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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

So I guess to build a second platform they would need to build a wheelchair accessible bridge or tunnel and build a platform on the other side?
Whatever they need to build, it will inevitably have to come in order to fulfill just a fraction of the intentions hinted by the various Business Cases published by Metrolinx (same goes for Guelph), but it says a lot about this country that it hasn't been built already one or two decades ago...
 
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Is there a

Could you schedule it so that there is a east bound, westbound train at Kitchener?

The problem is the close headways (relatively) of the peak trains. To hold the eastbound peak trains at Kitchener until an early morning westbound arrived, you'd pretty much eliminate the peak service. Same in the afternoon in the other direction.

That counter-peak train will need to meet several trains along the way, which means multiple sidings or passing tracks all the way from Bramalea to Kitchener.

- Paul
 
I know Metrolinx has been doing weekend work on the Guelph Subdivision (replacing bridge spans at least, and I think there is planned work to upgrade crossings as well), but I haven't read about any work adding passing sidings even though I understand it is a prerequisite for all-day two-way service which is at least theoretically supposed to be in the cards. Does anyone know if that's part of the planned work on the line?

Re: a 2nd platform in Kitchener, I expect that will come with the new Transit Centre at King and Victoria.
 
I know Metrolinx has been doing weekend work on the Guelph Subdivision (replacing bridge spans at least, and I think there is planned work to upgrade crossings as well), but I haven't read about any work adding passing sidings even though I understand it is a prerequisite for all-day two-way service which is at least theoretically supposed to be in the cards. Does anyone know if that's part of the planned work on the line?

Re: a 2nd platform in Kitchener, I expect that will come with the new Transit Centre at King and Victoria.
Guelph Central will be getting a 2nd track and platform. Some of the track is laid but won’t be completed until the Norfolk bridges are replaced.
 

What I am most impressed with here is the guy actually managed to drive himself out of the pedestrian tunnel by going down the stairs, and then escape out the doors. It's like something from a movie.

image.jpg
 
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What I am most impressed with here is the guy actually managed to drive himself out of the pedestrian tunnel by going down the stairs, and then escape out the doors. It's like something from a movie.

image.jpg

Have they consulted with the Film Permit Office; perhaps Fast and Furious was filming their latest installment and neglected to tell Mx................?
 

What I am most impressed with here is the guy actually managed to drive himself out of the pedestrian tunnel by going down the stairs, and then escape out the doors. It's like something from a movie.

image.jpg
Pft I do this all the time in GTA. Gotta get to the subway tunnel to escape the 5 stars.
 
This London to Toronto talk hurts my head,

Wouldn't it make a lot more sense for Metrolinx to begin planning a standalone London GO network with downtown London as the hub? Four lines going in the cardinal directions, with terminus stations at Strathroy, Port Stanley, Woodstock, and Stratford(/Kitchener).

London should be built up as a regional employment centre rather than yet another bedroom community for Toronto.
 
London should be built up as a regional employment centre rather than yet another bedroom community for Toronto.

London is its own worst enemy. Starts with the voters themselves, electing a Council whose mentality for planning is right out of the 1980's. Transit is still a dirty word. Their roads are incredibly congested. Autocentric sprawl continues unabated. No one seems to notice.

London has enormous potential that cries for better solutions, but no point in forcing these on anyone. Let them eat the opportunity cost.

- Paul
 
Wouldn't it make a lot more sense for Metrolinx to begin planning a standalone London GO network with downtown London as the hub? Four lines going in the cardinal directions, with terminus stations at Strathroy, Port Stanley, Woodstock, and Stratford(/Kitchener).

The thing is, its secretly a London-Kitchener line, but the whole Union Station focus is tradition for GO and that’s why we don’t have lines like the Toronto Midtown or multiple lines going in other directions starting in like Hamilton or Oshawa or London. If ML takes their mind off of Toronto and focus on building a proper rail system to the province, we wouldn’t have this issue of 4 hour train rides of only 200km, even if you could think that London-Kitchener and Kitchener-Toronto are 2 separate lines, just interlined with each other.
 
This London to Toronto talk hurts my head,

Wouldn't it make a lot more sense for Metrolinx to begin planning a standalone London GO network with downtown London as the hub? Four lines going in the cardinal directions, with terminus stations at Strathroy, Port Stanley, Woodstock, and Stratford(/Kitchener).

London should be built up as a regional employment centre rather than yet another bedroom community for Toronto.

QFT London-Hamilton and the noted London-Kitchener/Waterloo/Guelph should have some massive transit connections.
 
QFT London-Hamilton and the noted London-Kitchener/Waterloo/Guelph should have some massive transit connections.

We are almost there.

As far as existing lines, we just instated the London-Kitchener train, and pending more frequency and better trackage it will offer service to London-Kitch-Guelph.

Kitchener to Cambridge will be served by the LRT. Cambridge to Guelph will be served by the Cambridge GO extension planned along the Fergus sub.

Hamilton is the difficult one. Theres a line from Guelph to Hamilton but half of it is a CP mainline. London to Hamilton is a CN mainline.
 
This London to Toronto talk hurts my head,

Wouldn't it make a lot more sense for Metrolinx to begin planning a standalone London GO network with downtown London as the hub? Four lines going in the cardinal directions, with terminus stations at Strathroy, Port Stanley, Woodstock, and Stratford(/Kitchener).

London should be built up as a regional employment centre rather than yet another bedroom community for Toronto.
I completely agree.

London needs BRT and bus service to Toronto.
 
There's a VIA train that goes from London to Toronto in 2h15. It departs London at 6:30am and costs $42. You arrive in Toronto at 8:45 - 30 minutes before the GO train. In other words if you want to go from London to Toronto for a commute, that's the train for you.

While I do agree that reverse direction commutes to London are a good idea, you seem to be missing the point of this extension. This is a pilot to gauge the demand of people wanting to commute to Waterloo from London. If this even gets a modicum of success, it can prompt the government of Ontario to invest money into upgrading the tracks which can see travel times drop to almost an hour to Kitchener. It is a baby steps first approach. On top of this, I'd argue that even the current proposition is fairly appealing to some. Many jobs in Kitchener start at 8am, and a 2 hour travel time is actually fairly competitive to driving during rush hours, and especially once Kitchener GO gets rebuilt, GO train users will be able to take the train directly to Kitchener where they can transfer onto the iON and get to work from there. Don't forget that Waterloo especially is a growing tech hub with companies like Google and Amazon opening major offices and branches there, and as housing prices increase throughout the GTA, the appeal of such a train especially once the tracks are upgraded would be quite high. But for now we just have baby steps.

Pearson? Idk about that. If someone's destination is Pearson, they're almost certainly more likely to use London Airport (which should probably be the first infill stop added to this extension later on alongside maybe New Hamburg) to fly to Pearson and connect directly to whatever flight they want, rather than sit on a train for 2+ hours first. What most likely the service pattern will be ultimately is all stops to Bramalea, and then express all the way to union with occasional intermediate stops, maybe Woodbine and Bloor.
My issue is the 4 hour trip. That's a long time, and I'm not sure either the conductors/staff and riders are ready for it.
 

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