mdu
Active Member
Biden's commute would be like one from Barrie or Kitchener; about two hours each way, which plenty of people do. Is anyone seriously spending 8 hours a day to and from Toronto on a habitual basis?
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- Thread starter drum118
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ARG1
Senior Member
We have told you why to take the train, to get to Kitchener at around 7:30, before many jobs startup around there. If you refuse to listen what people tell you, why are you here?
Also GO commuter rail lines leaving the city in the morning? They do: See early morning train service to Kitchener and Barrie.
TransitBart
Senior Member
Have you filled your car up this week?
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Unless one has a hybrid or electric vehicle.
Bordercollie
Senior Member
Ok so how many people "commute" to London? And from where? Woodstock? Ingersoll? Brantford?
Those are all served by VIA.
St Thomas? St Mary's? Those are possible. But the rail line to St Thomas is owned by a tourist train. I don't know what the speeds are on that line or if it's worth runing a commuter line.
Northern Light
Superstar
Nope, CN still owns London to St. Thomas, as the Talbot Sub.
What they do not own is St.Thomas to Port Stanley.
@smallspy and @crs1026 would know better than I.
But last I recall, it didn't have any passing track along its entire length which I suspect might be a problem; though it might not if any service were strictly peak-period, weekdays.
In whether ridership merits rail; again, I couldn't say.
Though my understanding was that as recently as 2019 a regional bus connection London was being contemplated with 30 minute service, which would suggest that there might be something there.
Though looking at Sean Marshall's site, I don't see any bus connection running between the two, which would surely be a pre-requisite to rail service.
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Bordercollie
Senior Member
Well they could run the trains in one direction and hold at London until the afternoon. Then no passing tracks would not be an issue. Any DMU's lying around?Nope, CN still owns London to St. Thomas, as the Talbot Sub.
What they do not own is St.Thomas to Port Stanley.
@smallspy and @crs1026 would know better than I.
But last I recall, it didn't have any passing track along its entire length which I suspect might be a problem; though it might not if any service were strictly peak-period, weekdays.
In whether ridership merits rail; again, I couldn't say.
Though my understanding was that as recently as 2019 a regional bus connection London was being contemplated with 30 minute service, which would suggest that there might be something there.
Though looking at Sean Marshall's site, I don't see any bus connection running between the two, which would surely be a pre-requisite to rail service.
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crs1026
Superstar
I can't imagine there are merits. The line does not connect directly to anywhere useful in London, save perhaps a single hospital. It passes at a distance from any destination with high passenger potential. Its route through St Thomas is similarly a bus ride away from most destinations. It was never built to high passenger speed. It has been rated at 25mph for freight in recent times, but I'm told there are slow orders. Most crossings have flashers but no gates.
Maybe one day there will be a network - in the meanwhile, I would not see this line as a priority. If money were available, it would be better spent improving lines such as London-Kitchener.
- Paul
anb
Active Member
You can get to Detroit/Windsor from Toronto in under 4 hours, and London is the midpoint in between those 2 destinations so why would anybody take the train as a commuter service if it takes 4+ hours to travel only half the time it takes by car. This definitely can be used for other purposes such as airport travellers, via rail travellers who don't wanna pay more and are going east of Union, London-Kitchener commuters which is reasonable, or people who wanna take a vacation to lets say Owen Sound via Guelph for example. There are many different uses for this train and as GO is transitioning into its RER service, we shouldn't take this train service as a commuter oriented one despite the schedule because it isn't.
Northern Light
Superstar
A question about this....
I see the line arrives at the CN mainline only slightly east of downtown London, albeit, the tie-in pointing the wrong direction.
Assuming that the a connecting spur could be put in pointing west, and the line could terminate at the downtown London VIA station, would that materially alter your perception on its utility?
Also, if you know, did there used to be a full wye allowing a west-facing connection? I see sufficient room in the local ROW's to wonder.
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crs1026
Superstar
The old London and Port Stanley depot was indeed at Richmond, across from the old CN station. Whether there was a wye, or whether they just backed in, I can’t say. Certainly if one were willing to acquire the land and move some roadways, a direct connection could be added. The buildings that are in the way are low value.
I’m not sure that such a connection would change the picture, however. London’s downtown houses only modest employment numbers. All of the educational and health facilities would require a transfer to a bus. A rail route into Central London would need a transit hub at its terminus. It would still be appealing (even with today’s congestion) to drive rather than take transit. And cheaper to improve bus service south of London. Until London gets serious about high-capacity transit corridors, it’s hard to contemplate connecting services.
That’s for commuting. For regional or intercity travel, one can suppose that St Thomas would generate some level of ridership…. but the “old days” of secondary lines with one or two departures a day are not going to return. Especially if the branch line has a high capital cost to create. Why would we run frequent service London- St Thomas when VIA service to London is not very frequent ?
It makes intuitive sense to add communities of St Thomas’ size to a backbone rail system…. but we need a backbone first…. in more than one sense.
- Paul
W. K. Lis
Superstar
There used to be a ferry service from Toronto to and from St. Catharines (Port Dalhousie) until 1950. The Queen Elizabeth Way helped to put that to an end, slowly. People commute from the Niagara Region.
Krypto98
Active Member
It would be really funny if this sign was put up in St Mary and Stratford
Bordercollie
Senior Member
Regardless of the speed of the train you should always pay attention.
crs1026
Superstar
Pretty sure there were similar signs posted years ago along the 10 mph stretch in Guelph.
- Paul
- Paul