GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[SaugeenJunction]

So... does that mean any possible service increases for 2024 are off the table now?

Absolutely not. Metrolinx and ONxpress both know what service is planned for the near future. The 2024 increases will support future increases.

 

[afransen]

I, for one, am here for a right wing government that prioritizes transit investment. It is definitely not the darkest timeline for us to have a conservative government spending tens of billions on transit and accelerating plans our previous centrist government dithered on.

 

[allengeorge]

At one point I remember reading that around $30 billion was earmarked for GO Expansion. Was that only for electrification, or does that include the $11 billion already spent for existing enabling works?

(The 11 billion figure comes from the press release linked earlier.)

 

[Allandale25]

At one point I remember reading that around $30 billion was earmarked for GO Expansion. Was that only for electrification, or does that include the $11 billion already spent for existing enabling works?

(The 11 billion figure comes from the press release linked earlier.)

I wonder if the upcoming Provincial budget will provide any indication. From what I recall from past budget PDFs (and their tables), they don't really provide a detailed breakdown.

 

[chrisw]

@allengeorge @Allandale25

Details are in the Metrolinx Yearly Business Plan. It wasn't included in the 23-24 Business Plan but in the 22-23 plan it estimated the capital costs at $26.8B for GO Expansion.

Tracking Metrolinx Project Costs

The Province of Ontario is not exactly transparent when it comes to reconciliation of announced project costs and actual spending, let along the changes that might occur along the way. A project, o…

stevemunro.ca

Steve has been tracking historical costs. And the data he uses is quarterly from Metrolinx.

The GO OnCorr project was awarded in April 2022, but there was no change to the baseline until September 2022 when it went down from from $15.705 to $11.306 billion. The report indicates that negotiations on this contract continue and the final value has not yet been included.

 

[Allandale25]

^ thanks. That's too bad it wasn't included in the 23-24 plan. Steve's article is helpful but it's from November 2022 so it will be of interest when he's able to do an update.

 

[chrisw]

^ thanks. That's too bad it wasn't included in the 23-24 plan. Steve's article is helpful but it's from November 2022 so it will be of interest when he's able to do an update.

From some of the latest quarterly capital reports the estimate is $12.052 B for OnCorr. But there's a huge asterisk. Costs associated with the "implementation phase" are omitted.

 

[Jonny5]

Chaos at Union this afternoon.

Yesterday, we had to carry out some unplanned track repairs just west of Danforth GO. Today we discovered that additional repairs are needed to ensure the continued safety of our service. A crew is onsite carrying out the repairs at this time. As a result, we are only able to run eastbound and westbound service through the area on one track only. So to keep service running as close to on time as possible, we have cancelled four Lakeshore East trains today. Customers are advised that additional cancellations and delays up to 15 minutes are possible through the afternoon rush hour. We will keep you updated going forward. We're sorry for the inconvenience this will cause you and thank you for your patience.

Cancelled trips from Union to Oshawa:
4:05 p.m.
4:35 p.m.
5:05 p.m.
5:35 p.m.

 

[Jonny5]

Chaos at Union this afternoon.



Cancelled trips from Union to Oshawa:
4:05 p.m.
4:35 p.m.
5:05 p.m.
5:35 p.m.

Whatever happened they are still working on it.

 

[smallspy]

Whatever happened they are still working on it.

View attachment 535375

A large sinkhole has opened below one of the tracks, very close to or right against the Dundas St. E. overpass.

They thought that they had caught it on Wednesday evening and fixed it, but it opened up again on Thursday afternoon. It appears that they've finally managed to fill it, as normal service has resumed this morning.

Dan

 

[Northern Light]

From one service disaster to the next; at least this one isn't Mx's fault.....

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/train-service-interrupted-1.7095564

A truck with its boom up collided with the St. Clair railway overpass on the KW corridor.

 

[sixrings]

So we are spending between 10 billion - 26 billion on GO transit and I am wrong to harp on the MILTON line not getting 1 or 2 of those billion?

 

[Bojaxs]

So we are spending between 10 billion - 26 billion on GO transit and I am wrong to harp on the MILTON line not getting 1 or 2 of those billion?

How much can Metrolinx upgrade the line when they don't own the tracks?

 

[sixrings]

How much can Metrolinx upgrade the line when they don't own the tracks?

@Northern Light & @drum118 have the answers. there are things to be done but I am left to hope that they are indeed happening in the background waiting for the right time to announce them.

 

[crs1026]

So we are spending between 10 billion - 26 billion on GO transit and I am wrong to harp on the MILTON line not getting 1 or 2 of those billion?

That's over a fairly long time frame. Sure, Milton deserves to be in the mix.... but do you want the existing projects to proceed more slowly so some of the money available flows to Milton (and not getting that job done all that quickly, given that smaller slice) ? Better to get the already-committed projects moving and complete as fast as humanly possible and then more of the cash flow can be directed to Milton.

The saving grace is that once some of the RER lines do achieve that 2WAD performance, the public pressure to add the Milton line to the system will be that much greater. If any of the existing politicians are still around, they will feel the heat from that.

- Paul