[Voltz]

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Hold on a second...a few weeks ago when the UP Local/Express split was proposed it was revealed that non-stopping trains would have to slow to an absurdly slow speed when passing through Bloor and Weston's high-level platforms.

HOWEVER

I just took the UP Express yesterday and we blasted through the unopened Mount Dennis station. So obviously, that slow order had nothing to do with not scraping the platform. So what gives?

Is the platform edge at Mount Dennis completed?

 

[smallspy]

Is the platform edge at Mount Dennis completed?

Nope. And it won't be until the days before the station is slated to be opened.

Thus the trains are allowed to do full speed through there - for now.

Dan

 

[Islington Express Bus]

So the UP Express Express option would have been slowed down by yet another slow zone if that plan had gone through! Seriously, who came up with that?

 

[Leo_Chan]

Is slowing at stations due to high platforms and lack of routing on passing tracks? Do low platforms have this safety concern too?

 

[smallspy]

So the UP Express Express option would have been slowed down by yet another slow zone if that plan had gone through! Seriously, who came up with that?

The "express" option is temporary until Mt Dennis Station opens. Those trains will then stop there when it opens.

Is slowing at stations due to high platforms and lack of routing on passing tracks? Do low platforms have this safety concern too?

Perceived clearances between the UPX equipment and the floor-level platform edges. They have no such restriction past low-level platforms. And BiLevels - or any other train running through the corridor for that matter - lack any restriction past the high-level platform edges.

Dan

 

[Islington Express Bus]

The "express" option is temporary until Mt Dennis Station opens. Those trains will then stop there when it opens.

I know, I was talking about the proposed Express option from a few weeks ago that proposed non-stop Pearson/Union trips.

 

[cplchanb]

Perceived clearances between the UPX equipment and the floor-level platform edges. They have no such restriction past low-level platforms. And BiLevels - or any other train running through the corridor for that matter - lack any restriction past the high-level platform edges.

Dan

Is this a design issue or just an unnecessary quirk in operations? overseas you got high speed trains routinely blazing through at 300km/h in same high platform situations with no issues.

 

[smallspy]

Is this a design issue or just an unnecessary quirk in operations? overseas you got high speed trains routinely blazing through at 300km/h in same high platform situations with no issues.

VIA trains - which use the same platform height - pass through Weston and Bloor at 70mph with no adverse effects. On Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, trains pass floor-level platforms at 125mph through New Jersey, and at 150mph past platforms in parts of Rhode Island.

Why Metrolinx feels that UPX is different and special, I don't know.

Dan

 

[cplchanb]

VIA trains - which use the same platform height - pass through Weston and Bloor at 70mph with no adverse effects. On Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, trains pass floor-level platforms at 125mph through New Jersey, and at 150mph past platforms in parts of Rhode Island.

Why Metrolinx feels that UPX is different and special, I don't know.

Dan

i guess simply put, they dont know how to run their trains....

 

[dowlingm]

VIA trains - which use the same platform height - pass through Weston and Bloor at 70mph with no adverse effects. On Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, trains pass floor-level platforms at 125mph through New Jersey, and at 150mph past platforms in parts of Rhode Island.

Why Metrolinx feels that UPX is different and special, I don't know.

Dan

Don’t the Nippons have steps projecting from the doors? if they are retractable (I am not certain from photos alone) maybe the concern is that they might spring out uncommanded or that a crew member might forget to retract them?

 

[ProjectEnd]

VIA trains - which use the same platform height - pass through Weston and Bloor at 70mph with no adverse effects. On Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, trains pass floor-level platforms at 125mph through New Jersey, and at 150mph past platforms in parts of Rhode Island.

Why Metrolinx feels that UPX is different and special, I don't know.

Dan

VIA goes through Bloor that quickly? How come GO "Express" trains on the Kitchener and Milton Lines still amble by at a leisurely pace (the latter likely because of the switch)? I've got plenty of videos from the Wallace Footbridge where it's just...underwhelming.

 

[smallspy]

Don’t the Nippons have steps projecting from the doors? if they are retractable (I am not certain from photos alone) maybe the concern is that they might spring out uncommanded or that a crew member might forget to retract them?

They have fixed steps, not retractable. But then again, so do some of the commuter trains that run on the Northeast Corridor. It's not a problem there.

VIA goes through Bloor that quickly? How come GO "Express" trains on the Kitchener and Milton Lines still amble by at a leisurely pace (the latter likely because of the switch)? I've got plenty of videos from the Wallace Footbridge where it's just...underwhelming.

Zone speed past Bloor was actually 75mph as of June of last year - I don't have anything more up-to-date - but as there is a 70mph PSO in the West Toronto tunnel they likely aren't using every bit of the speed they are allowed through there. The Galt Sub has a lower speed limit of 50mph, with a 30mph PSO starting just north of the Wallace bridge.

Speeds past Weston were the same 75mph but without a lower PSO through the Weston Tunnel.

Dan

 

[Allandale25]

From the GO/UP operations report here on the September 12th board agenda.