twitterverse:
Does this break the all-time record for the fastest Union-to-Hamilton trip time for a 12-car bilevel? (vegata_skyline, you might know) It seemed to be going almost always flat-out at the rail speed limits in most sections. This train made GO Tracker exciting to watch as I've never seen a GOtrain rush that fast to Hamilton; it might portend what is the theoretical limit of speedups we might see from RER electrification, if eventually extra tracks and electric express trains were reliable enough to allow timetabled operation this fast. This is kind of why I was watching GO Tracker -- what does rail speed limits allow, if a GO train was allowed to go flat out safely?
I actually chose today to give the 5:50 West Harbour Express a try! I was pretty irritated when 6:05 came and went, 15 minutes late, no sign of the train. It had been pulled off the departure boards/mobile app at 5:51, and disappeared from the on-platform boards a few minutes later. Finally a sole GO employee came on the platform moving from Bay to York, asking people one by one (yes, seriously) what train they were waiting for, and if they said they were waiting for the 5:50, he redirected us to Platform 13 instead of the original 7/8. Wow. Anyways, headed over, the CSA was making announcements every 30-45 seconds that this train makes no stops before West Harbour, and we departed at 6:15, an incredible 25 minutes late. Had some trouble getting out of Union and GO's reported delay online peaked at 30 minutes. Amusingly, the CSA came by a few minutes after departure and confirmed with me that I was heading to West Harbour--I was far from the accessibility coach, so I have to assume he went through the whole train both ways to get both floors and asked everybody to be safe.
Station times, with speed through station in parentheses (as measured by a GPS-based speedometer app on my iPhone, in km/h): Union 6:15, Exhibition 6:24 (82), Mimico 6:28 (103), Long Branch 6:31 (134), Port Credit 6:33 (117), Clarkson 6:36 (133), Oakville 6:39 (124), Bronte 6:42 (136), Appleby 6:44 (140), Burlington 6:47 (61), Aldershot 6:51 (94), West Harbour 7:02. Between stations we were generally never under 120, and were usually in the 130-145 range, with a max of 145. Got to that speed shortly after Exhibition, then only really slowed down right before Burlington through to Aldershot, then crawled most of the way to West Harbour. From 30 minutes delayed to 2 minutes--Union to Hamilton West Harbour in 47 minutes.
At West Harbour there were loads of volunteers, who I think actually outnumbered passengers! Only about 30-40 people seemed to have been aboard this 12-car train. I had a coach entirely to myself! The train coming back at 8:30, after at least one of the soccer games had ended, had many more people on it wearing various international team jerseys who were obviously tourists, I'd say about 150-200 people got on at West Harbour. That would seem to indicate a LOT of tourists were, as usual, on the packed commuter LSW trains earlier as opposed to the non-stop express train that was almost empty.
I'll tell you all, it was a hell of a fun ride, zooming through a station
every 3 minutes at 130 km/h! Those of your who haven't and have some time to spare should give it a try while it's here. Think it only runs through Thursday.