I finally got around to doing my end-of-2015 Canadian Commuter Rail Summary.
The notable developments in 2015 were:
- Introduction of Union Pearson Express
- Opening of West Harbour GO Station, and
- Introduction of mid-day service on the GO Kitchener line.
Nothing notable happened in any other Canadian commuter rail systems.
Canadian Commuter Rail Summary 2015:
Improvements since last year are highlighted in light green, and regressions are highlighted in red. Web-based version is here.
The UP Express tops every frequency category except the peak direction, where it falls in the mid-range, behind many GO lines but still ahead of any lines in other systems. It ranks fifth in end-to-end average speed behind the Lakeshore East line, Barrie line, West Coast Express and Lakeshore West line. Meanwhile the ~2200 riders per day we were seeing in 2015 made it by far the lowest ridership line in the country. More recent 2016 figures in the 6500 range indicate that it may have overtaken the AMT Candiac line, but I don't have any recent AMT figures to be sure.
Lakeshore line schedule improvements push it even further ahead of every other line in the country, with up to 8 trains per hour in the peak direction and up to 4 trains per hour counter-peak. However the Milton line is still operates the most frequent single service pattern, with 6 local trains per hour.
The AMT Deux Montagnes line continues to be the most frequent line outside the GTA, but it still trails the Lakeshore line by a long way. Peak-direction service frequency trails just about every GO line and off-peak headways are simply disappointing. Service is only hourly mid-day and there are service gaps as long as three hours on Saturday, and five hours on Sunday. You'd really expect better from a short urban line running single-level EMUs.
Almost every GO Transit line is slower than a year ago. GO has been lengthening schedules for a while now, presumably in an effort to improve punctuality. Typically lines gained about two minutes, except for the Stouffville line which gained 5 minutes due to the addition of Danforth Station. Only the Kitchener line actually saw an improvement, which was thanks to the Georgetown South Project wrapping up and lifting some speed restrictions. I assume that the Richmond Hill line is also slower than a year ago, but I can't find last year's schedule.