Case study:
I had heard that upon taking the Stratford line back from GEXR, CN and ML had imposed new slow orders this week. I kept my eye on VIA's moving maps this evening, watching trains 87/88 . It was an interesting, if horrifying, way to spend a Friday evening.
This evening, VIA 88 was held at London due to a late running connection from Windsor-Toronto train 78. It departed London 20 minutes late, at 20:11.
No 87, which had run on time to Kitchener, lost 40 minutes off the schedule between Kitchener and Stratford. It departed Stratford at 20:33.
There is only one place where trains can meet between Stratford and London, ie Kellys siding. With no alternative meeting points, 88 had to wait in the siding at Kellys for 23 minutes for 87. No 88 reached Stratford at 21:47 - 44 minutes late.
I observed by watching VIA's moving maps that the maximum speed for both 87 and 88 between Stratford and London was 66 km/hr. More typically, they ran at 58-64 km/hr. In spite of this, No 87 made up time by London, arriving at 21:37... only 28 minutes late.
No 87's travel time for the 32.8 miles between Stratford and London was 1:04, or
49.2 km/hr. No 88 took 1:38 to cover that distance, an overall velocity of
31.7 km/hr.
East of Stratford, speeds improve for a stretch, but there is now a 10-15 mph slow order between the Highway 8 bridge and Baden. East of Baden, the limit goes up....to 50 km/hr. East of CR 12, it's 60 km/hr for a bit and then 40-50 km/hr the rest of the way to Kitchener. Upon reaching the "dividing line" between CN and GO operations, a bit west of the Kitchener depot, 88 also was stopped for six minutes waiting for permission to proceed. 88 took 78 minutes to cover 25.9 miles from Stratford to Kitchener - an average velocity of
31.9 km/hr.
Those are speeds that cyclists can manage!
It's no secret that GEXR left the line in terrible shape. There were CN workers visible all along the line this week, so improvements will hopefully ensue. Never mind that this line doesn't even have proper passing sidings at reasonable intervals. My point is, when a line can deteriorate to this extent, and VIA can't do anything to prevent that from happening, or secure regulatory intervention, we are really living by third world standards.
- Paul
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