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On Barrie there are long-term plans for limited three-track sections. Perhaps those long-term plans are no longer so long-term.

With some not-so-careful planning it is not difficult to mix all-stops and limited-stops trains on the same line with no overtaking sections. Whether Metrolinx has the wherewithal to pull it off successfully, however, is another question. They can't seem to operate a mixed service with UPX and the Kitchener line on 3 tracks, and there are no overtaking moves there.

Dan
The drawings in the appendices show the second track, but no third track. I guess they put the report together on a Tuesday. ML’s plans always seem to change by later in the week.

Seriously, the target scenario that the EA attempts to study seems to have internal disconnects.

- Paul
 
I wonder if Stouffville electrification is being somewhat fast-tracked to fill in some of the rapid transit gaps in Scarborough between when the SRT is decommissioned and the Line 2 extension opens? As a rider, I certainly have no complaints with my line getting the most service, but surely there is more at play here.
 
I wonder if Stouffville electrification is being somewhat fast-tracked to fill in some of the rapid transit gaps in Scarborough between when the SRT is decommissioned and the Line 2 extension opens? As a rider, I certainly have no complaints with my line getting the most service, but surely there is more at play here.
I'm hoping something like this happens.


1614192234994.png
 
On Barrie there are long-term plans for limited three-track sections. Perhaps those long-term plans are no longer so long-term.
All the station developments from Caledonia to Aurora are being planned to allow for three tracks in this stretch, but the immediate tracking plan is for two tracks so I read into that they are protecting for scheduling flexibility but are expecting to run less frequent for long enough (10 years +) to benefit from putting it off for now. If it was a plan to go 3 track soon they would do it all at once.
 
I note that Alstom have registered an order for "Coradia" coaches with Metra, specifically with a design their publicity describes as derived from Coradia Duplex. Coradia Duplex is a family of coaches which includes EMUs.

One wonders how that news will go down in the Bombardier rail operations. One wonders if this and Amtrak work is enough to keep Hornell sated or will they also go after NJT's EMU MLV work.

Were Alstom to go that route (albeit with NJT's rather more niche requirements) and NJT accept, it would be grim news for the possibility of a Bombardier-derived EMU being available to buyers like GO, I would think? Even if GO demanded CanCon and the shells were fitted out in Thunder Bay or La Pocatiere, that would preserve assembly jobs rather than design/support functions which might remain in Europe or at Hornell.
 
I note that Alstom have registered an order for "Coradia" coaches with Metra, specifically with a design their publicity describes as derived from Coradia Duplex. Coradia Duplex is a family of coaches which includes EMUs.

One wonders how that news will go down in the Bombardier rail operations. One wonders if this and Amtrak work is enough to keep Hornell sated or will they also go after NJT's EMU MLV work.

Were Alstom to go that route (albeit with NJT's rather more niche requirements) and NJT accept, it would be grim news for the possibility of a Bombardier-derived EMU being available to buyers like GO, I would think? Even if GO demanded CanCon and the shells were fitted out in Thunder Bay or La Pocatiere, that would preserve assembly jobs rather than design/support functions which might remain in Europe or at Hornell.
Goodness, these new coaches look like something that came out of the 1950s.

1614279126350.png
 
^I’m OK with form following function.
That render is hard to decypher, but it looks so much like a 50s gallery car, that one wonders if the artist had nothing to work from except photos of the existing stock.
Metra’s paint scheme is pretty awful, but I suspect customers care more about things like the seats. Are there cupholders? Wifi? Decent lighting ? Luggage racks?

- Paul
 
That Metra thing looks like war surplus. Of course functionality has to come first but that doesn't mean the trains have to be that unattractive or appealing. That said it didn't take them 7 years {and counting} to actually figure out the kind trains they want to run.

If Toronto goes 100% catenary, they better get a bloody move-on. The entire 250 km electrified system is suppose to be up and running by 2026 and when needing to construct on Toronto-time, they have no time to lose.That means poles, wiring, bridge clearance, new maintenance facilities, substations, worker and operator training and hiring, potential station platform adjustments, and this of course is to say nothing of ordering and receiving an entire fleet of new EMU trains. There is no way, in hell, they can just start operating 250 km of new electrified service within a 12 month span. That means at LEAST 2 complete lines will have to be completely up and running by 2025 at the latest.

Sometimes I think the only reason why this entire procedure is taking so ridiculously long is because Metrolinx WANTS the electrified service to be delayed as long as humanely possible. This is because the sooner the service levels increase and people will want to see how this service has really improved their daily commuting, the sooner Metrolinx is going to have to stop endlessly studying and make a real decision with implementation of the big boy on the block............fare integration.

Building transit infrastructure is the easy part..............you are just figuring out where to spend someone else's money. Fare integration however is much more difficult because it will require Metrolinx to actually have to figure out how they are going to have to raise the revenue to pay for it.
 
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