Great Platform Height Debate: Subway-Style Level Boarding for GO Trains

[mdrejhon]

And with regards to escalators at union, why didn't they do this when they were doing the renovation? This is going to cost significantly more and make the place even more of a nightmare. Let's just hope all the food options in Bay are good when it opens.

Today, I think they're probably going with 20-inch level boarding -- for fleet compatibility. That's the way Utah FrontRunner does it with Bombardier BiLevels, with level boarding to the bottom deck, with a retractable step.

(For context, I wrote a lot of posts (see Page 1, and Page 2) on this debate a few years back)

 

[Adjei]

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...ing-union-stations-go-transit-efficiency.html

 

[BurlOak]

I believe in posting links with some context.

How a few centimetres could improve your GO Transit commute

It’s a few centimetres tall and the thousands of people who use GO Transit every day hardly notice it’s there, but getting rid of it could lead to major improvements at Canada’s busiest rail station.

The single step at the door of every GO Transit car may not look like much, but Metrolinx plans to eliminate it as part of a wider effort to more than double the capacity of Union Station.

 

[dowlingm]

“It’s just the way to go for the system,” said Michael Wolczyk, vice-president of technical resource management in Metrolinx’s capital projects group.
“It helps people get on and off quicker, because you don’t have to deal with steps.” The change would also make all GO Transit cars accessible, Wolczyk pointed out.

As long as nobody needed to get off or on a train other than Union, I suppose...

 

[steveintoronto]

As long as nobody needed to get off or on a train other than Union, I suppose...

Neither the existing platforms nor GO trains were built to allow for level boarding, however, and significant modifications would be required to both the vehicle fleet and platforms across the GO network.

But your point is still a good one as per 'retractable treadle' and I've read somewhere that BBD do make a kit available to convert the present steps to this.

Since there's no way they can change-over the entire system at the same time, the first step (pun not intended) is going to be to alter the present steps to become retractable where needed. @mdrejhon has seen these, perhaps he can reference? Is it Salt Lake City using these?

Here's the only reference I can find doing a cursory Google:

The advanced sliding steps will be of great advantage to people with reduced mobility.

https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/bombardier-twindexx-double-deck-trains/

What boggles me still is ??? on why wasn't this included with the Union Shed platform work ongoing?

 

[steveintoronto]

Searching on the 'retractable' step option for BBD DD coaches, still not finding what's already been posted in this string, but did trip across this, germane to the discussion since this is the coach VIA's new fleet is based on:

Viaggio Comfort combines Efficiency with Comfort Main features: [...] Automatic folding step for convenient entrance

https://w5.siemens.com/cms/mam/mobility/Documents/viaggio-imagebroschuere-en.pdf

Which then raises (pun yet again not intended) the question again for platform height for VIA coaches, at Union and everywhere but (two?) other stations: Montreal and Ottawa.

 

[rbt]

As long as nobody needed to get off or on a train other than Union, I suppose...

Yeah. Great for dwell times and Union overall capacity but not an accessibility improvement at all unless the intention is to fix most/all platforms.

 

[Urban Sky]

Which then raises (pun yet again not intended) the question again for platform height for VIA coaches, at Union and everywhere but (two?) other stations: Montreal and Ottawa.

Three (add: Quebec)

 

[steveintoronto]

Three (add: Quebec)

lol, I lost count at two...

If I have my information correctly, I believe VIA were examining the errr...'platform situation' at Union a year or so back. Ostensibly VIA lease from Metrolinx who own the trainshed, but then lease services from the City for the station and the area below the trainshed, please correct me if I'm mistaken on that...so would VIA's platform situation be at the behest of Metrolinx planning, or could/would VIA decide on platform height of their own choosing? It would seem crazy for VIA to adopt anything but their own (and UPX) platform height beside the present rail height plinth. And then there's HFR...

There appears to be a lot of fodder for the fan on this one still...

I do know that at one time unloading VIA baggage cars onto the platform carts once present allowed baggage to 'roll on/roll off' from cart to baggage car, and same again other side of the platform onto a loading dock which contained the freight elevator within it. This would have made for much faster loading and unloading of not only baggage, but also kitchen supplies, etc. Platform dwell would have been less in the past than it is now.

Some things are going backwards it seems...

 

[steveintoronto]

On the 'extendable steps'...

Stadler have them on the Flirts:

[...]
Stadler FLIRT user-friendly interiors
The FLIRT rail cars feature bright and user-friendly interiors. The low floor section of the vehicle is greater than 90%. The front section of the vehicle is reinforced with glass fibre. There are three to four doors on each side of the rail cars. The doors feature a double leaf swin-plug design, which enhances passenger comfort while boarding.

The cars are fully air-conditioned in both passenger and driver compartments. The extendable platforms of the rail cars enable free movement of disabled people, parents handling a stroller and passengers carrying luggage.
[...]

https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/stadler-flirt-electric-multiple-unit-emu-switzerland/

 

[NeilsenJ]

I thought the UP Express would encourage the rest of the GO system to adopt the standard high platform. But it looks like it's downgrading the UP Express to match the rest of the system.


I thought they were looking into adopting high platforms for the entire GO system to help with quicker boarding times at stations.

** First time posting, but I've been following the thread for a number of years.
----

Metrolinx planning major overhaul of UP Express that could include station renovations, new trains

Metrolinx planning major overhaul of UP Express that could include station renovations, new trains

A Metrolinx document obtained by the Star shows the provincial agency is planning to move the platform at Union Station at a cost of $77.4 million among other changes to the four-year-old line.

www.thestar.com

// The agency has also looked into scrapping the existing UP Express vehicles and using the same unspecialized electrified trains it plans to use on the rest of the GO Transit network. Metrolinx believes that could allow it to serve the airport more frequently but could require changes to existing infrastructure.

....

It could also allow airport trains to use the same platforms as regular GO vehicles, which would eliminate the need for custom UP Express stations and the expensive pedestrian bridge at Union. //

 

[11th]

I thought the UP Express would encourage the rest of the GO system to adopt the standard high platform. But it looks like it's downgrading the UP Express to match the rest of the system.


I thought they were looking into adopting high platforms for the entire GO system to help with quicker boarding times at stations.

** First time posting, but I've been following the thread for a number of years.
----

Metrolinx planning major overhaul of UP Express that could include station renovations, new trains

Metrolinx planning major overhaul of UP Express that could include station renovations, new trains

A Metrolinx document obtained by the Star shows the provincial agency is planning to move the platform at Union Station at a cost of $77.4 million among other changes to the four-year-old line.

www.thestar.com

// The agency has also looked into scrapping the existing UP Express vehicles and using the same unspecialized electrified trains it plans to use on the rest of the GO Transit network. Metrolinx believes that could allow it to serve the airport more frequently but could require changes to existing infrastructure.

....

It could also allow airport trains to use the same platforms as regular GO vehicles, which would eliminate the need for custom UP Express stations and the expensive pedestrian bridge at Union. //

It can also mean they are rebuilding (part) of an existing platform as high-platform. The "unspecialized electrified trains" will more than likely be high-platform vehicles anyways.

 

[ViveleCanada]

I've always doubted Metrolinx would really consider high platforms given that none of the current station renovations even mention any sort of ability to quickly upgrade to high platforms in the near future and even more doubts any level of government would want to splurge into something like that. But, from what I can tell, the whole platform issue would be left up to the bidders (I'm guessing though that they would stick with low platforms to cut down their bid). While I like the idea of folding the UP line into a full fledged part of the GO system, I am a bit insulted by the amount of time and money that was poured into the project only for them to now just realize that the "premium" service model wasn't such a great idea in a transit starved city. It seems like money that could have gone to better use.

 

[mdrejhon]

It can also mean they are rebuilding (part) of an existing platform as high-platform. The "unspecialized electrified trains" will more than likely be high-platform vehicles anyways.

It could be a mix of low-floor and dual-floor bi-level Stadler KISS units.

They come in both flavours, the low floor would be GO network only while the dual level will be able to serve both UPX and GO

 

[reaperexpress]

I missed this earlier, but Buffalo Exchange Street station was reopened in November with a new high-level platform. They built a separate track for freight trains to address the clearance issues associated with high platforms.

Here's the Maple Leaf arriving from Toronto.