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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

Metroscapes said:
In addition to Stratford, this will also boost tourism downstream in Guelph and the Tri-Cities. I realized responding to someone on the ATmosphere that you could technically get to Elmira 100% by rail, though getting back on the same day may be difficult. WB GO Kitchener Line >> NB ION LRT >> NB Waterloo Central Railway

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The Waterloo Central Railway is not a useful transportation service because its top speed is 16 km/h. It takes 45 minutes to get from Waterloo to Elmira, only runs three times per day on thursdays and saturdays only and costs $26 for a day pass (you can't buy a one-way ticket). You'd only use it if the purpose of your trip was to ride the Waterloo Central Railway.

For people who just want to get to Elmira it makes more sense to take GRT route 21, which departs every 30 minutes from Conestoga LRT station and takes 27 minutes to get to downtown Elmira, with a free transfer from the LRT (which itself is a free transfer from the GO train).
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reaperexpress said:
The Waterloo Central Railway is not a useful transportation service because its top speed is 16 km/h. It takes 45 minutes to get from Waterloo to Elmira, only runs three times per day and costs $26 round trip (you can't buy a one-way ticket). You'd only use it if the purpose of your trip was to ride the Waterloo Central Railway.

For people who just want to get to Elmira it makes more sense to take GRT route 21, which departs every 30 minutes from Conestoga LRT station and takes 27 minutes to get to downtown Elmira, with a free transfer from the LRT (which itself is a free transfer from the GO train).
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Lol Hey don't sell WCR short. The "hopper" fare is an all day ticket, allows the rider to board at Northfield, get off at Farmers Market or in St Jacobs, catch the next train to Elmira, and then layover there and come back on the last train to Northfield. So it saves a couple bus fares in the process.

Seriously, WCR is not a transit provider.... but it's a pretty fun day trip. Hopefully the new GO trains do make it and other tourist attractions in the area more attractive for folks down the line..

- Paul
 
reaperexpress said:
The Waterloo Central Railway is not a useful transportation service because its top speed is 16 km/h. It takes 45 minutes to get from Waterloo to Elmira, only runs three times per day on thursdays and saturdays only and costs $26 for a day pass (you can't buy a one-way ticket). You'd only use it if the purpose of your trip was to ride the Waterloo Central Railway.

For people who just want to get to Elmira it makes more sense to take GRT route 21, which departs every 30 minutes from Conestoga LRT station and takes 27 minutes to get to downtown Elmira, with a free transfer from the LRT (which itself is a free transfer from the GO train).
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crs1026 said:
Lol Hey don't sell WCR short. The "hopper" fare is an all day ticket, allows the rider to board at Northfield, get off at Farmers Market or in St Jacobs, catch the next train to Elmira, and then layover there and come back on the last train to Northfield. So it saves a couple bus fares in the process.

Seriously, WCR is not a transit provider.... but it's a pretty fun day trip. Hopefully the new GO trains do make it and other tourist attractions in the area more attractive for folks down the line..

- Paul
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No disagreements, the only point being that you have a municipally owned railway, there should be a way to swing simultaneous regional transit operations with heritage excursion in series. It's a wasted opportunity, all because the province is still so tepid to expand outside of the GTA, and run with top-heavy management of the operation.

My thinking if a municipal railway (e.g. GJR, WCR) can own a corridor and contract a third party to operate freight services, it should be able to contract someone to operate passenger services.
 
Metroscapes said:
No disagreements, the only point being that you have a municipally owned railway, there should be a way to swing simultaneous regional transit operations with heritage excursion in series. It's a wasted opportunity, all because the province is still so tepid to expand outside of the GTA, and run with top-heavy management of the operation.
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How would that ever be mor economical than continuing to run the regular bus?

The railway track is not municipally-owned. Nor is that tourist train service.
 
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There is a huge difference between a volunteer led outfit running antique trains on a limited schedule on 10 mph track and a regular transit service….. the big difference is money.
Certainly the Region could make the investment if it saw a need - but the poulation just isn’t there, soi far .

- Paul
 
For all:

The corridor was built as the Waterloo Junction Railway in 1890. The GTR leased the line the following year. The corridor used to extend south of GTR’s east-west mainline, connecting via what is now the Iron Horse Trail and Huron Park Spur. The line eventually became part of the Canadian National (CN) Railway network during the Grand Trunk collapse and government railway consolidation in 1923. In 1995, the corridor was purchased by the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, with freight operations contracted out to the Goderich–Exeter Railway, who had also leased the Guelph Subdivision. CN took over operations when the mainline lease expired in 2018.
 
I went to see the new express service from Kitchener to Union pass through Georgetown GO. A bit disappointed as it just passed slowly along the usual GO platform track without stopping, and didn't use the ladder at Silver to cross onto the southern track, like the Via trains do. The west bound train was late, so they actually passed east of Heritage Road instead of closer to Georgetown. The new service would have had plenty of time to stop in Georgetown without clashing.
 
urbancog said:
I went to see the new express service from Kitchener to Union pass through Georgetown GO. A bit disappointed as it just passed slowly along the usual GO platform track without stopping, and didn't use the ladder at Silver to cross onto the southern track, like the Via trains do. The west bound train was late, so they actually passed east of Heritage Road instead of closer to Georgetown. The new service would have had plenty of time to stop in Georgetown without clashing.
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Haha what am I reading that correctly? They got off the mainline to enter the Georgetown GO 'yard' at low speed only to re-enter back onto the mainline without stopping? That can't be serious.
 
lastcommodore said:
Haha what am I reading that correctly? They got off the mainline to enter the Georgetown GO 'yard' at low speed only to re-enter back onto the mainline without stopping? That can't be serious.
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I was on the westbound express this morning. It took the north mainline track through Georgetown (not the one with the VIA platform) but it was still slowly passing the station.

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urbancog said:
I went to see the new express service from Kitchener to Union pass through Georgetown GO. A bit disappointed as it just passed slowly along the usual GO platform track without stopping, and didn't use the ladder at Silver to cross onto the southern track, like the Via trains do. The west bound train was late, so they actually passed east of Heritage Road instead of closer to Georgetown. The new service would have had plenty of time to stop in Georgetown without clashing.
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The schedule does not have enough time for trains to stop in Georgetown. In fact it doesn't even have enough time for them to go through the GO platform at all, given its 10 mph speed limit.

The new counter-peak express trains are scheduled to take 32 minutes from Guelph to Mount Pleasant, 7 minutes faster than local trains. Skipping 2 stops would normally only save 4 minutes so to save the other 3 minutes they need to also skip the Georgetown slow zone.

While the eastbound train may not have clashed with the late westbound train, stopping in Georgetown would have put the eastbound train further behind schedule and increased the likelihood of conflict with UP Express trains, especially given all Kitchener/UPX/Via trains currently share the same two tracks between Mount Dennis and Union due to construction.
 
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Federal agency investigating hours-long GO train delay outside Hamilton GO Centre​


Last Wednesday, a rush-hour train suddenly stopped just a few hundred metres from the platform at the downtown Hunter Street GO station around 5 p.m. Passengers endured an exasperating, three-hour wait that spurred a few panic attacks — and illegal efforts by several riders to pry open the train doors and escape down the tracks on foot.
CPKC, the transnational railway company that owns this particular section of tracks, said last week it had launched an inquiry into what happened.
Now the Transportation Safety Board (TSB), an independent federal agency that probes marine, air and rail accidents, told The Spectator it is also reviewing the Hamilton incident.
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www.thespec.com

Federal agency investigating hours-long GO train delay outside Hamilton GO Centre

Last Wednesday evening, passengers were stuck on a train for three hours after it suddenly stopped just a couple hundred metres from the downtown Hamilton station
www.thespec.com www.thespec.com
 
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