GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[ssiguy2]

CN & CP will have to decarbonize their network but there is no way, in hell, that they will do it thru catenary and/or battery. These are very heavy 100 train cars that have to be able to go thousands of km thru all types of terrain and weather and anything but hydrogen is a complete no-go. They both know this which is why CP is beginning to soon test hydrogen locomotives on very small distance as is the US and longer distances in Europe and Asia.

This will be useless to GO but perhaps not VIA. They too have to decarbonize their entire network and newsflash...........it doesn't just cover Windsor to Quebec City. In other words they will probably "piggy back" onto the CN/CP hydrogen network.

 

[ssiguy2]

As far as GO to London is concerned, it may excite some Toronto rail geeks such as us but to Londoners it will mean nothing. This is a commuter service and for the vast majority of Londoners who are trying to get to downtown Toronto, it is simply far too slow.

 

[Nomad_87]

As far as GO to London is concerned, it may excite some Toronto rail geeks such as us but to Londoners it will mean nothing. This is a commuter service and for the vast majority of Londoners who are trying to get to downtown Toronto, it is simply far too slow.

Honestly I think this is a good thing since GO is planning to move away from that model of Toronto suburb-downtown Toronto commuter service. This would be amazing for trips between anywhere on any parts of the line. London-Kitchener, Stratford-Guelph, London-Guelph, Brampton-Stratford, etc. That and London could be an amazing hub for buses and maybe shorter rail service (London-St. Thomas and maybe Tillsonburg for example) in Ontario. Sort of a Union 2

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

As far as GO to London is concerned, it may excite some Toronto rail geeks such as us but to Londoners it will mean nothing. This is a commuter service and for the vast majority of Londoners who are trying to get to downtown Toronto, it is simply far too slow.

Honestly, I'd be happy if GO just replaced VIA service on the Guelph sub, just to pay GO fares.

 

[Northern Light]

GO is testing trains on the Guelph Sub between Kitchener, Stratford, and London this weekend evidently. View attachment 338373

Interesting, the Mayor of London has been openly musing about a major rail announcement.

I don't think it would be unreasonable to assume some correlation here.

 

[ShonTron]

GO is testing trains on the Guelph Sub between Kitchener, Stratford, and London this weekend evidently.

 

[Nomad_87]

View attachment 338387

Was wondering why the train seemed to be going slower than a normal GO train. I'm guessing either the track condition isn't great or they're planning to test faster speeds down the line

 

[Krypto98]

How much track work would need to be done for two way service to london?

 

[Nomad_87]

How much track work would need to be done for two way service to london?

Well for starters they would probably have to grade-separate the part where the Guelph Sub crosses the Galt Sub

 

[crs1026]

As far as GO to London is concerned, it may excite some Toronto rail geeks such as us but to Londoners it will mean nothing. This is a commuter service and for the vast majority of Londoners who are trying to get to downtown Toronto, it is simply far too slow.

The money required to get faster speed out of the Kitchener line is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of either RER or HFR. I am assuming that ML is fully aware of this.

It may be easier to get money out of Ottawa for west of Toronto if Ontario takes the lead.… rather than trying to push a business case through the federal bureaucracy, all it might take (especially in a federal election year) is for Ford to announce an intent. Trudeau’s government will then fall all over itself to bring money…. whereas if we look to Ottawa to lead, they will dither and study.

It would also be easier for ML to negotiate with CN directly than to have a three way negotiation that two separate levels of government would need to ratify.

- Paul

 

[Northern Light]

The money required to get faster speed out of the Kitchener line is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of either RER or HFR. I am assuming that ML is fully aware of this.

It may be easier to get money out of Ottawa for west of Toronto if Ontario takes the lead.… rather than trying to push a business case through the federal bureaucracy, all it might take (especially in a federal election year) is for Ford to announce an intent. Trudeau’s government will then fall all over itself to bring money…. whereas if we look to Ottawa to lead, they will dither and study.

It would also be easier for ML to negotiate with CN directly than to have a three way negotiation that two separate levels of government would need to ratify.

- Paul

Ideally, the only negotiation would be over the purchase price of the track.

 

[Nomad_87]

Ideally, the only negotiation would be over the purchase price of the track.

They wouldn’t be negotiating with CN per say, but I imagine GEXR would be interesting/involved with the negotiations. I’m sure they’d want to make sure they can still use it when they need to if Metrolinx were to offer to purchase the rest of the Guelph subdivision

 

[Bureaucromancer]

These are very heavy 100 train cars that have to be able to go thousands of km thru all types of terrain and weather and anything but hydrogen is a complete no-go. .

Wut???

Every one of those points screams true electrification...

Hydrogens better than batteries for this, but what on earth do you see the issue with catenary being? Biofuels are obviously what the class 1s will do short term, but anyone who doesn't think they will be forced to go actual zero emission sooner than later is kidding themselves.

 

[Northern Light]

They wouldn’t be negotiating with CN per say, but I imagine GEXR would be interesting/involved with the negotiations. I’m sure they’d want to make sure they can still use it when they need to if Metrolinx were to offer to purchase the rest of the Guelph subdivision

The sub reverted to CN to my understanding. GEXR is no longer involved.

 

[Nomad_87]

The sub reverted to CN to my understanding. GEXR is no longer involved.

Regardless, they still use the sub (albeit through CN) to access the wider North American rail network. Making sure they can either use it when need or will still be able to connect with CN via the Stratford junction