GO Transit Fleet Equipment and other

[ssiguy2]

This can all be done, piece of cake just like it is all across the rest of the planet.

The ability to electrify is NOT the issue. The issue is that ML simply doesn't want to electrify the system. They have had a decade already and the only thing electrified on the entire system is the lightbulbs. What's more they haven't put out a single tender to make it so. These new "timelines" are none of the sort but simply new notes written on the back of a napkin to appease the public ala Wynne's high-speed rail line to London.

ML can come up with every excuse as to why the deal with DB fell thru but there is just ONE reason...........when the tender went out, DB actually thought that ML was serious about electrified high frequency RER service and ML wasn't. It was a public relations exercise that DB was sick of being part of. ML didn't want to deal further with DB because DB took the tender seriously only to find out that ML didn't.

 

[smallspy]

The operating rules are a system that exists to keep people safe. Given that EU regulations have produced a safer rail network than the Canadian ones, it seems short-sighted to simply dismiss them because "that's not how we do it here". It doesn't make sense to blindly commit to a set of inefficient regulations that were created incrementally in a low-density freight environment when we're trying to create a high-density passenger environment with minimal freight. European mainlines are much more similar to the proposed core GO network than the remote single-track railways on which the Canadian rules and regulations were developed .

Could SOME of the European regulations (and keep in mind, there are few standardized railway regulations continent-wide) work here? I am sure that there are likely some.

Could all of them be imported wholesale? No - not without completely changing how the railroads operate here.

And that's the issue. Just saying "look over there, they can do it" misses the point of HOW they are able to do it and why. Their lines are configured for small, light trains. Ours have been prioritized for the opposite.

So long as the network needs to be capable of mingling with those freight trains, it needs to be able to be kept safe of them, too. And that goes for VIA trains, or any longer-distance GO runs. We don't run subways on the Kingston Sub, nor should we.

How large are the freight trains that operate on the Metrolinx-owned railways where electrification, ETCS and frequent service are proposed?

Normally? As Krypto98 wrote above, generally not much longer than 20 cars, although some of the Aldershot-to-Oakville transfers have be as long as 100 autoracks.

In extraordinary circumstances, such as CP's Oshawa derailment or the blockages of CN's line around Tyendinaga? 10,000 feet is not uncommon.

Dan

 

[Krypto98]

Have seen more than 20 cars from Oakville to Aldershot with two power units. Have seen yard switchers and mainline power on them. Same for CN Lambton transfer that used mainline power. The waterfront transfers where 20 maximum with two yard switchers.

When CN ran trains through Union, mainline power pulling over 100 cars.

Halton Sub and the Galt Sub see double stacks. I cannot speak to the Barrie line since I am rarely there when CN moves. Double stacks did show up on the Richmond Hill line and at Union. Lots of auto racks from Oakville to Aldershot. CSX runs double stacks on the NEC.

CN hasn't run through the USRC in almost a decade now. Most of the examples you listed aren't exactly recent, Waterfront switcher hasn't been a thing in at least 5-6 years maybe more, I've never ran it . Of course Halton sub would see double stacks its their main line. Auto racks from Oakville to Aldershot are from the Ford job which i mentioned can reach way bigger lengths. The most I've had on the Lambton transfer was like 90+ cars with 2 GE engines. I can't recall if ive had some double stacks on that job.

 

[generalcanada]

CN hasn't run through the USRC in almost a decade now. Most of the examples you listed aren't exactly recent, Waterfront switcher hasn't been a thing in at least 5-6 years maybe more, I've never ran it . Of course Halton sub would see double stacks its their main line. Auto racks from Oakville to Aldershot are from the Ford job which i mentioned can reach way bigger lengths. The most I've had on the Lambton transfer was like 90+ cars with 2 GE engines. I can't recall if ive had some double stacks on that job.

wasnt there an incident like 5-7 years ago that required cn detour through the usrc corridor?

 

[smallspy]

wasnt there an incident like 5-7 years ago that required cn detour through the usrc corridor?

A little bit more than 5 to 7 years ago.

CP derailed in Oshawa on June 5th, 2009. As the line was impassible for several days as they cleaned up the site, numerous freights were rerouted via CN coming down the Galt, across the USRC and up and out over the Kingston Sub to Cobourg, where a temporary connection track was built (on the site of an old one that had been removed several years prior).

Dan

 

[turbanplanner]

A little bit more than 5 to 7 years ago.

CP derailed in Oshawa on June 5th, 2009. As the line was impassible for several days as they cleaned up the site, numerous freights were rerouted via CN coming down the Galt, across the USRC and up and out over the Kingston Sub to Cobourg, where a temporary connection track was built (on the site of an old one that had been removed several years prior).

Dan

Is that connection still there now or was it re-demolished?