[mburrrrr]

UP trains staging east of Yonge this morning. Maybe my third or fourth time seeing the trains East of Yonge since inception.
What’s up at Union/UP terminal? Switching issue on the west side?

 

[pesto]

UP trains staging east of Yonge this morning. Maybe my third or fourth time seeing the trains East of Yonge since inception.
What’s up at Union/UP terminal? Switching issue on the west side?

From the UP Express website:

April 13, 2024 - 09:37 am
On Saturday, April 13 and Sunday, April 14, UP Express service will be reduced to accommodate important track work.

During this time, trains will run every 30 minutes between 6 a.m. and 1:00 a.m.

Saturday, April 13 to Sunday, April 14:

Trains heading downtown are scheduled to take 10 minutes pulling into Union Station as they travel through the work area.

 

[Allandale25]

From the UP Express website:

April 13, 2024 - 09:37 am
On Saturday, April 13 and Sunday, April 14, UP Express service will be reduced to accommodate important track work.

During this time, trains will run every 30 minutes between 6 a.m. and 1:00 a.m.

Saturday, April 13 to Sunday, April 14:

Trains heading downtown are scheduled to take 10 minutes pulling into Union Station as they travel through the work area.

The track work:

 

[mburrrrr]

The track work:

View attachment 556066

View attachment 556067View attachment 556068

“Looks important.”
I would assume all track work is important?

 

[Allandale25]

HT @Willybru21

 

[Willybru21]

Full quality version:

 

[felix123]

I'm an "airport traveller" but I change from line 2 to UPX

 

[TRONto]

Doesn't say how fast the express trip will be. I believe the current trip is about 25 minutes? That would make the express potential less than 20 minutes which is pretty amazing.

 

[PL1]

I'm an "airport traveller" but I change from line 2 to UPX

Same. I'll have to look at it, but it may be better to take subway to Main, Go from Danforth to Union, then UP to Pearson. Though UP every 30 min at Bloor isn't too bad

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

This is Toronto we DON'T DO mixed express/local service! LOL

Great thing to see. Maybe add back the Bloor station since it connects with Line 2, but honestly it's not a huge inconvenience. I've seen lots of airline employees (flight attendants, etc) using the Bloor stop, however I guess UPX has the ridership numbers that show that Union/Pearson is popular enough to warrant an express option, and that the other two stations are used mostly by commuters.

 

[Ward8]

This is terrible. Absolutely braindead stuff. As an added train it could make sense, but cutting the service from Bloor is totally goofy. At 30 minutes, if you miss a train you're in danger of missing your flight and the service becomes useless and unreliable. Not to mention how busy Bloor has become as an RER style service to get downtown. I find this move totally bizarre.

 

[evanb]

Kind of amazing that we managed to build an airport train that was so successful at being regular transit, that now it's being "nerfed" so the regular people can't use it as much.

Are there any plans in the works to expand the fleet so the high demand can be properly serviced, rather than just telling the people at Bloor and Weston stations who want a fast connection to downtown to "take a hike"?

 

[T3G]

At 30 minutes, if you miss a train you're in danger of missing your flight and the service becomes useless and unreliable.

I'm sorry, but if you're timing your flight in such a way that one missed transit connection makes you in danger of missing your flight, that's on you.

Back in 2022, when the airport was jam packed with delays and the media outlets were advising travelers to show up 3-4 hours in advance, I was baffled, because that's what my family has been doing for as long as I've been on this mortal coil. People who leave their flight connections to the last minute are always so fascinating to me. What are you going to do in the time that you save, run errands? Show up well in advance and enjoy the peace of mind... or at least, as much peace of mind as you can reasonably hope for out of modern travel.

That being said, I agree that the expresses should have been put in. Cutting the level of service for Bloor and Weston seems needlessly punitive.

 

[LNahid2000]

People who leave their flight connections to the last minute are always so fascinating to me. What are you going to do in the time that you save, run errands?

Sleep usually, since most of my flights are morning flights. I aim for 90 minutes before a flight and I've never come close to missing a flight. I always use YYZ Express and the CBP MPC app though so I can skip the lines.

For my last flight I arrived at Pearson at 6:25am for a 7:45am flight (took the first UP Express) and still had tons of time.

 

[crs1026]

Interesting dilemma - would the average Bloor/Weston traveller order an expensive Uber or Airport Limo just to save the 15 minutes of waiting for the train? It's definitely a less convenient service to the airport for these folks, but I wonder if the loss of revenue will be all that great.

The huge strategic error in all this was only starting an appropriate regional GO transit service nine years after the airport service started operation.

I expect the Bloor (and before long, Liberty) UPE stop(s) will return once the local travellers have discovered and been weaned onto the now-more-frequent GO trains. Maybe the pricing will be adjusted so there is a premium paid to jump on UPE.

- Paul