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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

Since the announcement is somewhat lacking in detail...

There will be three trips from Allandale Waterfront heading southbound, leaving at 9.03, 9.47 and 11.02am. There are also 7 trips southbound from Aurora GO at 1.03, 14.18, 15.33, 16.48, 18.03 19.18 and 20.33pm.

Trips northbound from Union heading to Allandale Waterfront leave at 16.28, 21.50 and 22.50pm, with trips to Aurora leaving at 11.28am, 12.43, 13.58, 15.13, 17.43 and 18.58pm. Yes, there are currently scheduled to be an uneven number of trips northbound and southbound.

At some point in the spring the additional second track is supposed to be completed - at that point, the service may be improved to hourly throughout the day.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
At some point in the spring the additional second track is supposed to be completed - at that point, the service may be improved to hourly throughout the day.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

That would be my guess. 75 min frequencies is very close to hourly service, but not quite. I strongly suspect that number wasn't chosen out of thin air, and that there's a technical reason why it couldn't be reduced to 60.
 
Since the announcement is somewhat lacking in detail...

There will be three trips from Allandale Waterfront heading southbound, leaving at 9.03, 9.47 and 11.02am. There are also 7 trips southbound from Aurora GO at 1.03, 14.18, 15.33, 16.48, 18.03 19.18 and 20.33pm.

Trips northbound from Union heading to Allandale Waterfront leave at 16.28, 21.50 and 22.50pm, with trips to Aurora leaving at 11.28am, 12.43, 13.58, 15.13, 17.43 and 18.58pm. Yes, there are currently scheduled to be an uneven number of trips northbound and southbound.

At some point in the spring the additional second track is supposed to be completed - at that point, the service may be improved to hourly throughout the day.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

This is awesome, but at the same time we now have more trips on weekends than during the weekdays (where all the demand is)
So hopefully some improved weekday service is added soon before the second track is completed. We just need some more trips later in the morning going south and later in the evening going north.
 
Since the announcement is somewhat lacking in detail...

There will be three trips from Allandale Waterfront heading southbound, leaving at 9.03, 9.47 and 11.02am. There are also 7 trips southbound from Aurora GO at 1.03, 14.18, 15.33, 16.48, 18.03 19.18 and 20.33pm.

Trips northbound from Union heading to Allandale Waterfront leave at 16.28, 21.50 and 22.50pm, with trips to Aurora leaving at 11.28am, 12.43, 13.58, 15.13, 17.43 and 18.58pm. Yes, there are currently scheduled to be an uneven number of trips northbound and southbound.

At some point in the spring the additional second track is supposed to be completed - at that point, the service may be improved to hourly throughout the day.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
Good to hear. Hourly service to aurora, correct?
 
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At some point in the spring the additional second track is supposed to be completed - at that point, the service may be improved to hourly throughout the day.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

For some reason I assumed the second passing track would have already had to be installed and opening for service for the weekend service to operate but I guess there's enough buffer time (sorry for not being more technical). So when the spring service comes, the second track near Rutherford is all they need I guess?
 
Since the announcement is somewhat lacking in detail...

There will be three trips from Allandale Waterfront heading southbound, leaving at 9.03, 9.47 and 11.02am. There are also 7 trips southbound from Aurora GO at 1.03, 14.18, 15.33, 16.48, 18.03 19.18 and 20.33pm.

Trips northbound from Union heading to Allandale Waterfront leave at 16.28, 21.50 and 22.50pm, with trips to Aurora leaving at 11.28am, 12.43, 13.58, 15.13, 17.43 and 18.58pm. Yes, there are currently scheduled to be an uneven number of trips northbound and southbound.

At some point in the spring the additional second track is supposed to be completed - at that point, the service may be improved to hourly throughout the day.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

I am assuming that this press conference/"Barrie Line Weekend Service Announcement Part 2" will cover the information above.

Minister of Transportation to Make Announcement
https://news.ontario.ca/mto/en/2016/12/minister-of-transportation-to-make-announcement-1.html

  • 1 P.M. - Steven Del Duca, Minister of Transportation, and Chris Ballard, MPP for Newmarket - Aurora, will make an announcement about GO train service on the Barrie line. They will be joined by Bruce McCuaig, President and CEO of Metrolinx.
 
As usual Del Duca needs to do as many announcements and ribbon cuttings as possible.

I know I'll be in the minority on this, but I think multiple announcements isn't a bad thing. It allows for a multi-jurisdictional (multiple cities) project to get media time in each area it passes. In the case of the Barrie Line announcements, Barrie and Aurora will get different levels of service, so having the story "told" differently in different areas at different times is beneficial. I am also a strong believer in trying to make people as aware as possible about things the government is doing. Unlike us, most people don't follow transit, let alone government developments. Repeating announcements is a decent way of keeping people in the loop. Again, I know I'm in the minority on this, but thats just my two cents.
 
I agree with multiple announcements. Heck, they should probably do at least one major presser at each station along the line. I know people who still don't know about the day time trains on the Kitchener line. Or didn't until I mentioned it to them.
But the info should be full and complete. It doesn't look above board not to do that at least. And why short change on the info in the first place? People will see this first tidbit, see 3 trains possibly as mediocre, and tune out the rest of the schedule, which is significantly superior in comparison... I don't get it
 
I know I'll be in the minority on this, but I think multiple announcements isn't a bad thing. It allows for a multi-jurisdictional (multiple cities) project to get media time in each area it passes. In the case of the Barrie Line announcements, Barrie and Aurora will get different levels of service, so having the story "told" differently in different areas at different times is beneficial. I am also a strong believer in trying to make people as aware as possible about things the government is doing. Unlike us, most people don't follow transit, let alone government developments. Repeating announcements is a decent way of keeping people in the loop. Again, I know I'm in the minority on this, but thats just my two cents.

I agree with you actually, when it's something that's actually worth announcing. In this case, it definitely is, since it directly impacts people's commutes right now. It's the "we're re-announcing the intention to study what we said we were going to study 2 years ago" announcements that bug me.

The 30 second or 1 min spot on the 6pm local news is a worthwhile PR tool though.

I agree with multiple announcements. Heck, they should probably do at least one major presser at each station along the line. I know people who still don't know about the day time trains on the Kitchener line. Or didn't until I mentioned it to them.
But the info should be full and complete. It doesn't look above board not to do that at least. And why short change on the info in the first place? People will see this first tidbit, see 3 trains possibly as mediocre, and tune out the rest of the schedule, which is significantly superior in comparison... I don't get it

I agree, should have scheduled both events on the same day, that way people don't get the "hey, what about me?" sentiment. Just move the convoy of dignitaries down the 400.
 
Travel time by GO from Union to Maple is 35 minutes. It's essentially one section of single track. Even with the new double track in Vaughan, hourly service won't be possible until the Dufferin/Queen bridge widening is complete. At that point doubletracking of the Barrie line from Bathurst is feasible as far as Parkdale (Queen Street). I don't know for a fact that GO intends to do this ahead of the eventual Davenport solution, I'm just pointing out that this is possible and it's the most constraining aspect of the line.

The Barrie line's single track from Parkdale to Bathurst St is shared with the Kitchener GO line, too. While in theory the Weston Sub is triple track, Peak service on the Kitchener line is forced to single direction running on this one shared track by the location of some of the stations, and the need to stay out of UPX headways. So at peak the Barrie line can only run in the one direction that Kitchener is running.

All this is because GTS scrimped just a little too much on some fine points that should have been in place by 2015. I still suspect the GTS budget got pared back to hide UPX overruns. I'm still disappointed with that.

- Paul
 
Travel time by GO from Union to Maple is 35 minutes. It's essentially one section of single track. Even with the new double track in Vaughan, hourly service won't be possible until the Dufferin/Queen bridge widening is complete. At that point doubletracking of the Barrie line from Bathurst is feasible as far as Parkdale (Queen Street). I don't know for a fact that GO intends to do this ahead of the eventual Davenport solution, I'm just pointing out that this is possible and it's the most constraining aspect of the line.

The Barrie line's single track from Parkdale to Bathurst St is shared with the Kitchener GO line, too. While in theory the Weston Sub is triple track, Peak service on the Kitchener line is forced to single direction running on this one shared track by the location of some of the stations, and the need to stay out of UPX headways. So at peak the Barrie line can only run in the one direction that Kitchener is running.

All this is because GTS scrimped just a little too much on some fine points that should have been in place by 2015. I still suspect the GTS budget got pared back to hide UPX overruns. I'm still disappointed with that.

- Paul

What about the section of double track that will exist at the future Downsview Park station? Is there no opportunity for trains in opposing directions to meet there?
 

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