Quote:
Originally Posted by lrt's friend
Man, you are making me very discouraged. I don't understand all this short turning of trains. Doesn't this create scheduling and signalling complications? Does Toronto short turn its subways? I assumed that they shuttle from one end of the subway line to the other. Doesn't this also create confusion for passengers if the subways terminate at Lebreton, Lincoln Fields, Baseline? If we have all these short turning trains, so much for the 3 minute service that was promised and the minimal transfer delays at the end of the line.
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It is quite inefficient to drag extra cars from Blair to Baseline and back when the crunch is really between LeBreton and Hurdman. Imagine running a 4-car train 2/3 empty from Baseline just so there is room for 1/3 more people at Lincoln Fields. Finally the train gets filled at LeBreton and then empties through downtown and at Hurdman. Now you are running a nearly empty 4-car train all the way out to Blair where you pick up 3/4 of a load and head back downtown. At Hurdman you lose 1/3 of your passengers but pick up 2 cars worth to take your full train into the core to empty. Then you take your 1/4 full train west to all but empty it at LeBreton and Tunneys Pasture before going all the way to Baseline in your empty train. And this is scheduled to happen every 3 minutes during rush-hour. (Just to note, the off-peak frequency will probably be more like 7 minutes, evenings probably 10 minutes and sundays maybe 15 minutes. There might be 30 minute service over night, but I don't know about that since there would need to be a bus at each end to get people to the suburbs, i.e., three operators will need to work. It is possible the new over night service will disappear or be completely done by bus.)
One of the big draws of one of the previous LeBreton Station designs was that, once the buses were removed, there would be room for train storage between the platforms.
I am wondering if train storage is one of the reasons that the new recommended station is so far from the little canal.
Then there is the Hurdman Station; they are planning to move the bus lay-up to the south-west of the station to make it more convenient for buses, but that also leaves siding room where the lay-up currently is.
Do you think that the two-car trains running from the O-Train line through downtown will continue all the way to Blair? I expect that they will be reversed at Hurdman, which will probably mean a siding/storage area which has not been mentioned.
Will the 3 minute frequency be met? Yes, probably, but only through downtown during rush-hour. East of Hurdman, there will be some trains missing due to the interlining of the O-Train and any other trains short turned at Hurdman. West, there will be trains missing due to the O-Train interlining and any short turned trains. (There might even be thoughts of short turning trains at Tunneys, but I haven't heard about that yet. There would obviously not be any need to short turn a train at Bayview.) West/south of Lincoln Fields there would be fewer trains since half the people will be transfering to buses to go to Kanata.
The talk I heard was that the trains would be designated as 'LeBreton' or 'Lincoln Fields' or 'Baseline', similar to the current 95 being flagged for how far it goes, Baseline, Fallowfield, or Strandherd.