GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[SaugeenJunction]

Canpa Subdivision diversions are now confirmed, for a total of 9 weekends. I can't wait to railfan this. A special LSW Union- Exhibition shuttle will run.

Edit: I’d assume VIA will be detouring too if the line is closed. Canpa finally grows up.

Fall service reductions
Throughout the fall, there will be a number of service adjustments on the Barrie, Lakeshore East and Lakeshore West lines as we work on the tracks to bring you faster and more frequent GO service.

We need to adjust train trips in order to do bridge, level crossing and platform work. This work can only be completed when trains aren’t running, so we’re doing the work over the weekends, which aren’t as busy, to minimize the disruption to you.

For nine weekends this fall, there will be several service adjustments on the line while we take portions of track out of service and restore six century-old bridges. Weekend trains will run hourly, bypassing Mimico and Exhibition. Train service will be available between Union and Exhibition.

• The scheduled weekends are:
  • September 8-9, 16-17, 22-23, 29-30
  • October 13-14, 20-21, 27-28
  • November 24-25
  • December 1-2

• Trains travelling between Union Station and Long Branch will detour on the Milton line.
• Special train service will operate between Union Station and Exhibition GO while our Lakeshore West trains detour around the bridge work.

 

[mdrejhon]

Indeed. Canpa being put to the test in revenue service in both directions.

• Please expect delays of about 15 minutes as the trains detour on the Milton line after they depart Long Branch GO.

Also:

A special LSW Union- Exhibition shuttle will run.

Hopefully GO got their electronic screens clearly calling this out as an "Exhibition Special" shuttle rather than "Lakeshore West" in the leftmost column of the GO boards. Excursions and special trains need to be called out clearly.

I'm a deafie and won't hear the announcements.

 

[steveintoronto]

Not connected at all. Their entire website has been down for the last hour.

I wondered about that. The page is back up now, but really not that detailed. I'll keep digging on their site for something more detailed. I'm intrigued to see what they have operationally in mind for the southern track being extended and rebuilt.

 

[steveintoronto]

Organizations like Metrolinx (GO Transit) and TTC are used to the DBB world, where the commercial side of the equation doesn't matter as much....its increaslingly imperative that project managers have a good base of commercial management, as owner decisions have a much different impact to cost and schedule in a DBFOM vs. a DBB.

Excellent post and details. Again, I see there's the interest to support a Private Finance Initiative string of its own. The UK especially has been rife with deep discussion on this, getting it very wrong in the past, now getting it (more) right from lessons learned. It's time Ontario had the discussion, for reasons I won't go into detail here to describe.

Suffice to add to your points:

16. It is important to note that in the 1990s and early 2000s some governments used pri-
vate financing to hide liabilities for infrastructure projects “off the books”. This practice
occurred under the government’s old cash-based system of accounting to avoid large cap-
ital costs for new infrastructure that would have a negative impact on the government’s
balance sheet. Under the newer and widely adopted accrual-based system, the account-
ing advantage of P3s for Canadian governments has largely disappeared (for details, see
Fussell and Beresford, 2009: 27-31; Iacobacci, 2010: 7). However, with accrual-based
accounting, there is a lack of consistent and comparable P3 standards in public-sector
accounting in Canada, which has led to accounting inconsistencies for P3s across prov-
inces and projects. The Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships (CCPPP, 2008)
has offered some recommendations to help address this issue.

- :
Using Public-Private
Partnerships to
Improve Transportation
Infrastructure in Canada

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/stu...-improve-transportation-infrastructure-canada
http://www.infrastructureontario.ca/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=34359739995

 

[Allandale25]

Indeed. Canpa being put to the test in revenue service in both directions.


Also:

Hopefully GO got their electronic screens clearly calling this out as an "Exhibition Special" shuttle rather than "Lakeshore West" in the leftmost column of the GO boards. Excursions and special trains need to be called out clearly.

I'm a deafie and won't hear the announcements.

GO should provide a map showing what the detour looks like.

 

[TransitBart]

I am surprised that you are surprised he is surprised.

I am surprised that your sentence construction didn’t include a second “that”.

“I am surprised that you are surprised THAT he is surprised.” It’s like an Oxford comma, it simply reads better.

 

[ShonTron]

Yeah, I also wonder what VIA plans, and if their trains will detour via Canpa. Back when the Dowling Avenue Bridge came down (November 21-22 2015), VIA trains made a much longer detour via the Weston and Halton Subs to Burlington. That was a fun rare mileage trip.

Having the Canpa as an option now is great.

 

[mdrejhon]

Hopefully GO got their electronic screens clearly calling this out as an "Exhibition Special" shuttle rather than "Lakeshore West" in the leftmost column of the GO boards. Excursions and special trains need to be called out clearly.

I'm a deafie and won't hear the announcements.

I also wonder if this is part of the reason for low ridership for the 2015 Pan Am West Harbour express trains these trains not being labelled nor announced clearly. I was on one that took amazingly only 47 minutes from Union to Hamlton's downtown West Harbour station. Special trains really need to stand out from existing routes, to improve ridership.

Hamilton Special (LSW)
Exhibition (LSW)
etc.

In the leftmost column of those green/black signboards of Union, as modified LSW-route trains, rather than simply confusingly "Lakeshore West"

 

[innsertnamehere]

Did those pan am trains run full express Toronto-Hamilton? That's an impressive travel time.

 

[smallspy]

Yeah, I also wonder what VIA plans, and if their trains will detour via Canpa. Back when the Dowling Avenue Bridge came down (November 21-22 2015), VIA trains made a much longer detour via the Weston and Halton Subs to Burlington. That was a fun rare mileage trip.

Having the Canpa as an option now is great.

It sounds like they will be continuing to service Oakville Station on those weekends, which would imply that they too will be using the Galt and Canpa Subs.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[mdrejhon]

Did those pan am trains run full express Toronto-Hamilton? That's an impressive travel time.

Yup.

That speedy GO train of lore (47min Toronto-Hamilton) is documented in this UrbanToronto thread:
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threa...cluding-extensions.4952/page-458#post-1020896

It was late, 29 minutes late catching up for lost time, and it went rail speed all the way to Burlington in barely 30 minutes flat.

Zoomed Mimico-LongBranch-PortCredit-Clarkson-Oakville-Bronte-Appleby-Burlington-Aldershot at full speed at one station per slightly under 3 minutes!

reaperexpress has a good chart in that thread.

 

[nfitz]

hat speedy GO train of lore (47min Toronto-Hamilton)

Probably not a record though ... back in the April 1976 CN/VIA timetable, they had a late-night non-stop RDC (645-646) that was scheduled to do it in 42 minutes. One was scheduled at 47 minutes stopping at Burlington, and the commuter run home was 50 minutes stopping in both Burlington and Hamilton.

Compare to 72 minutes currently. Back then it left Union at 5:27 pm and arrived James Street at 6:17 pm. Now it leaves Union at 5:15 pm and arrives West Harbour GO (James Street) at 6:27 pm. The train to the old CP station is even slow currently leaving Union at 5:30 pm and arriving Hamilton GO Centre at 6:49 pm.

Progress!

 

[drum118]

Major Infrastructure Upgrades to Impact Weekend Train Service this Fall

TORONTO: August 31, 2018 – Metrolinx is committed to getting people moving better, faster and easier. In order to do so and ensure safety, some critical infrastructure upgrades are needed, which will impact service and travel along the Lakeshore West, Lakeshore East, and Barrie GO lines, as well as UP Express during several weekends this fall.

The first weekend is Sept. 8-9. Service on the Lakeshore East and Lakeshore West lines will operate hourly. Lakeshore West GO trains will not serve stations west of Long Branch GO Station. Customers travelling to and from Exhibition will have to transfer trains at Union Station. Customers who regularly use Mimico GO Station are encouraged to use Long Branch GO or the TTC as an alternative. Travel times for both lines are expected to run 10-15 minutes longer.

That same weekend, UP Express will operate every half hour. Customers should plan ahead as travel times will be increased by as much as 15 minutes.

Stay tuned for specific details of the other affected weekends this fall.

By reducing service on the weekend when there are fewer customers, we will get this work done faster, more safely and more efficiently. Stay in the know by signing up for our On the GO alerts and by checking in at gotransit.com/servicechanges and upexpress.com before you travel.

Media contacts:

Metrolinx Media Relations

416-202-5859

mediarelations@metrolinx.com

 

[Andy_in_Toronto]

What are they exactly doing? I thought the line for the UPX is newly built, e.g.

 

[nfitz]

What are they exactly doing? I thought the line for the UPX is newly built, e.g.

It's discussed in posts earlier this week. They are to "restore six century-old bridges" in Toronto on the Lakeshore West line, and are going to be detouring all Lakeshore West and VIA Windsor/Niagara service up the Kitchener/UP line instead pat Bloor ... and presumably along the CP Milton line, down to the connection near Kipling GO down to near.

If they ran the UP trains every 15 minutes, presumably there's not enough capacity for all the GO/VIA trains, etc.

See the crappy red line I just drew ...