Recent content by dowlingm

11 LRCs gone to the scrapper https://m.facebook.com/groups/199250763950431/permalink/2116854718856683/?

Cut and cover went down so well in Vancouver for Canada Line that they promised not to use it for the Broadway extension...

Public service competency klaxon: When the fire in an adjacent building closed Glasgow Central railway station for ten days, Network Rail mobilized resources to get almost a year’s worth of track replacement and infrastructure inspections done in that time...

As I have said before, the entire reinstatement of the Northlander, including the necessity to run buses to support it because of the Matheson-Timmins-Cochrane routing, means we’re outside the realm of economics and into politics. That means my preferred metric of net extra passenger-km per...

I wouldn’t bother with Ontario Southland - just have ONR operate Ontario regional services that Alto won’t. It’s in MTO now not northern development, so why bother having to stand up a whole new entity with various mandatory management positions, branding exercises, discrete fleet and spares etc...

While we can’t rule out seeing one, we are now getting quite close to the WC so they are unlikely to have a major impact. It may simply have been that Metrolinx didn’t need them immediately but if they didn’t bid, it might be unlikely that they could snap up similar locos later. Between MP40...

More work for CAD on top of the F40 and LRCs they have already Nearly $3m per car to refurb 56 HEP1 sleepers https://media.viarail.ca/en/press-releases/2026/rail-invests-150-million-modernize-sleeper-cars-enhancing-passenger-experience-and-supporting-canadian-jobs

I wonder what the ridership of the express Matheson Cochrane and V/V bus versus staying on the train for two extra hours into and out of Timmins

Hardly impressive. More impressive for CN would have been sufficiently maintaining their track or their train so that repairs were not required, depending on which of those it turns out the issue was

SEPTA won the auction (not sure how many other bidders, if any) for the Exo Comets https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/septa-passenger-cars-regional-rail-montreal-purchase/

In theory, Metrolinx could truck a pair of Flexities to Finch, install and qualify the line’s safety equipment, and put them out on the FWLRT to compare performance. That would be a good way to know if there was any merit in tacking a bunch of cars onto the ECWE order and sending the Flexities...

Last year Doug called an election and ended up with MORE seats and MORE votes and it wasn't just because of what platform the opposition was offering. We are a province richly stocked with people who are only looking out for themselves - some for selfish motives, some because the property bubble...

And what happens when the house is cleaned at Metrolinx and the new GO managers come in and sit at their desks and find in the top drawer an envelope with a note saying “Doug spent all the money on Ontario Line; there’s no money for you to build or buy, any more than there was for us”

Except to intending passengers.

Is the January 2027 date the first time an LRC retirement date has been formally stated?