micheal_can
Senior Member
This makes me wonder.
Do al trains between Toronto and Ottawa/Montreal do this? If not, they should since Via can fit however many they need on their Brockville Sub
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VIA Rail
- Thread starter ehlow
- Start date
Do al trains between Toronto and Ottawa/Montreal do this? If not, they should since Via can fit however many they need on their Brockville Sub
KevinT
Active Member
It would be really sweet if they could automate the uncoupling and brake testing as well, to make the whole process happen more quickly. Presumably with the Ventures having dedicated rear-end cab cars, adding an end-of-train marker after splitting up the consist will be a thing of the past.
Urban Sky
Senior Member
What is the problem you are trying to fix here?
TerryJohnson
New Member
There's an agreed volume of 10 per direction through Smith Falls crossing over CPKC tracks. In the Montreal direction, adding more trains is also constrained by track capacity. However, if VIA could assemble westbound J-trains the second sets of LEs could be rostered from Kingston, together with LEs for 651/650, that should save money and might allow for some pathing on the Kingston Sub to be horse-traded. This would require considerate dispatching of train making the join, (eg 67+645 and 69+59) and an extension eastwards of the Brockville platform, so the Ottawa train can "sneak up" from Chelsea once the Montreal train has worked the station, without having to pull everything forward and block Perth Street.
Operationally, Brockville currently gets the short straw for eastbound services, with no train towards Montreal until 64 shows up at 3pm. There's got to be a away to resolve that, maybe adding a south platform where there are currently a few bushes between the tracks an CN's facility?
Urban Sky
Senior Member
Indeed, the number of slots through Smiths Falls, Coteau and the Lakeshore is unlikey to increase above pre-Covid levels (i.e. 10, 12 and 16* tpd, respectively), which denies any benefit of jaying more trains…
*17 Westbound and 15 Eastbound (due to the jaying of 50/60 and 52/62)
Jaying is not realistic for Westbound trains, as they are too prone to delays, which will then add additional delays to the other train. This is especially the case if LE shifts end in Kingston. Also, the way how I believe that LEs are paid, it doesn’t really matter whether they work only to Kingston or all the way to Toronto…
That could be possible, but the question is who would pay for it. Also, serving Brockville should be easier post-HFR, as the number of Ottawa-bound trains would significantly decrease from their pre-Covid number of 10 tpd…
smallspy
Senior Member
Going to automated couplers would be nice, but that ship has already sailed, plus would introduce a whole new set of concerns that, while are not likely insurmountable, are still problematic and just avoided by leaving well enough alone.
Dan
roger1818
Active Member
For clarity, IIRC the number of weekday trains on the Kingston Sub pre-Covid were as follows:
- Oshawa to Kingston: 17w15e
- Kingston to Brockville: 16w14e
- Brockville to Coteau: 6
- Coteau to Montreal: 11
Agreed. Even eastbound it is less than optimal as it easily adds 5-10 minutes of delay to both trains decoupling (as shown in the video) and stopping for a scheduled, non-station stop (for the Montreal train).
Agreed, especially when you consider that some type of grade separated pedestrian crossing would be necessary to connect the two platforms.
Also agreed, though not having to switch to the northern most track would reduce the number of conflicts, and decrease the probability of delay. Both Cornwall's and Gananoque's (and Coteau's) platforms are on the south side, so switching tracks would be required to serve those stations as well, so having a south platform at Brockville, would allow trains (in both directions) to stick to the southern track from Coteau to Gananoque (and beyond if possible).
Urban Sky
Senior Member
Coteau to Montreal was 12 tpd (6 from Toronto and 6 from Ottawa*). The capacity between Brockville/Ottawa and Montreal is constrained by the Coteau Yard (and the adjacent interlockings), which prevents increasing that number, even though you could probably trade OM for TM frequencies (and the inverse)…
*34/635 haven’t been restored yet, which represented the 6th frequency from OTTW
reaperexpress
Senior Member
After having lived in the Netherlands where trains regularly couple and decouple automatically at station platforms along their routes, it's funny/sad to see brand new Via trains where the crew needs to get on the ground and manually fiddle with hoses to uncouple trains.
Add that to a signal system without any Automatic Train Protection (thereby requiring two operators just to speed up and slow down a train), and stations with ground level platforms where passengers need to go up a flight of stairs to board, and it really feels like I regressed into a past century when I moved back to Canada.
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roger1818
Active Member
You are right. I thought there were only 5 trains a day between Ottawa and Montreal pre-Covid, but I misremembered.
For HFR, something will need to be done about the constraint in Coteau Yard (presumably by diverting to CP's Winchester Sub to cut the corner).
I suspect a large part of the problem is a requirement to maintain backwards compatibility with standard knuckle couplers, so that one of the host railway's locomotives can rescue a stranded train.
KevinT
Active Member
Thanks Dan, I didn't know if the Venture sets offered that or not. A guy can dream...
crs1026
Senior Member
A recent ride on the Jacobite steam train in Scotland brought this revelation. Modernity may arrive eventually!
- Paul
innsertnamehere
Superstar
Ha - I was on that train in early May!
Urban Sky
Senior Member
I’m not sure where Eric Gangon got this cycling from (presumably: by observing ReserVIA), but I read this as follows:
tracksidetreasure.blogspot.com
| Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Q-35-O-28-Q | Q-33-O-26-Q | M-31-O-38-M | O-45-T-48-O |
| Tue | Q-35-O-38-M | Q-33-O-26-Q | M-31-O-28-Q | O-41-T-48-O |
| Wed | M-31-O-28-Q | Q-35-O-38-M | Q-33-O-26-Q | O-41-T-48-O |
| Thu | Q-35-O-28-Q | M-20-Q-37-O | Q-33-O-26-Q | O-41-T-646-O |
| Fri | Q-35-O-38-M | O-22-Q-39-O | Q-33-O-26-Q | O-43-T-668-M |
| Sat | M-622-Q-39-O | O-24-Q-29-M | Q-37-O | M-633-O |
| Sun | O-28-Q | M-633-O-26-Q | O-24-Q-29-M | O-43-T-646-O |
Ventures are Coming! The Ventures are Coming!
No, it's not the British that are coming ( see also Paul Revere - Revolutionary War), although the new Siemens Venture sets are revolution...
tracksidetreasure.blogspot.com
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lenaitch
Senior Member
Interesting combination. It has the buffers and chain hooks but what looks like a swing-away North American-style coupler.