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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
Metroscapes
Active Member
That's cool they're able to coordinate the push, I'm sure it's relatively straightforward for operators but I would have presumed bureaucratic checks and liability would make it difficult.
WB62
Senior Member
Sucks that you can’t edit messages on Twitter, in my last reply I forgot to put the word “can’t” between accidents happen.
Here’s another angle showing the GO train parked on platform 17-18, which probably hasn’t happened in a long time:
Allandale25
Senior Member
Metroscapes
Active Member
I'm presuming this is in reference to Lakeshore East at some point, going by the picture.
Just a PSA that getting off GO at Exhibition when you aren’t going to the CNE requires you to pack your patience 
reaperexpress
Senior Member
They cut out the third track because they needed room to build the Ontario line and widen the corridor to 4 mainline tracks. Not only is there a plan to restore 3-track operations, but the plan includes opening a new 4th track that had never previously existed. Metrolinx has done a lot of stupid things over the years but temporarily reducing LSE to 2 tracks during construction is not one of them.
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WB62
Senior Member
Couldn’t have said it better, in the end we all gain from the work being done on the Lakeshore East Line right now, people that complain like the one in the screenshot above clearly don’t understand what work is happening and why it needed to happen. Which is a bit ironic because their name is The Railfan…
generalcanada
Senior Member
Now to be fair, MX is very far behind on the project, like the express service wont be back until 2026 at the earliest, 5 years after the express service was removed
Northern Light
Superstar
No problem agreeing with this part, as its 100% factual!
On this part, I will partially disagree; I maintain that the O/L should have been buried in this section, which would have avoided the need to eliminate Lakeshore East Express services and 15 minute weekday service for more than 4 years.
Additionally, I remain concerned by the non-OL portion of the corridor being limited to 4 tracks, this means VIA will not have an exclusive track, which in light of projected GO service levels by the 2030s will likely represent capacity constraints.
The cost to bury the O/L through Leslieville was only 800M according to Mx, or less than 200M per year of hassle eliminated.
Dan416
Senior Member
The way that Metrolinx prioritized its own trains over VIA, yeah I'd be concerned too. Last time I got back from Montreal the train just crawled behind GO trains.
Edit to Add: The ironic thing is that I had a GO bus connection to catch, so it was nerve-wracking wondering if I would miss my GO bus because GO was delaying my VIA train. They should realize that some of the people they're delaying have GO connections they want to catch.
generalcanada
Senior Member
You missed the 2nd part of the reason why they decided against burying it.
It would add 2 years to the project.
crs1026
Superstar
I don't disagree with your wish to have buried the O/L, but I suspect that the net result of building the accesses to that tunnel, plus the widening of the GO corridor, plus the East Harbour station, might have necessitated track shifts and a period of only two tracks anyways.
There is a real need to plan a regional service beyond Durham. The downgraded VIA service post HFR is not going to adequately serve Port Hope, Cobourg, and beyond..... thinking that CN will suddenly embrace this service once HxR removes the Ottawa-Montreal traffic, or that a downgraded service will perform well on CN tracks, is a real mistake imho. Ontario (or Ottawa) needs to be building out capacity east of Liverpool to begin this expansion. If people are going to argue for the Province to assume intercity service west of Toronto, the same case could be made for Toronto-Kingston.... which is said to become a terminal point on a "hub" model anyways.
The big mistake ML is making is the flat junction at Scarborough Jct, which greatly complicates the potential for any express movements on LSE, be they GO or VIA, once the Stouffville line frequency is increased and Bowmanville comes on line. My fear is that the return of express trains just won't happen as expected. Four tracks would be quite sufficient if a proper configuration were built..... the cost of the Scarborough Jct grade separation would be even less than the cost of that buried ML line.
- Paul
Northern Light
Superstar
Doubtless, if we chose to keep East Harbour as a hub, there would have been some in-corridor work, but surely for a much shorter period of time. Additionally, this leaves the residual rail corridor with considerably more potential capacity.
I agree entirely w/this part. But would add, capacity beyond Liverpool is not the only constraint. Capacity in the core is a constraint.
Sunnyside
Senior Member
Out of curiosity, what would be the options to increase capacity in the core? I know Metrolinx has studied various 'Union bypasses' and such, but those seem to have been rolled into the Ontario Line, functionally at least. Even if the Don Branch is reactivated/Bala Sub becomes more heavily used in the core, that doesn't really address the USRC either, assuming that's what we are talking about here.
I don't really see how additional capacity could be added without seriously breaking the bank, so have the capacity constraints forecasted gotten worse since last looked at? I imagine that GO Expansion+ any HxR service will be pushing Union and the corridor to its limits, never mind additional express services and VIA 'hub' services... but I am a bit out of my depth.