urbanclient
Active Member
Has anyone else experienced this for the past 5 years? I recall roughness being a not-so-recent development.
Toronto Union Pearson Express | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | MMM Group Limited
crs1026
Superstar
From a few rides recently - yes, some of the cars make a lot of noise, seems to be in the draft gear or suspension. Possibly getting worn or just needing some lubrication.
Haven't noticed the curves at Pearson beiing any better or worse than previously.
- Paul
DSCToronto
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We last rode it in September and there was a VERY 'rattling" section not too much before the train goes up the 'ramp' to Pearson.
Jonny5
Senior Member
Rode today and heard it at the same spot.
Also disappointing was arriving to find the "next train" sign at 25 minutes, then the train suddenly showed up, but staff wouldn't let anyone board because it was being cleaned? Is this a regular occurrence? I don't ride often enough to know.
We eventually were let on and sat in our seats for the balance of that time. It also came to a stop twice on the way to downtown, once before Weston for about three minutes, once after Weston for about three minutes. Total time from me arriving at the platform to disembarking at Union Station was about 45 minutes. And of course, Union Station was not at all my destination, so I spent another 25 minutes to get home from there.
I should have payed $60 for the bloody Uber and got dropped off right at home in about the same amount of time, and also avoided the hassle of that group of teens watching Tik Tok on speaker phone who got on at Bloor that I seriously doubt actually paid any fare to ride the train.
/end of venting
lowtrain
New Member
I don’t think it’s a new problem, I posted this video on the summer last year.
officedweller
Senior Member
Well, I haven't lived in Toronto since university in 1993 when I took the airport bus from Islington, so don't even know the UP/GO stations or routes, but no worries.
Amare
Senior Member
Ah the Pacific Western coaches, those were the days.
Extremely comfortable rides on those Prevost coaches, compared to the current rattle sabre junk Nova Buses on the 192.
officedweller
Senior Member
And there may have also been an airport bus from the Yorkdale bus terminal, too.
APTA-2048
Senior Member
You can still take the bus to the airport with GO Transit route 94. It also stops at Scarborough Town Centre.
ctf5650
New Member
I rode it the other weekend up to Mt Dennis to try out Line 5 and my train sounded/felt like it was about to derail. It seemed to be a train problem, not a track one, as it hunted and vibrated exponentially harder as we picked up speed. I could see panels shaking inside the train and it felt like something was seriously wrong with the bogies.
IRT_BMT_IND
Active Member
The UPX rolling stock has always been unreliable. I wonder if MX is seriously looking at replacements, lest a bunch of the existing rolling stock have to be taken out of service at once. Since the UPX trains only run on MX track and don't interact with freight I wonder if they could get some sort of exemption to let them use European DEMU's like OC Transpo uses.
lastcommodore
Active Member
To my knowledge, Nippon Sharyo has basically exited the NA market so it's probably optimal to find someone else for newer rolling stock, and also to my knowledge the current trains have not been great maintenance wise. No public knowledge if they are seeking new rolling stock though. Probably won't for a while given it's only been ten years and it wouldn't look good to retire rail fleet that early.
However, the corridor does indeed see infrequent freight trains on the Weston sub. There's some video of freight passing by the high-platforms the UPX stops at. But the main factor is not what rolling stock exactly CN/CP would allow (Though VIA and CN are currently fighting that case over their new trains and railroad crossings...) but mostly mainline crash standards, of which the entire GO network is considered mainline. The rolling stock on OCTranspo line 2 is the Stadler FLIRT, which indeed is mainline crash worthy. Importing European models into NA is problematic as they need to be recertified or modified for mainline crash standards if they havent already/don't have a NA variant.
Lots of words to say that MX probably is going to hold off on rolling stock replacement for a while, and there would be no problem running FLIRTs on the UPX (For that matter, along the entire GO network).
reaperexpress
Senior Member
In the US, EU-certified trains can operate on mainlines without a waiver (under Alternative Compliance). The Stadler FLIRT trains on TexRail, Metra and DART share tracks with freight trains but they didn't need to get waivers. US freight trains are just as big as Canadian ones so Transport Canada really ought to allow EU trains here as well.
ShonTron
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The freight services on the Weston Sub are overnight CN-CP interchange trains that enter Metrolinx tracks at Halwest or at a transfer track near Jane Street, and the switching run that serves several customers in Malton and Etobicoke, which I’ve seen during daylight midday hours.
So, yeah, the UPX trains share the tracks with standard freight equipment and of course with GO trains, which also use freight railway compatible stock.
I hope Metrolinx is in the procurement process for replacement/expansion fleet as it’s going to be absolutely necessary once St. Clair-Old Weston Station comes online.
ssiguy2
Senior Member
I took the UPX last summer when I was in Toronto and I wasn't very impressed. It seemed to crawl thru the elevated portions near Pearson. The larger section once it hit the mainline was quite quick but I found the ride surprisingly loud and jolting for a train.
I still think the UPX would be an ideal place to implement battery BEMUs. The station lengths are perfect, the electrical connection infrastructure is already in place thru the elevated portions, and electrifying Union would be easy and cheap as it has it's own station. This added to the fact that it was suppose to be electrified nearly a decade ago.
The amount of non-catenary section is relatively small and hence the BEMUs wouldn't need to have as many batteries which lessens the weight which further increases de/acceleration. It would provide a much quieter and smoother ride and save significant operational costs not having to purchase diesel fuel. ML, at least has said, that they want to explore BEMUs and the UPX is an ideal route to test them on. The number of trains themselves is not very large so they could acquire them fairly quickly as every major manufacturer now produces them.
I still think the UPX would be an ideal place to implement battery BEMUs. The station lengths are perfect, the electrical connection infrastructure is already in place thru the elevated portions, and electrifying Union would be easy and cheap as it has it's own station. This added to the fact that it was suppose to be electrified nearly a decade ago.
The amount of non-catenary section is relatively small and hence the BEMUs wouldn't need to have as many batteries which lessens the weight which further increases de/acceleration. It would provide a much quieter and smoother ride and save significant operational costs not having to purchase diesel fuel. ML, at least has said, that they want to explore BEMUs and the UPX is an ideal route to test them on. The number of trains themselves is not very large so they could acquire them fairly quickly as every major manufacturer now produces them.