Ps The “while the train is in motion, please remain seated and hold the handrail” in two languagea is totally unnecessary and annoying. - Paul

Rode twice this week, today just after the accident cleared. My train was first to leave Kennedy when service reaumed and with a gap ahead of it we rocketed across to Laird. At Birchmount we were pacing a 34 bus, but before reaching Laird we had left it behind and caught up with the next ahead...

If the problem is this simple, is it not equally simple to solve? Crosslinx quoted based on a belief that the fleet would require x brake jobs per year at a cost of $y per brake job New information suggests that applying higher speeds, the fleet will require x+z brake jobs at a higher cost...

One person's game is another person's craft. Nothing is a bigger "gamification" of pricing than decreeing that some group must have a mandated price, based on some view of social or political imperatives..... and then insisting that an enterprise pretend that their capital and operating costs...

^I have no data or expertise to rely on, but I suspect pricing will be one of the last details to fall into place, and I suspect that a wide range of options will stay on the table until the bitter end.... and pricing may not stabilise until a decade after opening day. We really haven't gotten...

^Am I seeing this correctly? Top slab has been poured at the west end but a little more formwork and concrete pour to come towards the east end? - Paul

I wonder how the contractor explains how braking once (from track speed, to apply the speed restriction) and then a second time (to stop at the platform) is more demanding on brakes than just braking once from track speed to stop at the platform. The only way there is a difference is if the...

There’s likely not much “cause” in the behaviour of the contractor. If they have good language, they have a deal. . Breaking the contract would entitle them to damages. Maybe people have forgotten how much pain TTC went thru to get cellular service in the subway…. Thanks to a contract they...

And start a land speculation rush? And give the landowners in that track a head start on arguing that the decision was arbitrary/flawed/ignored input.....and the track should be down the road a bit? - Paul

Nothing. The question was about the risk inherent in hand operated switches in unsignalled territory for passenger trains. The answer is, we can live with the risk, or we can spend a lot of money to reduce it, or we can remove the risk by eliminating the service. Guess which priority ordering...

Your comment ignores the historical and logistical facts. The railway was seen as doomed in the 1960's, before anyone considered privatisation. It was a non-issue for CN's privatisation as it was already largely abandoned. As noted, freight moves much faster by road than rail could deliver. St...

I'm not sure that Moncton- Matapedia is all that scenic, other than the Matapedia valley which happens before breakfast and in dark for part of the year. The bigger problem is the scarcity of sidings on the Napadogan route and the potential for CN to give priority to freight. The Ocean...

I hope not. Huge delay while the new center is designed, approved, and built before the old one can be demo’ed so new station can be built. Faster to put existing tracks in a tunnel and then put the new station over top. - Paul

You aren't alone. The capability to play recorded announcements is like a new toy, for TTC and Metrolinx also. It is very much overused. This week I rode a GO train where the various safety, security, and public service announcements started as the train left Union and were still going on as we...

The interesting detail in those shots is that the most recent base of the bridge that has been assembled is actually the westmost piece - you can see the slots that the top arch pieces will fit into. So, at this point, the bridge is being built from the west end towards the part that is already...

Having a siding in no way gives a location an advantage as a station. I'm not concerned about a train on the current schedule becoming a "commuter" train serving the east side of Lake Simcoe. One station is not a major operational constraint - but the cost is not trivial. Land up that way is...

I took another visit today. Depart Humber College 11:13 with service interruption advised en route due to switch maintenance. Must have cleared because tram went right through to Finch West. Tram 6506 had badly flat wheels. Logged 13:56 in wait time at red lights en route - and lots of creeping...

There is a line of thought that the terrain might allow cheaper, faster construction. I Won't argue one way or the other (read up, lots posted already about this) but that possibility is compelling enough on paper to make it important to explore, even if it proves a dead end. Of course, that...

I can't argue with that conclusion.....the cost is the killer. Both the cost to i stall and the cost to maintain. It could sink the Ocean. For a route like the Ocean, where there are so few trains out there, technologies less than full CTC might be used.... but still expensive. - Paul

Looks like you are reading from https://www.tsb.gc.ca/sites/default/files/recommandations-recommendations/rail/eng/rec-r0101.pdf The intent of the speed restriction is as you suggest - crew has more time to potentially spot the misaligned switch, more reaction time to initiate a brake...