[guavadelic]

Not sure what proposals have been floated for train sets as yet for the Sharbot Lake Express, but a friend on mine working in the EU flipped me some thoughts on the new, just introduced Alstrom TGV M for French Railways. 320 kmh and a double decker. A GO train after a major steroid boost. I gather this upgraded high speed train has been in developement for a few years and trainsets for SNCF are now about to be, or shortly to be introduced to revenue service.

Bi-level would be the next major addition to Chinese CRH. Capacity issues abound on many of the major connections and this would be one method of adding capacity.

I believe SNCF comissioned double decker coaches because of platform length constraints, shouldn't have that issue in the Corridor so I doubt they go that route here.
If the project gets that far, the Avelia Liberty is a shoo-in for the rolling stock considering Alstom's deep ties to the Cadence group.

 

[kaptrice]

If the train was running every hour or more, at what point would the demand require bilevel coaches? How long of single coaches would be the max length it should be?

Depends on the platform length, maximum traffic volume, what the structures along the way are like, how constrained platform usage at terminals will be, and so on. But the LGV Sud-Est nearing capacity and requiring that sort of capacity uplift means having already 13 trains per hour. Incidentally the resignalling of the line increases the capacity to about the same degree of seats per train going from Reseau to Duplex. Meanwhile 16-car formations are iconic in Japan and China and there are 13-car ICE 4 formations. I can hardly imagine demand here exploding to scrape 10+ tph, even less that it would do so also with strict length limits.

I believe SNCF comissioned double decker coaches because of platform length constraints, shouldn't have that issue in the Corridor so I doubt they go that route here.
If the project gets that far, the Avelia Liberty is a shoo-in for the rolling stock considering Alstom's deep ties to the Cadence group.

The procurement of rolling stock will be done separately by the project authority, not the consortium. Besides, it's such a faraway thing that I think it's okay to let the imagination run a little wild.

 

[micheal_can]

Depends on the platform length, maximum traffic volume, what the structures along the way are like, how constrained platform usage at terminals will be, and so on. But the LGV Sud-Est nearing capacity and requiring that sort of capacity uplift means having already 13 trains per hour. Incidentally the resignalling of the line increases the capacity to about the same degree of seats per train going from Reseau to Duplex. Meanwhile 16-car formations are iconic in Japan and China and there are 13-car ICE 4 formations. I can hardly imagine demand here exploding to scrape 10+ tph, even less that it would do so also with strict length limits.

If we use the existing 12 car length GO uses and extend that to the whole network, and if we assume 15 minute frequency 16 hours a day, and using existing traffic numbers from all methods of travel, will we ever even get there?