In 2015 there will be no more than 29 GO Trains a day....add in 144 ARL trains few freight and a couple of VIA trains......is that the busiest diesel corridor on the planet?
That's nothing but a blatant lie that they continue to propagate. It wouldn't even be the busiest rail corridor in the GTA
today.
Since the move to half hour service, the section of track between Willowbrook at approx mile 7 of the Oakville sub and Union Station (mile 0) sees
142 GO movements per weekday.
as per GO's train movement document the "form 660";
eastward movements - 70 (actually 72 trains)
43 Revenue movements - 35 All stops trains and 8 Express trains
27 Equipment movements - 6 that leave Willowbrook in the morning(actually 8 trains, as two movements are double consist Richmond Hill trains), 19 that leave Willowbrook in the evening & 2 others that bypass Willowbrook in the evening rush
westward movements - 72
44 Revenue movements - 36 All stops trains and 8 Express trains
28 Equipment movements - 20 that return to Willowbrook in the morning, 5 that leave Willowbrook in the evening & 3 others that bypass Willowbrook in the morning rush
Then you add VIAs numbers;
13 Revenue movements (westward; #67,71,73,75,79,83,97 & Eastward; #70,72,76,78,83,98)
42 Equipment movements
This seem a lot but every single VIA train that originates or terminates at Union station returns back to the VIA TMC, located directly across from GO's Willowbrook yard. This compromises VIA train #41,43,44,45,46,48,50,51,52,53,54,56,57,59,60,61,64,65,66,84,85,86,87,644,650,651,657,656,659 and includes the equipment moves to Union of trains #67,71,73,75,79,83,97 and the equipment moves back to the TMC of trains #70,72,76,78,83,98. Some of those trips don't operate every day from Monday to Friday but the vast majority do and additionally there are a few other trains that operate for one or two weekdays i.e. VIA #1
In all its fair to say it averages out to about
55 total VIA movements per weekday.
On top of that there is the occasional freight(which now appear to be restricted to times outside of half hour service) and the occasional extra GO train or extra GO rescue train movement.
Essentially this corridor currently sees
200 movements every weekday. And while I don't have the data to back this up, I'd assume the total population catchment within 500m or 1000m of this corridor(7 miles of the Oavkille sub) is higher than the 13.5 miles that the UPE will travel on the Weston sub. So when was the last time any one seen a media report in regards to people along the Oakville sub complaining about the number of train movements?
Lastly when the UPE starts in 2015 there will be an additional 12 equipment UPE movements on this stretch of the Oakville sub. The Weston sub will not be topping 212 train movements anytime soon.
So that whole "busiest diesel corridor on the planet" thing is nothing but a house of cards argument.