[TFC]

VIA had to fight for over a decade for the upgrades it got a couple years ago, no way Harper will be willing to sink more money into it.

There is a chance that Harper won't be in power after 2015. With a rail-friendlier government in power, anything is possible.

 

[bielawski]

Here's a random question: I was looking at the Lakeshore East line travel times, and it appears that the schedule travel time from Danforth to Union varies between 10 and 15 minutes depending on the direction and time of day. Is it normal to have such a huge swing? Even 10 minutes seems awfully slow given the distance is about 10km. What gives?

It's an old trick that most railways do to keep arrival times predictable at the busiest stations, at the cost of having them fluctuate more at less important stations. Instead of padding the schedule evenly between all stations, the schedules going away from a major station show unpadded, or lightly padded times for the first few stations, and then on the last leg before another major station they insert all of the padding that was omitted from the ones before it. This way, all of the padding can be kept on hand for a delay anywhere on the line, not just at the beginning of a trip. GO does this on all lines both at Union and at the suburban endpoints.

 

[nfitz]

It's an old trick that most railways do to keep arrival times predictable at the busiest stations, at the cost of having them fluctuate more at less important stations. Instead of padding the schedule evenly between all stations, the schedules going away from a major station show unpadded, or lightly padded times for the first few stations, and then on the last leg before another major station they insert all of the padding that was omitted from the ones before it. This way, all of the padding can be kept on hand for a delay anywhere on the line, not just at the beginning of a trip. GO does this on all lines both at Union and at the suburban endpoints.

This is actually something GO only started relatively recently.

If you go back a few years, you'll notice that while the off-peak departure times from Danforth haven't changed. The arrival times at Union are now 4 minutes later. And the old 6-minute wait at Union is now only 2 minutes.

Nothing has really changed, and it's not unusual for an off-peak train arriving at Union from Danforth to be 4, or even 5 minutes early. If anything the travel time is actually slightly quicker; if I understand correctly, all those new switches heading into union have a 30 mph speed limit, compared to 15 mph on the old ones.

 

[vegeta_skyline]

Just the one set/series of crossovers between Cherry st & the Don was upgrade. They're actually good for limited speed(45mph), but the zone speed in that area is only 30mph when traveling westward. The speed traveling eastward on the exact same track is 45mph. But that exception was done to give trains a running start going up the hill to Danforth to avoid stalling due to the rail adhesion issues they were having there. So to avoid confusion they set the crossover speed it to medium speed(30mph).

All the other crossovers west of there are still only good for 15mph, but all of these(except for one set just west of Cherry st that is rarely used, and another set for trains coming out of the Don yard) are so close to Union station itself that it really doesn't cost us much time.

 

[salsa]

There's no service east of pickering GO station because of a fuel spill. I can't quite understand why that needs to shut down all other trains.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...ill_causes_delays_on_lakeshore_east_line.html

 

[smallspy]

Just the one set/series of crossovers between Cherry st & the Don was upgrade. They're actually good for limited speed(45mph), but the zone speed in that area is only 30mph when traveling westward. The speed traveling eastward on the exact same track is 45mph. But that exception was done to give trains a running start going up the hill to Danforth to avoid stalling due to the rail adhesion issues they were having there. So to avoid confusion they set the crossover speed it to medium speed(30mph).

This will be fixed once the new signalling system in (finally) completed in the USRC. The zone speed all of the way to about Jarvis will become 60mph.

All the other crossovers west of there are still only good for 15mph, but all of these(except for one set just west of Cherry st that is rarely used, and another set for trains coming out of the Don yard) are so close to Union station itself that it really doesn't cost us much time.

Actually, all of the new crossovers are rated for 25mph diverging. Again, this will be improved with the new signalling system.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[innsertnamehere]

any idea when those upgrades will be finished?

 

[TFC]

This will be fixed once the new signalling system in (finally) completed in the USRC. The zone speed all of the way to about Jarvis will become 60mph.



Actually, all of the new crossovers are rated for 25mph diverging. Again, this will be improved with the new signalling system.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

Do you know if once these upgrades are complete, whether GO's schedules will reflect the increased travel speed/decreased travel time, or will the schedules still remain padded? Thanks.

 

[doady]

There is a chance that Harper won't be in power after 2015. With a rail-friendlier government in power, anything is possible.

The Conservatives are the ones who restored VIA Rail funding after the Liberals killed it. I'd hate to see what will happen to VIA if the Liberals form government again.

 

[DavidJamesTO]

Which Conservatives? The Mulroney Conservatives who restored Trudeau cuts only to cut even deeper in 1990, or the Harper Conservatives who have reduced The Canadian to twice a week off-season, cancelled trains to Niagara Falls and Kitchener, and converted many stations to unmanned?

Both the Liberals and Tories have had a crack at VIA. What happens after Harper's out is anybody's guess.

 

[nfitz]

The Conservatives are the ones who restored VIA Rail funding after the Liberals killed it. I'd hate to see what will happen to VIA if the Liberals form government again.

That's rather an odd comment.

Since the 1970s, history has been that Liberals maintain VIA operating funding while Conservatives cut operating funding.

The Harper government has continued to cut operating funds for VIA Rail, resulting in further reductions in train service across Canada since Harper came to power, including the elimination of several services into Toronto.

The one thing they did was restore some capital funding that the Chretien government initially promised but the Martin government cut.

Paul Martin's cut of VIA's capital funding in the Montreal-Toronto corridor was little to do with politics, and everything to do with that he personally owned (through a holding company) Voyageur Colonial bus lines, that at that time operated the Montreal-Toronto bus service.

I would be surprised if Harper's surprise restoration of that funding was more to rub salt in the wound than anything else.

 

[smallspy]

I would be surprised if Harper's surprise restoration of that funding was more to rub salt in the wound than anything else.

I suspect that it was more of a way for him to help his friends at CN improve their operations (which the improvements have done). When the VIA funding was announced there were also a number of rumours of some funding coming for CP as well, including one (which blows me away if it was even remotely true) of re-establishing the line from Glen Tay to Havelock.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[ShonTron]

I suspect that it was more of a way for him to help his friends at CN improve their operations (which the improvements have done). When the VIA funding was announced there were also a number of rumours of some funding coming for CP as well, including one (which blows me away if it was even remotely true) of re-establishing the line from Glen Tay to Havelock.

The restoration of the Havelock Sub would have blown me away as well. After all, CP just tore up their alternative route - the Chalk River Subdivision between Smiths Falls and Mattawa - in 2012. Granted, it doesn't pass through Toronto and the important Agincourt Yard.

 

[drum118]

Took the First Milton New Year Special in to Toronto since my route was seeing 40 minutes service with the last bus at 80 minutes. Also to check the ridership out. I counted about 50 riders getting on at Cooksville and didn't seem many riders on most of the train.

Some people were trying to pay for their trips both ways.

Caught the cab car and I was the only one on it for the whole trip. MP 600 on point with 239 on the rear

A few got on at Dixie, but very few cars in the lot.

Counted about 17 getting off at Kipling

Found the speed slow going east of Kipling all the way to Union.

Just after we arrived at Union, the Stouffville pull in

On the return trip, caught the 3rd car from 600 and only 13 on the car when we left. 3 people got off at Kipling and could not see anyone getting on.

12 got off at Dixie with about 100 getting off at Cooksville. 10 of us caught the bus. A few walked east of the station.

The speed was faster on the return trip outside the construction zones.

I believe the Georgetown train was at platform 26 and fail to check it out, other than seeing F59PH 560 on the rear. Could have been the Barrie train.

Did anyone else try out these specials??

 

[Dan416]

I was on the same train as you, I clearly remember the locomotive being numbered 600 and thinking it must have been the first new one delivered. I got on at Erindale. I was surprised at the amount of people that boarded at Erindale and at Cooksville. I didn't know they had these special trains until I checked the day of.

I did not take the train back at 2:30 am, although I had planned to--ended up staying the night downtown. Took the bus in the evening and it was late and quite busy.

Taking the train downtown was lovely I must say. I really wish we had this kind of service all day.