nfitz
Superstar
Doh!I have worked at a power plant that I could be at home and start up or shut down the plant.
Doh!I have worked at a power plant that I could be at home and start up or shut down the plant.
Your post is so serendipitous, I just thinking of that, it's been just over a year now since my taking the later train every weekday morning from Guelph, and even detraining at Bloor, it was about one hour and forty five mins. I really don't miss it. It forced my moving back to Toronto, actually a good thing in many respects. I wondered on the claims for "under two hours from K/W", and it seems it's still a stretch. I think it always will be until/if the 407 Bypass becomes real.I took the commute this morning from Guelph to Toronto for the first time in many months. Many changes since the days I used to live I Guelph and do the trip daily. Gotta say I was still left wanting.
From my hazy memory, I don't feel like significant gains in travel time have been achieved on an express train vs. over 3 years ago before I moved. I feel like 1h 27m is not a huge improvement, especially considering the biggest time suckers of that day (most works related to GTS and the Silver reconfiguration) are now done.
Imo, it's just so badly planned. Why was all the emphasis placed on UPX and not expanding service to Brampton in 2014? That would pay more in the long run. Mt Pleasant, Allandale and Mt Joy should have had all say service by now. But there is not enough tracks. They have to rebuilt the Dufferin bridge as well for Barrie all day service. Just such a mess.There are several issues here, which ML really needs to answer for.
The first is the utter lack of accountability and transparency about what the project plan for each line is, what ought to be happening, what it will cost, when it will be done. The sappy PR fog that we see on the ML website and in Board reports is absolutely unacceptable as a public explanation of how each corridor is being upgraded and when we can expect things to get better. ML's whole attitude is 'when we get to it'..... the reality that Guelph-Toronto ride is painfully slow seems to not translate into a sense of urgency at ML.
The second is that these project plans are granular and attack the corridors piecemeal. There seems to be no overall 'reality check' to test how improvements add up to better service. So we see a big investment in location X that ought to improve service, but 500 meters down the line there is a bottleneck or slow order that won't be tackled until 2021..... so no overall gain. ( Parkdale is a good example of a bottleneck that should never have been.... GTS actually took away track capacity from GO compared to pre 2015) Staggered execution may be an unavoidable reality, but GO needs to be more forthcoming on what the critical path and long lead time items on each corridor are.... one wonders if they worry about these, or just pick low hanging things to look busy with.
The third is that schedules are incredibly loose and there is no incentive to tighten them. The Service Guarantee may improve attention to operations but at the cost of padded schedules.
FWIW I took a trip to Unionville last week, not a route I normally use - and wondered what is taking so long with the doubletracking. And then I realised that several main streets have grade separation projects earmarked. It will be expensive to first double track the crossings, and then tear them all up again to shoofly around the separation projects. Not much potential for all-day service while those projects are under way. It would make good sense to not attempt all-day service until the grade separations are complete.....except.....we need 2WAD right away. And ML is promising hourly service there. Again, what really is the plan?
- Paul
There are several issues here, which ML really needs to answer for.
The first is the utter lack of accountability and transparency about what the project plan for each line is, what ought to be happening, what it will cost, when it will be done. The sappy PR fog that we see on the ML website and in Board reports is absolutely unacceptable as a public explanation of how each corridor is being upgraded and when we can expect things to get better. ML's whole attitude is 'when we get to it'..... the reality that Guelph-Toronto ride is painfully slow seems to not translate into a sense of urgency at ML.
The second is that these project plans are granular and attack the corridors piecemeal. There seems to be no overall 'reality check' to test how improvements add up to better service. So we see a big investment in location X that ought to improve service, but 500 meters down the line there is a bottleneck or slow order that won't be tackled until 2021..... so no overall gain. ( Parkdale is a good example of a bottleneck that should never have been.... GTS actually took away track capacity from GO compared to pre 2015) Staggered execution may be an unavoidable reality, but GO needs to be more forthcoming on what the critical path and long lead time items on each corridor are.... one wonders if they worry about these, or just pick low hanging things to look busy with.
The third is that schedules are incredibly loose and there is no incentive to tighten them. The Service Guarantee may improve attention to operations but at the cost of padded schedules.
FWIW I took a trip to Unionville last week, not a route I normally use - and wondered what is taking so long with the doubletracking. And then I realised that several main streets have grade separation projects earmarked. It will be expensive to first double track the crossings, and then tear them all up again to shoofly around the separation projects. Not much potential for all-day service while those projects are under way. It would make good sense to not attempt all-day service until the grade separations are complete.....except.....we need 2WAD right away. And ML is promising hourly service there. Again, what really is the plan?
- Paul
mid day (ie between the morning and evening peak periods) the trains on KW line are not dead head....they are scheduled trains with stops along the way.Agreed on all your points. Thing is, to your second point, I was willing to brush slow orders due to ongoing construction aside, and just gripe about other conflicts and dwell times alone!
I don't understand the hold-up at Parkdale, quite honestly. The corridor is supposed to be 8 tracks there; 2 each for Milton, Kitchener, UPX and Barrie, all running two-way all-day. I know the 2 southwest tracks have not been laid yet in the Strachan Underpass and would merge east of it anyway, but point is Milton and Barrie lines only run peak direction, peak period, and Kitchener only runs the odd deadhead (I think) in the counterpeak direction, and there's still a hold-up?
Before GTS, there were two tracks between Parkdale and the limits of the USRC at Strachan, with crossovers so that trains could use either track. At rush hour, this configuration allowed Kitchener/Georgetown trains to use one track while Barrrie trains used the other track.
During GTS, the crossover at Parkdale was removed, and now Kitchener and Barrie trains travelling in the peak direction must share one track - a 'single file' proposition. In theory, if everything is exactly on schedule, it all fits - except that in reality, things don't work that smoothly and two trains often show up at the same time. One waits until the other has passed before proceeding.
GTS enlarged this corridor from two tracks to three, but removing this one crossover combined with the allocation of track and platforms at Bloor has given all the investment to UPE while actually constraining GO's use if the corridor.
- Paul
mid day (ie between the morning and evening peak periods) the trains on KW line are not dead head....they are scheduled trains with stops along the way.
Using Brampton - Union...this gives the GO train trips in the corridor.
View attachment 100434
Sure, I may have misunderstood your post but the words "Kitchener only runs the odd deadhead (I think) in the counterpeak direction, and there's still a hold-up?" led me to think that deadheads were all that ran on the line.smh
Midday sure. But at least one of the trips in the morning is a deadhead, we passed it this morning. Looking at Guelph's quicktable gives you a better idea, it's one of the Mt Pleasant transfers (I believe the it was the 8:50 arrival at Union EB I saw; was a 6-coach consist with an F59).
Why would you remove track capacity. I wonder what they are thinking at metrolinx sometimes?Before GTS, there were two tracks between Parkdale and the limits of the USRC at Strachan, with crossovers so that trains could use either track. At rush hour, this configuration allowed Kitchener/Georgetown trains to use one track while Barrrie trains used the other track.
During GTS, the crossover at Parkdale was removed, and now Kitchener and Barrie trains travelling in the peak direction must share one track - a 'single file' proposition. In theory, if everything is exactly on schedule, it all fits - except that in reality, things don't work that smoothly and two trains often show up at the same time. One waits until the other has passed before proceeding.
GTS enlarged this corridor from two tracks to three, but removing this one crossover combined with the allocation of track and platforms at Bloor has given all the investment to UPE while actually constraining GO's use if the corridor.
- Paul
Before GTS, there were two tracks between Parkdale and the limits of the USRC at Strachan, with crossovers so that trains could use either track. At rush hour, this configuration allowed Kitchener/Georgetown trains to use one track while Barrrie trains used the other track.
During GTS, the crossover at Parkdale was removed, and now Kitchener and Barrie trains travelling in the peak direction must share one track - a 'single file' proposition. In theory, if everything is exactly on schedule, it all fits - except that in reality, things don't work that smoothly and two trains often show up at the same time. One waits until the other has passed before proceeding.
GTS enlarged this corridor from two tracks to three, but removing this one crossover combined with the allocation of track and platforms at Bloor has given all the investment to UPE while actually constraining GO's use if the corridor.
- Paul