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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

Its an AODA WCAG 2.0 requirement

Its an AODA WCAG 2.0 requirement

Its an AODA WCAG 2.0 requirement

As someone who builds websites for the government, good design is impossible now. AODA and disability/accessibility take 100% precedence or else they will get sued into oblivion.

As if their brutal monopolization of premium parking wasn't reason enough to hate the disabled :mad::mad::mad:
 
Level AA is not "required by the government" in 2018.
https://www.ontario.ca/page/how-make-websites-accessible

I know that, but internally within the government, we are required to do AA because they don't want to have to switch over in 2021.

I build sites for the government of Ontario, we are required to do AA, even though its officially not required.

I can also tell you that the new GO site was built with AA compliance.
 
And AMA strikes again....

The train was a service train (which was a deadhead until a couple of weeks ago) that ran a red and came || close to sideswiping a CN freight. The work required to be done to the switches was the fact that the GO train broke some of the point linkages that were lined against it.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

Appreciate your fact-checking!
 
And AMA strikes again....

The train was a service train (which was a deadhead until a couple of weeks ago) that ran a red and came || close to sideswiping a CN freight. The work required to be done to the switches was the fact that the GO train broke some of the point linkages that were lined against it.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

Sorry just to be clear, the "service train" was a GO train in service that formally deadheaded? So it ran through the switch the opposite way the points were aligned? EDIT/Update: what trip was the in service GO train on?
 
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The train was a service train (which was a deadhead until a couple of weeks ago) that ran a red and came || close to sideswiping a CN freight. The work required to be done to the switches was the fact that the GO train broke some of the point linkages that were lined against it.

I am actually surprised at ML being able to get away with such loose characterizations of serious safety related incidents.

If you compare this incident to last year's event where a CP train ran a red signal on the North Toronto Sub, GO is getting away with virtually no press coverage. And, this characterization is far from transparent. Compare it to yesterday's Southwest Airlines event.... there are only 150ish souls on a 737, but there can be a thousand or more on a GO train.

Nothing good happens when the media tries to report this stuff, as the media coverage is generally poor at the technical details and the reporting is usually sensationalised. But at the very least ML ought to be disclosing as part of their annual report and diligence how often in a year this happens. This isn't the first such event of this decade.

- Paul
 
Sorry just to be clear, the "service train" was a GO train in service that formally deadheaded? So it ran through the switch the opposite way the points were aligned? EDIT/Update: what trip was the in service GO train on?

Actually, I need to fact-check myself on this - that train was in fact a deadhead train (or "equipment train" in GO parlance). It was supposed to become an in-service train with the big April schedule revamp that didn't end up happening.

And yes, it ran through a set of points - backwards, or trailing - that were set against it. Because the points are being held closed by a motor and locking system, running through them from the wrong direction will damage the linkages - as they are designed to do.

I am actually surprised at ML being able to get away with such loose characterizations of serious safety related incidents.

If you compare this incident to last year's event where a CP train ran a red signal on the North Toronto Sub, GO is getting away with virtually no press coverage. And, this characterization is far from transparent. Compare it to yesterday's Southwest Airlines event.... there are only 150ish souls on a 737, but there can be a thousand or more on a GO train.

Nothing good happens when the media tries to report this stuff, as the media coverage is generally poor at the technical details and the reporting is usually sensationalised. But at the very least ML ought to be disclosing as part of their annual report and diligence how often in a year this happens. This isn't the first such event of this decade.

- Paul

Transport Canada releases a daily log of reported incidents. In fact, they do this for all of the modes under its purview - air, water and rail. I'm a bit surprised that the media hasn't tapped into them, as I've been lead to believe that they are available to the public.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
^ Thanks Dan. If this deadheading train had been an in-service train had the "April schedule revamp" been implemented, what would the timing had been? Union 5:30 to Georgetown 6:30am?

Also, for the daily log release, is there a link online?
 
Well, this is interesting. The data turns out to be in spreadsheet form, and is mostly a tabulation. Not much here for a media type to work from, although each incident could generate questions. It's organised by subdivision, meaning that a CN incident on a CN line and a GO incident on a CN line get counted together without an easy way to drill down or tell them apart.

I'm a bit rusty with my pivot tables, but the data appears to show that since 2010, on ML owned lines, there have been 12 incidents involving "Movement exceeds limits of authority" - which translates roughly to "train ended up somewhere it did not belong" and one incident involving "unprotected overlap of authorities" which translates to "one or more trains or workers allowed into each others' paths". There were 28 derailments on non-main-tracks, of which 9 did not cause any damage. There was one main track train derailment. One event where a moving train rear-ended another moving train. And 21 incidents involving trespassers.

I have personal knowledge of one incident (I was riding the Kitchener line that day) where a fully loaded GO train ended up in a service track in Rexdale, because a switch had been left open by a freight train. It led to rush hour bustitution of that and all following trains. GO's PR announcement brushed the incident off as a "broken switch". (Well, there was a broken switch..... the GO train broke it when it left the mainline, which should never have happened - a very near miss). That incident appears in the listing.

The Star recently ran an article suggesting that the FOI process is broken. I wonder what an FOI request of these incident reports would produce.

- Paul
 
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^ How fast was it travelling when it went onto that siding in Rexdale? Were they able to slow the train down at least?
 

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