crs1026
Superstar
Would double tracking/platforms at stations between Ottawa and Montreal and Montreal and Quebec City work?
Interested in this because I see so much potential for this stretch. I think it could support more than hourly. At least on Ottawa-Montreal.
Depends on whether VIA wants two trains in the station at the same time. Yes, it makes sense to have the meets on double track where track speed is slower anyways, and it mitigates variability in dwell time ie one train holding at platform for an extra minute or two doesn't delay the opposing train. But it demands a more expensive station (tunnels or overpasses) and there will be "people herding" issues.
To my mind, one would double track the first few miles out of the end points, presuming that schedules will inevitably have one train having to wait until an incoming train arrives....you don't want to create delay in the first/last minutes of a run. Get the departing train out on time, and don't make an arriving train stop for a meet in the final minutes of its run. That way, delays won't propagate to later trains. The problem is that unless very expensive high speed turnouts are used, the train will have to decelerate to negotiate the turnout at the end of double track. The minutes of delay caused by slowing and speeding up again might add up just as fast.
In Montreal, it's hard to know how much more trackage will be needed to interleave hourly service with CN freight east of Coteau (Frequency is not far off that now, but we know that delays are happening at present). And going north/east towards Quebec, I don't know where trains will be able to hit full speed. Will the trackage close in be held to lower speed limits (similar to the absurdly low speeds for the first few miles westwards from Ottawa today)?
Stretches of double track would have to be fairly long to improve timing over at-siding meets. I doubt VIA will achieve stereotypical Swiss timekeeping. With even 4-5 minutes' variability in train performance, a train that is scheduled to meet another train in a short (say 5-8 mile) stretch of double track at 95 mph would outrun the double track before a meet, ie if the opposing train were more than a few minutes late, the first train would have to stop at the end of double track anyways to wait. The time saved by doubletracking versus having closely spaced sidings would not be huge.
I'd love to see the spreadsheet that compares the cost of building 14 miles of double track, with a single switch and interlocking at each end, versus the cost of three sidings with a total of six switches and six interlocking plants. I won't try to guess which is cheaper. But in practice, the sidings would suffice.
- Paul