The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by nfitz

I'm pretty sure I've seen (and even ridden some) diesel trains into both Gatwick International and Birmingham International stations. And I don't think I've even ridden to any other airport heavy-rail train stations other than Heathrow and Pearson!

Surely, I've not actually ridden to the only 3 airport railway stations that have diesel trains? Haven't ridden to Gatwick or BHX recently - have both been upgraded?

There's almost definitely airport stations in the UK that have diesel trains stopping at them, but all the ones that have rail access have some form of electrification. It might be correct to say that YYZ is the only airport that both has rail service but is not electrified. But it seems unlikely worldwide.

Edit: it's definitely not true. Anchorage has diesel trains as does another in the US.

[nname]

Originally Posted by nfitz

In retrospect, I'd think adding up the daily station totals (entries and exits) and comparing to reported ridership would make it clear if it was linked or unlinked.

That will still miss the internal transfer between lines... as they do not have add to the entry or exit.

Actually, I'm not even sure if they should be counted toward linked trip stats. For Vancouver, the vast majority of them are not counted:
- Transfer between Expo and Canada Line = 2 unlinked trips
- Transfer between Expo and Millennium Line = 1 unlinked trip
- Transfer between branches of Expo or Canada Line = 1 unlinked trip
So a trip from Coquitlam to Surrey would have only 1 entry and counted as 1 unlinked trip, but it's actually 3 boardings?

[ssiguy]

Counts for individual stations are very helpful in planning for pedestrian traffic flow, bus connections, general destinations, accessibility etc but are not a good gauge of how many people are actually riding the system and exactly where they are going. The only thing that will do that is counting exit/entry on every single vehicle whether it be bus, subway, LRT, commuter rail or any other method.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by SkahHigh

There will be two maintenance centres, one in Saint-Eustache at the end of the current DM line, one at the South Shore terminal station as you stated. I believe the Saint-Eustache one will be more oriented towards actual maintenance while the South Shore one will be dedicated to storage mostly.

As for the platforms, there aren’t any current plans to extend them as CDPQi is banking on high frequency to maximize capacity rather than train length. I know that if the system becomes overcrowded in the future, they will seriously look at extending the platforms. The maximum capacity can go up to 24,000 pphpd so we’ll have to wait a few years before reaching that and needing platform extensions.

How long are the platforms? Ultimate capacity matches that of the Expo, Millennium and Confederation Lines.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by niwell

I did always find it strange that TTC numbers were supposedly lower despite how crowded the train is almost all the time now. Makes sense.

No slight on Montreal - their inner city network still is more comprehensive.

Ridership isn't the only reason why Toronto's trains are more crowded than Montreal's. In Toronto, everyone is crammed on to the one "U" line downtown. Montreal has two distinct lines going through downtown, which makes for a much more efficient system and a better distribution of passengers.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

How long are the platforms? Ultimate capacity matches that of the Expo, Millennium and Confederation Lines.

80m. Two linked trains of 2 20m cars each. Possibility of a fifth car with same station length. There was no mentions of designing stations with platform extensions as far as I know.

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

How long are the platforms? Ultimate capacity matches that of the Expo, Millennium and Confederation Lines.

80 meters

[J.OT13]

Thanks.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Thanks.

Max train lengths are 6 car MK1s (which will be phased out soon) and 5 car MK2 and MK3 models.

Canada Line Max will be 3 car trains (Rotem) which are essentially standard subway cars (middle car will be 15 metres I believe since it will not have any motor functions / brain)

[SteelTown]

The first daily GO Train from Niagara Falls to Toronto began this morning, 2.5 hrs journey and that's express too, Niagara, St. Catharines, Hamilton and straight to Toronto.

I guess it's ok if you want to wake up early and sleep on the train, but driving is way faster.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/niagara-go-train-service-1.4967774

The upside: Hamilton gets one morning and afternoon GO Train service that goes directly to Union Station. Might be faster and easier if Niagara folks drove to Hamilton and catch this train since it's going directly to Union.

[J.OT13]

I don't quite understand why that's necessary. Shouldn't GO deal with commuter traffic and VIA inter-city travel? To me, this seems like two public entities competing for the same passengers.

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I don't quite understand why that's necessary. Shouldn't GO deal with commuter traffic and VIA inter-city travel? To me, this seems like two public entities competing for the same passengers.

Politics

And if the route is a failure, the pressure to build a hugely expensive (2nd?) rail tunnel under the canal will disappear.

A consultant’s report five years ago pegged the cost of expanding GO rail to Niagara Falls at $1.14 billion, including a canal crossing, rail corridor and train station improvements.

Or even the $120 million 7 return trips a day plan.

after lengthy negotiations, Robinson said the Seaway Authority has agreed to four dedicated daily canal crossing times for GO trains. In total, the GO plan calls for seven trains going each way from St. Catharines to the new Hamilton GO station, with a hookup to the main Lakeshore West line from Burlington to Toronto. Only some of those trains will continue from St. Catharines to Niagara Falls and back.
Niagara’s GO plan estimates GO can be extended here for just $100 million to $120 million.

https://www.niagarathisweek.com/news-sto...s-through-barriers-to-go-rail-expansion/


Map of route and existing stations:

https://rac.jmaponline.net/canadianrailatlas/

[ssiguy]

How does it take 2.5 hours from Niagara Falls to Union when it`s express after Hamilton? Surely it can`t take more than an hour from Hamilton to Union so that leaves 1.5 hours to get from NF to Hamilton which is only about 50km. Who in their right mind would use this kind of service even for Niagara to Hamilton commuters with that kind of low speed? A bus could do it in half the time.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

How does it take 2.5 hours from Niagara Falls to Union when it`s express after Hamilton? Surely it can`t take more than an hour from Hamilton to Union so that leaves 1.5 hours to get from NF to Hamilton which is only about 50km. Who in their right mind would use this kind of service even for Niagara to Hamilton commuters with that kind of low speed? A bus could do it in half the time.

The only important thing here is that Doug Ford can tick this off as promise delivered, even if the service is of limited value.

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

How does it take 2.5 hours from Niagara Falls to Union when it`s express after Hamilton? Surely it can`t take more than an hour from Hamilton to Union so that leaves 1.5 hours to get from NF to Hamilton which is only about 50km. Who in their right mind would use this kind of service even for Niagara to Hamilton commuters with that kind of low speed? A bus could do it in half the time.

A boat load of level crossings!

As for level rail crossings, there are 33 of them between Grimsby and Niagara Falls.

https://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/opinio...-on-niagara-go-expansion-remain-elusive/




And they probably have some siding time.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

The first daily GO Train from Niagara Falls to Toronto began this morning, 2.5 hrs journey and that's express too, Niagara, St. Catharines, Hamilton and straight to Toronto.

I guess it's ok if you want to wake up early and sleep on the train, but driving is way faster.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/niagara-go-train-service-1.4967774

The upside: Hamilton gets one morning and afternoon GO Train service that goes directly to Union Station. Might be faster and easier if Niagara folks drove to Hamilton and catch this train since it's going directly to Union.

It is only express from Clarkson: Niagara Falls to Union trip query

According to the full schedule it takes 58 mins between St. Catharines and West Harbour stations in the morning, and 50 on the return trip in the evening.

Originally Posted by ssiguy

How does it take 2.5 hours from Niagara Falls to Union when it`s express after Hamilton? Surely it can`t take more than an hour from Hamilton to Union so that leaves 1.5 hours to get from NF to Hamilton which is only about 50km. Who in their right mind would use this kind of service even for Niagara to Hamilton commuters with that kind of low speed? A bus could do it in half the time.

It's almost 70km between the stations. 1:20 from NF to West Harbour, 1:15 return based on the schedule. A bus would be much faster in the morning though, before the peak traffic begins... coming home it would likely hit congestion on the QEW.

[ssiguy]

Thanks for the feedback, I had no idea there were that many level crossings. A good way to speed up the service would be having it express from Ham to Union.

[Innsertnamehere]

I believe the speed will be significantly faster in 12 months after Confederation GO opens - that project is expected to raise speed limits on about 9km of track and end the need to back into West Harbour. I wouldn't be surprised if it's closer to 2 hours after that.

[WhipperSnapper]

Maybe I'm unlucky. The last half dozen times I've driven to Niagara Falls from the east side of Toronto were an absolute miserable experience and took close to 2 hours. I'd gladly incur an hour more without the stress of stop and go traffic for 80? kilometres. The stop in Niagara is the inconvenience. I'm not sure how a bus could do it in half the time from either Toronto or Hamilton but, I'd be very interested in the route info.

[GeneralLea]

Here's just one of the numerous pits for the Eglinton Crosstown construction..;
DSC_9180 by Josh Kenn Photographics, on Flickr