
- Timetableless arrival boards (like Paris RER) to prevent stairway surges (keep overcrowding down)
This would make 5-minute Union service possible (assuming merger of services, e.g. Kitchener+UPX+Stoufville, into one combined service) without yet needing the theoretical Union tunnel (spend it on Queen DRL instead), in a post-revitalization Union.
Note: About "platform widening", if you did a double-take on that: Realize there's a bigger horizontal gap between yellow line and sides of GO trains, than for UPX or TTC. It's already done: The UPX platform edges reach horizontally slightly closer to the rail iron (horizontal-plane-wise) than the other Union station platforms! What if we can do that to the other platforms (sans platform-edge doors)? Platform widening opportunity as an additional step (post-revitalization). Assuming bilevels completely cease servicing these platforms, and we use smoother snagless EMUs (like a subway train) that you can't fall underneath, platforms can be widened by a few more inches on both edges to make yellow stripe almost touch the train like a subway train, for all-door wheelchair accessibility & contribute to mitigating Union platform safety & overcrowding. The new SmartTrack stations can be built only to high-platforms, reducing cost of conversions. Kitchener diesel-only expresses can bypass a majority of these stations. Weston can already do 5-minutes, we need USRC resignalling, then we need LSE/Stoufville resignalling, and then...
New coach purchases going forward become EMUs.
All the diesels can be used to expand all-day services on all unelectrified routes, with EMUs serving the core electric network. A massive train fleet expansion is needed anyway, and it makes total sense.
Next step: HIGH PLATFORMS???
Maybe this is why the "SmartTrack enhancements" are costly: raising the platform height?
- Faster acceleration to shorten headways
- Faster subway-style boarding
- All-door wheelchair boarding
- Safer snagless subway-style trains
- Shorter dwell times to empty Union platforms faster (keep overcrowding down)
- Possibly allow Union platform widenings by a little bit (keep overcrowding down)
- Timetableless arrival boards (like Paris RER) to prevent stairway surges (keep overcrowding down)
This would make 5-minute Union service possible (assuming merger of services, e.g. Kitchener+UPX+Stoufville, into one combined service) without yet needing the theoretical Union tunnel (spend it on Queen DRL instead), in a post-revitalization Union.
Note: About "platform widening", if you did a double-take on that: Realize there's a bigger horizontal gap between yellow line and sides of GO trains, than for UPX or TTC. It's already done: The UPX platform edges reach horizontally slightly closer to the rail iron (horizontal-plane-wise) than the other Union station platforms! What if we can do that to the other platforms (sans platform-edge doors)? Platform widening opportunity as an additional step (post-revitalization). Assuming bilevels completely cease servicing these platforms, and we use smoother snagless EMUs (like a subway train) that you can't fall underneath, platforms can be widened by a few more inches on both edges to make yellow stripe almost touch the train like a subway train, for all-door wheelchair accessibility & contribute to mitigating Union platform safety & overcrowding. The new SmartTrack stations can be built only to high-platforms, reducing cost of conversions. Kitchener diesel-only expresses can bypass a majority of these stations. Weston can already do 5-minutes, we need USRC resignalling, then we need LSE/Stoufville resignalling, and then...
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rbt
Senior Member
Ever seen that VIA station? I've used it to access the Bruce Trail a couple times. It's a 2 foot wide chunk of asphalt for a single track with absolutely no space for shelters, let alone something like parking, and only about 2 cars long.
Some of Spadina streetcar stops might be larger (include both directions).
If GO gets ridership above 10 people or trains going in 2 directions (a useful feature), they would need to expropriate a large chunk of land which is currently occupied (numerous houses, shops, and possibly even the town library are in the way).
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salsa
Senior Member
DonValleyRainbow
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Cynical, but probably not an incorrect observation. I believe some weight was given to the fact that the current GO carpool lot is there. Still doesn't make sense to me though, it helps fuel suburban growth in Grimsby, a Greenbelt area nonetheless. More weight and effort should be given to Grimsby's centre, with denser development surrounding it.
muller877
Senior Member
Nope.
Yikes. What a sad state of affairs that is Canada's primitive rail system.
Same can be said about lots of rural stations around the world. Here's one from the UK....slap some paving stones down and you can call it quaint.
http://www.railwaymedia.co.uk/keyword/Birchgrove/
this one is 15 minutes from Cardiff and the trains run ever 1/2 hour.
Northern Light
Superstar
I just looked at the aerials and did a distance measure.
The space along the tracks, between Ontario Street and Elizabeth St. is approx. 215M. And there is sufficient room along that length to create a 4M wide platform on both sides or an island platform.
That is long enough to accommodate 8 Via Passenger cars at the platform, providing the locomotive protruded. (which, Niagara-bound) would block Ontario Street in the absence of grade-separation.
Elizabeth is a very narrow, single-lane underpass, so consideration could be given to closing it and running the platforms further north; though I didn't look at the ROW past that point.
There is only one building between Carnegie lane and the platforms which is a 'Pottery' (store?). Its not in the way for platform expansion, but might have to be removed for a station building and/or parking.
There is some room on the other side as well.
Certainly there is not enough room for a 'vast' suburban parking lot. But the expense for a small lot (80 spaces) should be quite reasonable.
Jonny5
Senior Member
I am hearing that you don't need much space because hardly anyone will use the station, yet it will somehow kick off a transformation of Grimsby in to an urban planning utopia. This isn't a convenient place to get to AT ALL. Convenient is right off the highway at Casablanca. Inconvenient is not close to highway access in the clogged awkwardly laid out centre part of the town. Put the damn thing beside the highway which is where everyone can drive to in 10 minutes. Everyone talks about co-locating stations with retail, well guess what is right there at the Casablanca exit. This isn't the place to blow cash on an urban planning fantasy. Just get them on the train.
ShonTron
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Yep. The Casablanca Road station is pretty much where the GO Park and Ride is for Route 12. It's a convenient place to park a car, but a terrible place to walk to. And Grimsby doesn't have any local transit.
Agreed. There's also no reason why GO can't use the existing Grimsby station (with upgrades) as an infill station at a later date. Brampton has the urban station (Brampton), the "sea of parking" station (Bramalea), and the "centre of a new community" station (Mt. Pleasant). There's no reason why the same thing couldn't eventually happen here.