robmausser
Senior Member
Not on the line we were discussing....10 car units still used.
Sorry I should have been more specific: The locomotives used now are capable of pulling 12 car units.
So we aren't even at max capacity of those trainsets yet.
Not on the line we were discussing....10 car units still used.
Sorry I should have been more specific: The locomotives used now are capable of pulling 12 car units.
So we aren't even at max capacity of those trainsets yet.
No....the 10 car trains are very full.
Again you misunderstand.
I'm saying while the 10 car trains are full, all they have to do is add 2 more coaches to them to make them 12 car trains, something that is really easy and adds about 15% more capacity. Understand?
So the capability for more capacity on the bilevels is easily there.
They also can increase the number of trains, there is opportunity for more trains still in that corridor, with a 4th track that has yet to be installed but is planned/funded.
Smart track will also take about 10% of the ridership, so combine that with adding 2 more coaches to the trains and you have a 25% increase in service even without adding any more trainsets.
Sorry I was't clear: I fully expect the GO bilevels to not stop at RER/Smarttrack stations once RER/Smarttrack is in place.
I agree completely with them used entirely as express trains that don't stop in the 416.
Union -> Unionville making all stops to Lincolnville
Union -> Mount Pleasant making all stops to Kitchener
and so forth.
This STILL will take demand off of the RER/Smarttrack lines, because remember: a lot of the people taking up seats in the 416 on the bilevels arent getting off in the 416 currently, they continue on to the 905/out of the GTA. But they still take up seats.
RER/Smarttrack has to look at only what people take the GO train currently at the inner stations, which is not much to be honest. Something like 90% of GO ridership stays on the train until the 905/Outer GTA.
So 90% of the demand on RER/Smarttrack will be whatever usage will be predicted when new stations are added, all day service is added, and when people can pay a $3 TTC fare and use it.
So very little of the current GO train usage will affect RER/Smarttrack, it will be mostly new usage, NOT new ridership compounded onto current ridership.
This be true - Paris RER does this.Fortunately most transit authorities do not create such a linear division between express and all-stops. It is quite often beneficial for the intermediate stops to vary which allows more locations to have direct service. It is all dependant on supply and demand of the stop and the destination.
Too early to tell, surely.
Though I'm also not buying that the SmartTrack RER would be using different vehicles from the GO RER. Could easily be the very same trains ...
I'd give it another year or two of planning before there is only one brand or label for the entire RER Smarttrack plan.
Now that Scarborough RT is going to go the way of the dinosaur and be absorbed into the Bloor-Danforth line; I wonder if any of the new lines proposed in SmartTrack will take the number 3 title.
That will likely be given to the DRL, if the SRT is indeed replaced with a subway, or an interlined Eglinton-Scarborough LRT.
or SmartTrack
I seriously have my doubts that SmartTrack will be run by the TTC. It'll be running 90% on GO corridors. With such high frequencies for both SmartTrack and GO RER, it would be a logistical nightmare to have two separate agencies managing those services. If both SmartTrack and GO RER trains stop at the same station, who owns the station? If it's GO, does the TTC have to pay GO a fee to maintain the station on their behalf? What if SmartTrack requires an upgrade to an existing GO station? Is that covered by the TTC, or by GO?
Perhaps you are unaware, but the Eglinton Crosstown, Sheppard and Finch LRTs are not being built by the TTC but by Metrolinx. The TTC has nothing to do with them at all. They will simply be running the operations of them in terms of ticket booth, operators, drivers etc. The trains, infrastructure and construction is all owned by Metrolinx.
Same would go for Smarttrack/GO RER. It would be built/funded etc by Metrolinx, and would probably be run by GO transit with some sort of partnership with the TTC to allow crossover Presto use by someone who is travelling on the TTC.
Remember, by the time Smarttrack/GO RER is complete, there will no longer be "TTC metropasses, TTC tokens" etc. It will all be PRESTO.
All that will happen is if you paid for a TTC fare already (were already on a subway etc) you would tap your PRESTO card and not be billed for taking Smarttrack/GO RER. It would be considered a free transfer.
Same if you started on Smarttrack/GO RER and transfered to TTC.
If you took the GO system beyond the limit of Smarttrack (transfered to a GO train and kept going to say... Brampton) when you got off the GO train you would tap your PRESTO and be billed for the change in zones.




