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Hmm:

Metrolinx appoints former head of Scottish rail firm as new CEO
Phil Verster resigned as managing director of ScotRail Alliance in January amid controversy about the service’s reliability.

Metrolinx’s next president and CEO is the former managing director of a Scottish rail firm who resigned amid controversy earlier this year.
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Media reports from Britain and Ireland, where Verster has spent more than a decade in leadership roles at various rail agencies, describe him as a respected figure in the industry.

In 2015, he became managing director of ScotRail Alliance, the operator of Scotland’s passenger rail service. While there he oversaw a $3-billion electrification of the agency’s network.

In January, however, he resigned after just 18 months on the job. The BBC reported that he had been “facing intense pressure” for the agency’s “failure to meet punctuality and reliability targets.”

Two months before his resignation, Network Rail, which oversees rail operation in Britain, hired an outside agency to probe allegations that he had improperly accepted gifts and hospitality from contractors.

On Thursday, Verster told reporters that the third party audit “found absolutely no evidence” to support the allegations, which were made by an anonymous whistleblower.

He acknowledged that ScotRail’s reliability had fallen below target, but said that he put a recovery plan in place that fixed the problem.
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After resigning the Scottish agency, Verster spent several months overseeing the East West Rail project, a new line that will link Oxford and Cambridge.

Prior to his time at ScotRail, he served as the managing director of Network Rail’s London North East service for three-and-a-half years. Before that he was deputy CEO of Irish Rail.
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Commentary from Reddit, take what you will:
a friend of mine works for Metrolinx, and has for the past 6+ years. He said in the past 2 years he has basically given up on doing his day-day job, as the quality of work never seemed to matter. All about who you know, and how to network. He's spent the last two years trying to brush shoulders with the many VP's, networking and hoping he falls into the good books with someone and can ride that to the top.

In this case, I am going to guess it is either this guy has had some sort of connection at Metrolinx, or due to the nature of the job they had trouble sourcing a respectable CEO who has rail experience. With everything going on with Transit in Ontario, this job may not have been the most attractive to those who are truly qualified.
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https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/6vsk28/metrolinx_to_announce_former_director_of_scottish/
 
I think he was reasonably well regarded when Chief Mechanical Engineer, Irish Rail. His recent, albeit somewhat negative experience with delivering 25kV electrification at ScotRail makes him an interesting choice. The UK and Irish rail environments are "passenger first" environments so dealing with CN/CP will be a different kettle of fish.
 
smallspy said:
[...]
Barrie Yard - 7 trains overnight

[...]
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How does this work with the new September schedule? From the aerial, it appears that Barrie Yard has capacity for six 12-car trains, currently holding seven trains by storing two 6-car trains in the space for one 12-car train. But as of September, these two sets are doubled to 12 cars (!) so where does the seventh train sit?

Also, I'm assuming that the new Bradford trainset is a 6-car unit given that it only runs outside peak times. I guess there will be a lot fewer 6-car trains on weekends (1/3, rather than 2/3 currently) which is a shame because those trains are so much faster than the lumbering 10- 0r 12-car sets.

Here's a video I took yesterday tracking the acceleration of a 6-car MP40 set out of Rutherford and York University stations. Unfortunately for me, the train was on time, so it wasn't necessarily driving as fast as possible.
 
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reaperexpress said:
How does this work with the new September schedule? From the aerial, it appears that Barrie Yard has capacity for six 12-car trains, currently holding seven trains by storing two 6-car trains in the space for one 12-car train. But as of September, these two sets are doubled to 12 cars (!) so where does the seventh train sit?
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The Google images at least 2 years old. All of the work that's gone on to expand the yard has happened in the past 8 months or so.

At the east end of the yard immediately past the Minet's Point Rd. level crossing, the mainline has been shifted about 12 feet to the south, and the original mainline location has become a new layover location allowing for another 12-car train to be stored. The mainline shifts back to its original alignment where the Barrie-Collingwood line joins it.

reaperexpress said:
Also, I'm assuming that the new Bradford trainset is a 6-car unit given that it only runs outside peak times. I guess there will be a lot fewer 6-car trains on weekends (1/3, rather than 2/3 currently) which is a shame because those trains are so much faster than the lumbering 10- 0r 12-car sets.
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Yes, the new Bradford trainset will be a 6-car train. I haven't seen a train cycling schedule for the weekend service, so I too am interested to see how they make this work.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
Thanks for GO video.

So how much faster would a EMU go as opposed to a DMU? It it's acceleration 50%, 100%, 200% faster and what about it's de-acceleration? I know they are faster in both but never really have had an idea about how much faster. Thanks.
 
ssiguy2 said:
So how much faster would a EMU go as opposed to a DMU? It it's acceleration 50%, 100%, 200% faster and what about it's de-acceleration? I know they are faster in both but never really have had an idea about how much faster. Thanks.
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This is an impossible question to answer without more information. What are the variables? Train length? Horsepower? Number of powered axles? Top speed?

There are lots of scenarios where a DMU can out-accelerate an EMU.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
reaperexpress said:
How does this work with the new September schedule? From the aerial, it appears that Barrie Yard has capacity for six 12-car trains, currently holding seven trains by storing two 6-car trains in the space for one 12-car train. But as of September, these two sets are doubled to 12 cars (!) so where does the seventh train sit?

Also, I'm assuming that the new Bradford trainset is a 6-car unit given that it only runs outside peak times. I guess there will be a lot fewer 6-car trains on weekends (1/3, rather than 2/3 currently) which is a shame because those trains are so much faster than the lumbering 10- 0r 12-car sets.

Here's a video I took yesterday tracking the acceleration of a 6-car MP40 set out of Rutherford and York University stations. Unfortunately for me, the train was on time, so it wasn't necessarily driving as fast as possible.
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In the video how does the northbound train that passes you at 1:55 service York University Station?
 
alexb said:
In the video how does the northbound train that passes you at 1:55 service York University Station?
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That is the northbound 'deadhead' (out of service) which is heading to Aurora to begin the 18:03 southbound trip (since the 16:28 Northbound from Union continues to Barrie rather than turning back at Aurora like the rest of them). So it doesn't need to serve the station. Later this year when Downsview Park replaces York U station and the double track is completed to Rutherford, I'd like to see that deadhead become an in-service run from Union to Aurora, allowing the 16:28 to make limited stops from Union to Aurora (then all stops to Barrie).

ssiguy2 said:
Thanks for GO video.

So how much faster would a EMU go as opposed to a DMU? It it's acceleration 50%, 100%, 200% faster and what about it's de-acceleration? I know they are faster in both but never really have had an idea about how much faster. Thanks.
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I'll have to get back to you on a more generalized comparison, but here are the data points I have at the moment (each based on a couple samples from YouTube videos):

0 - 100 km/h
Union Pearson Express Nippon Sharyo DMU: 88 seconds
GO Transit MP40 with 6 Bombardier Bilevels: 80 seconds
Nederlandse Spoorwegen Bombardier SLT EMU: 52 seconds

Deceleration should be equal. GO already has remarkably fast deceleration, I don't see that improving. The main improvement would be the reduction of energy and maintenance costs thanks to regenerative braking, as well as the reduction in the noise and smell from the friction brakes.
 
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reaperexpress said:
That is the northbound 'deadhead' (out of service) which is heading to Aurora to begin the 18:03 southbound trip (since the 16:28 Northbound from Union continues to Barrie rather than turning back at Aurora like the rest of them). So it doesn't need to serve the station. Later this year when Downsview Park replaces York U station and the double track is completed to Rutherford, I'd like to see that deadhead become an in-service run from Union to Aurora, allowing the 16:28 to make limited stops from Union to Aurora (then all stops to Barrie).
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Why is it even deadheading? Why can it not go to Aurora in service?
 
micheal_can said:
Why is it even deadheading? Why can it not go to Aurora in service?
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Because it runs within a couple of minutes of another train running northbound - the first train back to Barrie in the afternoon. If it was to run in service, it wouldn't have enough time to make the trip to Aurora and set up for the southbound return.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
Thanks reaperexpress for the reply. It at least helps put things into context. Pretty amazing how a huge Bombardier train has faster acceleration than the much smaller UPX ones.
 
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