I have been watching VIA’s moving maps fairly regularly the last couple weeks. Yeah, it’s VIA, not GO, but the physical limitations to service to Kitchener are identical.
Basically, train 87 runs at track speed all the way to Kitchener - no slow orders or restrictions. Top speeds of 70 mph, only one speed restriction through the curves at Acton.. Arrival at both Guelph and Kitchener is early by as much as 8 minutes. That’s a statement about how well ML has improved that section of the line.
However, VIA is back to 25-30 mph all the way from Kitchener to west of New Hamburg, and then 50-60 mph with a couple of slow orders to Stratford. And then 30 mph to London.
I suspect there won’t be improvements for GO service west of Bramalea until more track gets added. I would hope that ML has a plan to get all the way to 4 tracks from Halwest to Silver, with flyover. But I suspect it will be only 3 tracks for a decade or more, in which case sharing with CN will remain a matter for negotiation. But we really need a sense of urgency about the Halwest-Silver improvements.
- Paul