[Richard White]

Even 15 minutes is huge because the sections they are fixing are abysmally slow. There is something just so soul crushing about crawling along a piece of track at 50kmh. Its like how its preferable to drive around a traffic jam even if it makes your commute 10 minutes longer. Something about stop and go/slow that just feels worse. The perception of motion has a psychological play at hand, like people think "oh this is a far trip but at least we are making good time!" even if a slower route would get you there faster.

That happened to me a few weeks ago going to Niagara. We were crawling along heading there to the point where I was ready to get out and hire an Uber (it would have been faster).

When the journey is already 2.5 hours, speed matters.

 

[robmausser]

even if on a substandard schedule

You have to be really careful with this though, first impressions are everything to the casual person.

You dont know how many arguments ive had with a casual Torontonian how ATC will fix the slow subway system, or that VIA HFR will fix the ontime performance of VIA. Theyve written it off permenently.

Its hard to rechange initial perceptions.

I think for any of these new services where slow track still has yet to be fixed, they need to run express through the 905, to compensate. Run the London GO with limited stops downtown to make up lost time.

Same should be with Niagara. It should stop at West Harbour, Aldershot and then express to Union.

 

[Bordercollie]

That happened to me a few weeks ago going to Niagara. We were crawling along heading there to the point where I was ready to get out and hire an Uber (it would have been faster).

When the journey is already 2.5 hours, speed matters.

I don't think traffic on the 401 and QEW is going to get better anytime soon.

But take into consideration that in ideal conditions the car is faster but not when it's snowing, raining or there is an accident. That can easily put you behind an hour.

Plus for business people, when you drive you can't answer emails or texts which really sucks. So you end up spending time at the end of your trip trying to answer emails you couldn't while you were driving.

Plus it's not fun driving the 401 between Toronto and Kitchener at any time of the day.

 

[Bordercollie]

You have to be really careful with this though, first impressions are everything to the casual person.

You dont know how many arguments ive had with a casual Torontonian how ATC will fix the slow subway system, or that VIA HFR will fix the ontime performance of VIA. Theyve written it off permenently.

Its hard to rechange initial perceptions.

I think for any of these new services where slow track still has yet to be fixed, they need to run express through the 905, to compensate. Run the London GO with limited stops downtown to make up lost time.

Same should be with Niagara. It should stop at West Harbour, Aldershot and then express to Union.

It's likely that it will make all stops to try to cater to as many people as possible.

 

[Garuda]

There are plans for more trains to shuttle back and forth from Kitchener to London in the coming weeks to train more operators.

Dan

That’s a very exciting development! metrolinx wouldn’t be spending lots of money on fuel and wages to train crews and move a train over a weekend without being serious about future service.

for service using existing stations Metrolinx will have to building the accessible platforms. My guess is that they’ll be wooden ones similar to Niagara Falls Station and make a permanent solution later one.

 

[Bordercollie]

That’s a very exciting development! metrolinx wouldn’t be spending lots of money on fuel and wages to train crews and move a train over a weekend without being serious about future service.

for service using existing stations Metrolinx will have to building the accessible platforms. My guess is that they’ll be wooden ones similar to Niagara Falls Station and make a permanent solution later one.

I'm sure that the track time is not cheap either. Not to mention all the support work involved.

So would CN be doing the dispatch on the line?

 

[sacred]

Feds: if you vote for us we might give you the bare minimum passenger service you’ve been asking for for decades
Province: I have a surprise for you

 

[Allandale25]

Metrolinx Press Room

Find the latest Metrolinx news, project updates and more.

blog.metrolinx.com

 

[Northern Light]

Metrolinx Press Room

Find the latest Metrolinx news, project updates and more.

blog.metrolinx.com

Two significant commitments:

Still a bit ambiguous on the timelines:

 

[Bureaucromancer]

There's been no mention of this so far, but one thing that does occur to me about the Milton funding announcement is that the open ended nature of it suggests this might be something that could be used to move toward a Cambridge extension as well as just all day on the existing corridor.

 

[Allandale25]

Two significant commitments:

View attachment 341009

Still a bit ambiguous on the timelines:

View attachment 341010

I think the GO Expansion/electrification/On Corr TPAP addendum has the electrification running all the way to Barrie? I assume that's future-proofing? cc @crs1026 @smallspy

 

[ARG1]

Metrolinx Press Room

Find the latest Metrolinx news, project updates and more.

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This is almost certainly an oversight on their part and not a confirmation of any cut backs, but it says here:

The transit agency announced today (Aug. 12) that through the GO Expansion program, 15-minute, two-way, all-day electrified GO train service will extend past Aurora GO Station to Bradford GO in the future. Barrie South and Allandale Waterfront will see 30-minute two-way, all-day GO service as part of GO Expansion.

I guess the section beyond Bradford will no longer be electrified?

 

[crs1026]

^I think this is a genuine enhancement to the plan, likely the result of development proposals for Newmarket and Bradford which would justify the headways for the longer distance..

The frequency restriction on diesel trains in the Davenport Diamond EA approval won't support 30-minute diesel service, so I do think we will see electrification all the way to Barrie. Makes no sense to invest that much money in wires to Bradford only to run half the trains on diesel to get them to Barrie.

(Stepping back to await the invevitable predictions about battery/dual mode operation beyond Bradford)

- Paul

 

[generalcanada]

so people are mistaking 2 different things here.
the entirety of the Barrie line is still going to be electrified
this is a service level increase from the full business case in 2018

Basically Newmarket, Gwillimbury, and bradford are getting 15-minute service all day instead of 30 minute service
This is actually a kinda significant change
This close to oncorr contract closing must mean that every bidder says this is possible


heres AM peak:

offpeak:

 

[reaperexpress]

You have to be really careful with this though, first impressions are everything to the casual person.

You dont know how many arguments ive had with a casual Torontonian how ATC will fix the slow subway system, or that VIA HFR will fix the ontime performance of VIA. Theyve written it off permenently.

Its hard to rechange initial perceptions.

I think for any of these new services where slow track still has yet to be fixed, they need to run express through the 905, to compensate. Run the London GO with limited stops downtown to make up lost time.

Same should be with Niagara. It should stop at West Harbour, Aldershot and then express to Union.

Not only is there the risk of underrepresenting what service could be achieved with regional rail, there is also the simple fact that an abysmally slow service between Kitchener and London will be an obvious money pit. Hardly anyone will be attracted to the new service, leading to embarrassingly low ridership, which will create the illusion that there's no demand for rail in Southwestern Ontario. The operating cost per trip will also be exceedingly high, due to the large number of vehicle-hours and person-hours needed.

This seems like an exact rehash of the the situation around the old Niagara Weekday service, which only filled 18 seats out of 1825, thanks to ridiculously inconvenient schedule (1 departure per day from Niagara Falls, at 5:19 AM), and insanely long travel time. It was so slow that even GO's own route 12 local bus service was faster between Niagara Falls station and Union. And the train was so slow that even if you were standing at St Catharines station while the train is in front of you, it was faster to let it leave, walk 15 minutes to Downtown St Catharines and take the Megabus departure at around 6AM (don't remember exactly what minute).

If they're training operators right now, it's a sign that they will run service on the current horrendous tracks, rather than waiting until they are upgraded to the point where a passenger rail service could be even remotely successful.