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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

They should wait until the Stouffville line upgrades are finished. I dunno why they haven't put full train service on the Kitchener line to Bramalea, the line has 2 tracks and fully grade separated, and the buses are overcrowded because Brampton is a big city with over 600,000 people.

Why let a train-ready asset sit idle? The sooner trains run, the greater the return on that investment. And the sooner riders will start making the transition, and the sooner their appetite for the end state will emerge.

- Paul
 
GO has wanted to put off-peak service on Stouffville for many years, as a way to mitigate the constant delays and prolonging to the schedule of the 71 buses. It is not unusual to have to route them via the 407 and the 427 to get them into downtown on a timely manner, rather than via the 404 and DVP.
Aside from this, the Gardiner Hybrid construction is likely to shut down the east Gardiner for periods of time in the mid-2020s, right? Ideally a plan to run weekend L6s on the Richmond Hill, if only in peak/event times, is rattling around Metrolinx HQ somewhere...
 
I thought they are rehabilitating the Gardiner East right now.
Rehab is on the sections not being relocated. The "hybrid" (east of Cherry) is likely to be more disruptive I would think, at the point where the old route is being severed and the link to the new being finished.
 
Making just enough investment to gain a photo op is a terrible way to build a transportation network, but in this case it may have been a good thing
Silver lining!

The related ongoing work also kind of (indirectly) lit the fire under Hamilton West Harbour GO station ridership.

In a year or two, the (lagged data of) Metrolinx statistics will show West Harbour's dramatic ridership growth that may make West Harbour percentage-wise one of the top-5 ridership growth GO stations (YoY percentages) when viewing FY2020, FY2021, FY2022 data. Stellar data like that (for some of the first few years of 2020s) will only compel Metrolinx to continue Niagara investment including the lure of better Hamilton-Niagara train connectivity + eventual significant speedups from GO Expansion initiatives.
 
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Some of the stations don't even have a building.

It could always be worse. When I went to Hungary in 2006 I was heading to Miskolc-Tapolca and came across a random shack alongside the tracks in a town called Budoskutpuszta. Turns out it was a request stop for the trains to be used by the local farmers. I found it amusing at the time but compared to this the Stouffville line stations are an opulant palace even without the buildings being open.

Budoskutpuszta.jpg
joszefs weekend haz, miskolc, barlang furdo, aggtelek 079.JPG
joszefs weekend haz, miskolc, barlang furdo, aggtelek 080.JPG
 
It could always be worse. When I went to Hungary in 2006 I was heading to Miskolc-Tapolca and came across a random shack alongside the tracks in a town called Budoskutpuszta. Turns out it was a request stop for the trains to be used by the local farmers. I found it amusing at the time but compared to this the Stouffville line stations are an opulant palace even without the buildings being open.

View attachment 210052View attachment 210053View attachment 210054

stinkfountain.PNG
 
I'm not sure if anyone is interested in this info but this is the train size for every Kitchener Line train both East and Westbound

How are people to know where to stand?

In Paris the screens for the RER will indicate whether it is a short train or long train. There are corresponding markings on the platform.
 
How are people to know where to stand?

In Paris the screens for the RER will indicate whether it is a short train or long train. There are corresponding markings on the platform.
Usually what happens is that there are people waiting near car 11 and 10(from the locomotive) should be and then they realize it's a 6 car train after the whole train passes them and start running after the train. This usually causes overcrowding on the 6th and 5th coach from the locomotive. There is a 6 sign on the platform to indicate where car 6 is, 10 and 12 for 10 and 12 car trains. However unless you've been keeping track most people don't know.
 
'It's just unbearable': Markham residents blow the whistle on noisy GO train horns

City has launched an anti-whistling program and is working with Metrolinx, Transport Canada


Cbc.ca
October 24, 2019

Norma Gauld's weekday wake-up call --whether she likes it or not --is at 5:45 a.m these days. That's when the first GO train passes and blows its whistle by her window.

"It now goes to 12:15 at night and it's throughout the day … Really, it's quite dreadful," Gauld told CBC News Toronto.

While GO trains have always passed Wynwood Gardens --the Markham seniors building where she lives -- there's been an increase in trains in recent months as the province steps up commuter service.

"I knew the tracks were there, I knew the trains were there, but I wouldn't have moved into this building had I known it would be this much of a racket."

Gauld is not the only one in her building --or in Markham --who is sounding the alarm about train whistles. Residents have been flagging the issue to city officials for years.

A GO train pictured crossing Highway 7. The city installed train arms and signage intended to meet the safety requirements for the crossing. (Farrah Merali)
The blowing of a train whistle is a safety measure mandated by Transport Canada at crossings where there isn't infrastructure --like train arms --to alert drivers and pedestrians of a coming train.

The city of Markham has introduced an anti-whistling program aimed at building that infrastructure and, in turn, eliminating the need for engineers to blow whistles at crossings. But residents say the program has seen too many delays, and they claim that despite the work little has changed when it comes to the noise pollution in the city.

The waiting game

Shanta Sundarason started a petition four years ago to silence trains in her city. She said while she supports the increase in train service for commuters who live in the city, the noise has been affecting people's lives.

"Nobody has been able to sleep with their windows open, nobody that lives along the tracks or close to it," Sundarason said.

"It's just unbearable."

Sundarason said it's particularly bad In the evenings and at midnight.

"Many kids are very light sleepers. They get woken up. It really has impacted the quality of life of many, many people."

The City of Markham began preliminary work on its anti-whistling program as early as 2015. It's now working with Metrolinx and Transport Canada to install infrastructure at 13 train crossings that would satisfy safety requirements so there would be no need for train whistles.

Years later, some residents feel the city is dragging its heels.

Jocey de La Fontaine, who estimates her backyard is about 60 metres from the tracks, said the horns are "excruciatingly loud."

'The decibels would decimate Leslieville': Hundreds write to city about Ontario Line plan
"[The project] is at least one year overdue," she said.

"We've been continually told by our mayor for the past almost five years, 'Don't worry; the plan is in place. We have a project team on it,' ... and then silence," said Tom Owen, another Markham resident who has flagged his concerns to council.

In a statement to CBC News, Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti said: "A project of this magnitude --a first of its kind in the GTA --must be done correctly and any deficiency to the crossing will be inspected, corrected and tested before any implementation is to take place."

Scarpitti added that the city formally requested that Metrolinx postpone bringing in additional train service until its work is complete.

"Our request was denied by Metrolinx. As well, the City of Markham was not consulted on the most recent weekend service additions to the Stouffville Line," Scarpitti's statement says.

More trains expected next week

"Metrolinx is delivering on its promise to expand transit in Ontario by offering more service, more trains and more choice for GO customers in Toronto, Unionville and Markham on the Stouffville corridor," a statement from the province's regional transit agency says.

The statement says Metrolinx is actively working with the City of Markham on the issue.

Free Wi-Fi coming to GO buses, trains next year
More train trips on Kitchener GO line starting Tuesday
"Seven municipal crossings have been completed to date with the six remaining already undergoing their respective upgrades. We fully expect the work to be completed in the coming months. Signs were erected in anticipation of trains being able to stop whistling," the Metrolinx statement reads.

In the meantime, residents will have to brace for more horns in the coming weeks. On Nov. 2, Metrolinx is increasing train service on weekends, adding hourly trains.


Is it only Markham, or residents along other lines have complaints too?
 
What do they do through Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington, Pickering, Oshawa, Whitby, etc etc etc etc
 

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