The Great Canadian Transit Thread

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

I've been seeing testing of more new streetcars in the downtown core.

Can't wait to see them in fair-paid action!

oops haha.

4404 was out testing for 2 weeks or so, but its in service now. The streetcars currently testing (4401 and 4402) are going to be testing for a long time before we see them in service. They are still the technical "prototype" of the streetcar, and need to be sent back to Thunder Bay to be rebuilt into a production model. Right now the TTC is using them as training vehicles to train drivers. Eventually they will be sent back to Thunder Bay, rebuilt, and returned again, when they need to do an additional 600km of testing before entering revenue service.

The next new streetcar will be 4405, and like all new streetcars, will undergo 600km of testing before entering service. Judging by how long 4404 took to enter service, this will take around 2 weeks. No idea on when its being shipped from Thunder Bay though.

Bombardier is falling very, very far behind on their delivery schedule. They were supposed to be delivering a new streetcar every 10 days right now, and we were supposed to have around 20 streetcars in service by the end of the year. Right now its looking like there will be 4 in service by year end.

[caltrane74]

Yes, I heard about 4404 only taking 3 weeks of testing before it entered service. Once, Bombardier has completed building all the subways, they should be pretty steady in shipping out the new streetcars to Toronto from Thunder Bay.

That strike really messed up Bombardier on the delivery schedule. But that wasn't the only cause, I'm guessing

[Aylmer]

A big post on HSR partially in response to a post here, but I think it's better suited to the HSR thread

[GreaterMontréal]

STM has planned to increase the bus and metro service in 2015.

+360,000km for the bus
Métro trains will travel 400 000km, + 1 more train in rush hours

--Mr. Schnobb stressed that the subway mileage has never been higher.


video of the new Mascouche Line , 122kmh !! A-640

• Video Link

[le calmar]

^ Sad how this is supposed to be "fast" in Canada... It is average speed in Europe for commuter rail. Any slower than this wouldn't even be acceptable there.

[Innsertnamehere]

Its a pretty standard speed for commuter rail here too.. Ive seen GO trains top 150km/h before.

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Its a pretty standard speed for commuter rail here too.. Ive seen GO trains top 150km/h before.

Depends on the stretch though... Stations on the AMT system are not that far from each other except on the Saint-Jérôme and Mascouche lines so you rarely see them topping 100.

[TownGuy]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Its a pretty standard speed for commuter rail here too.. Ive seen GO trains top 150km/h before.

There is a stretch between Ajax and Whitby where GO track borders the 401 and for a while it seems as though the train is going faster than any cars on the 401. Considering most people in vehicles top out at 140 km/h I'd have to imagine this is one of the times the train gets up to +150 km/h? Maybe I'm wrong. It quite likely goes faster in other areas but it's hard to judge without having something like a highway beside you. I know I've taken an express GO train before and it definitely feels like it's moving along pretty good.

[Innsertnamehere]

The spot I've seen them top 150km/h is the stouffville line after it merges with Lakeshore east, it runs express into Union station, and i've seen it top 150km/h. usually does around 130 on the stretch though.

The Georgetown South line, once completed next year, will be almost entirely zoned for 145km/h. That line is going to get very, very fast. Express trains to Bramalea are expected to travel the 28km in less than 20 minutes.

and yes, some lines are slower for some reason. Typically the single track lines, from my experience. Barrie GO line is fairly fast, at least up until Vaughan (furthest I've gone on it), probably around 120km/h, But once Stouffville turns off of Lakeshore it drops its max speed to around 80km/h.

I expect a lot of the slower parts of the network to be fixed in the coming years as the network is upgraded however.

[caltrane74]

Some big news regarding the King West Streetcar is going to be released today.

All Door Boarding???

They say it could improve performance by 6-10 mins.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Some big news regarding the King West Streetcar is going to be released today.

All Door Boarding???

They say it could improve performance by 6-10 mins.

Yes, all-door boarding was reported yesterday.

[Nouvellecosse]

I think it would be all but impossible to do anything but all door boarding with the new streetcars. They will be much longer and higher capacity than even the articulated version of the old stock. It just wouldn't be practical for those large volumes of people to pass through a single set of doors at the front.

[Innsertnamehere]

Yup, the TTC is going to be converting streetcar routes to POP as they get the new streetcars. Spadina went POP earlier this year for that reason.

[Innsertnamehere]

GO RER slides are up for the Metrolinx presentation:

http://www.metrolinx.com/en/docs/pdf/board_agenda/20141211/20141211_BoardMtg_RER_Update_EN.pdf

New info in it that I could find:

Additional track between York University and Rutherford will be built 2015-2017. This will presumably allow for some sort of off peak and counter peak service on the Barrie line.

planned EAs:

Network-wide study for key rail/road grade separations; EA/design for
selected crossings
• Lakeshore East: additional track-Union Station to Pickering Station
• Lakeshore West: additional track-Burlington Station to Aldershot Station
• Richmond Hill: Doncaster rail/rail grade separation (near Langstaff Station)
• Barrie: additional track-Toronto to Allandale Waterfront Station; new train
storage facility and existing facility expansion; Davenport rail/rail grade
separation (at CP North Toronto subdivision)
• Kitchener: rail/rail grade separation west of Mount Pleasant Station; new
train storage facility
• Milton: train storage facility expansion

for the business case:

Current analysis is based on the existing system, with no new stations or fare integration; these
factors will be added as more work is undertaken

overall when to expect the service concept:

Metrolinx anticipates that the recommended service concept will be
completed in the first quarter of 2015 and will be released with the
Province at that time

[1overcosc]

Wow, Metrolinx is really working on this. They would have only been able to get started in July after the budget passed, and they've already got all this lined up. Impressively fast by bureaucracy standards.

[caltrane74]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/un...-one-way-less-with-presto-card-1.2867002

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/12/10/unionpearson_rail_fares_to_be_27_oneway.html

UP Express Pricing - 27.50 one way / 19.00 with Presto / 300 Monthly Pass

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/un...-one-way-less-with-presto-card-1.2867002

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/12/10/unionpearson_rail_fares_to_be_27_oneway.html

UP Express Pricing - 27.50 one way / 19.00 with Presto / 300 Monthly Pass

I'd love to see YUL get a similar shuttle service. The downside of the UPX is that torontonians won't really benefit from it, since it's not an actual transit line. The proposed Aerotrain project would connect with Pointe Claire so people in the West Island would be able to use it to go downtown, just like the Canada Line in Vancouver.

[TorontoDrew]

Well it is an actual transit line just not an inner city multi-stop line. If it serviced people along it's route it would no longer be the UPX, it would just be the UP. This is only meant to connect Canada's two busiest transit hubs as quickly as possible.

[1overcosc]

Though, the UPX line is going to be paralleled by the GO RER Kitchener line, so it's all good

It's a huge boon to people in southern Ontario outside Toronto, places like Kingston, Ottawa, Kitchener, London, Windsor, etc. It's now so much easier for them to get to Pearson Airport for travel to points afar. In fact, it arguably benefits Ontarians outside Toronto more than it benefits Torontonians.

In Kingston, there's two coach routes to Toronto, one that goes to downtown Toronto and another that goes to Pearson Airport. I suspect that once the downtown coach terminal is relocated to Union Station, the direct bus to Pearson Airport will cease to exist.

[Beedok]

Monthly passes? I guess if you work at the airport and live very close to Union? Still seems like an expensive commuter option.