It's easy to say it and even to study it, but it's not easy to do it. Look at
how long it's taken Amtrak to fully enable ACSES on the NEC (unfortunately too long in the case of Amtrak 188) and how long it has taken operators in the US to obtain the necessary radio spectrum licences such that
the PTC deadline had to be rewritten by Congress to add three more years. A passenger track whose service can be paused to let the occasional freight pass to the NRC can't be compared to the USRC in terms of complexity of implementation where you have Metrolinx, VIA and Amtrak vehicles and a complex track layout.
This be true.
It's currently still being mentioned as a RER
requirement numerous times in several Metrolinx documents, so it will be interesting to see how PTC delays plays out, in concurrent to RER delays. This requirement could disappear, if they find a satisfactory trainset that meets the requirements. But the requirement hasn't disappeared yet...
There is a probable nearly-10-year window (mid-2020s for the first entry into service). Amtrak will already be PTC equipped even with the delays, as will freight by then (because they transit between US/Canada), so it probably becomes VIA and Metrolinx to focus on, as well as the Metrolinx infrastructure itself.
So far, many things being done in the last while has been done with some kind of PTC migration path in mind, so that helps. The building of the new centres. CTC modernization. The CTC activation of many subs. The resignalling that was done on Weston corridor, and the upcoming USRC resignalling that's supposed to happen soon(ish?). All done before any Transport Canada "edict" occuring for PTC. By then, we'll already be slightly more prepared, and have a bigger time window than they had (hopefully). Once the USRC resignalling occurs, the other pieces of the rail network will be relatively easy in comparison to that resignalling nightmare, so eyes will be peeled on that.
If this is done incrementally, say, Bramalea-Unionville at first, that would be just one line. Assuming all resources are focussed on activating RER with non-FRA trainsets on just one route, within ten years (accounting for delays), it could be doable since there's already been PTC groundwork in a subsection of this corridor, being done even before a Transport Canada requirement beginning to occur. Plus, the +10 years likely means Amtrak/freight trainsets will be equipped by then due to their frequent entry into the U.S. So the minor headstart, plus a focus on just a few corridors, will smooth the transition, if something is announced later this decade for a mid-2020s deadline. Assuming, of course, PTC is still a RER requirement.
I'd imagine there'd be a buffet of strict rules before letting an Euro-style trainset roll onto specific tracks in the USRC. It might be on certain tracks that no non-exceptional daytime freight operations are allowed ever (except temporal -- e.g. overnight when RER is not running). There are many tracks on some of the initial electrfication candidates (Georgetown) so they don't necessarily initially need to install freight flexibility on, say, all four, five or six tracks of a specific corridor (and any accidential freight rolling onto the wrong track would simply mean a RER shutdown for that corridor until the freight corrected).
I'd think that the freight-shared track or tracks would get all the infrastructure goodies to continue to meet minimum possible freight running rights obligations while meeting Transport Canada requirements for non-FRA, with all the necessary warning infrastructure if the freight is ever on the wrong track. It won't be "full physical separation in the same corridor" like the Scarborough RT and GO, but it would electronically be (hopefully) almost as good as that. To solve certain bones of contentions, possibly, some tracks could have nighttime-only running rights while one or two in various locations would have daytime rights.
We already see this with UPX, where it primarily sticks to certain trackage that I've never ever seen daytime freight trains run over (except for very specific conflict points like crossing over to Pearson spur). I'm not even sure a freight train could squeeze between the blocks on the same track, anyway.
There are crossover points of conflicts that need to be solved, and those probably would have strict rules automatically enforced like bigger temporal separation. Some sort of agreement would need to be hammered out, to shoehorn one non-FRA commuter route into the now-Metrolinx-owned network. At least these trainsets probably don't necessarily need full access to all six tracks, if they're being focussed on one route initially.
They don't need to go non-FRA for the whole GO network as EMUs may only arrive on one "route" (e.g. Bramalea-Stoufville RER), so that greatly simplifies what needs to be done by Year 2025. That's a heck a lot of simpler than what the USA is focussing on, and we already have partial PTC infrastructure headstart occuring already ahead of any Transport Canada edict...
Just because non-PTC-equipped trains may be operating to a Quebec coal mine, doesn't automatically mean it's a threat to an Euro train passing Weston, the whole GO network doesn't need to run under the same identical rules. Niether does the Canada-wide rail network. More freight trains run their "running rights" on certain GO routes than others. Freight train running rights, a clause put in the Metrolinx purchase of many freight corridors, are a continually negotiable/modifiable clause that often changes after the original purchase of the corridors. Some routes are infrequent enough that you could just dangle enough money (I'll pay you $XXM if you only run your freight trains at night beginning 5 years from now) and they'll be happy to run a specific leg only at night, if that specific leg (e.g. Unionville) is a big showstopper to a non-FRA EMU purchase. Then you gain temporal separation for those narrower Metrolinx-owned corridors if it's cheaper than trying to expropriate backyards to add third/fourth tracks.
Still... It's a massively complex project, I agree.
I keep seeing "PTC" or "Positive Train Control" mentioned in various Metrolinx documents, including repeatedly as a "requirement". So they have to figure out how to pull that off, somehow. If they're going to pull off those infill stations and also 5-to-10-minute service, and short headways, they need those really high performing EMUs, and several very suitable models tend to be lighter and not FRA-strength.
It may that we end up seeing a compromise, like some form of "FRA lite" rules, not as flexible as Europe/Japan, but lighter trains than current FRA requirements that permits more flexible selection of trainsets. Various tweaks (if necessary), like say, maybe adding those pairs of external shock-absorbing bumper-pads to the front of an existing Euro-style trainset, and a bunch of other basic safety enhancements required for this side of pond (far more minor than requiring a trainset redesign, more minor than trying to meet full FRA structural strength rules) -- before being permitted to roll on a comparatively very small subset of GO's network -- and in 10 years from now.
An Euro trainset that receives simple enhancements to meet any new future "FRA lite" set of rules, might end up being sufficient to satisfy GO's plans for "only one measly subset" of "one measly route" (seemingly
already on way to becoming almost half "PTC ready") receiving EMUs, in a future era where all Amtrak/Freight trains are already PTC-equipped, and then all still satisfy Transport Canada. Where there's a way, there's a compromise, methinks...
It's not like a switch flips, and suddenly euro trains is be allowed on the whole GO network by 2025 (or even 2030 with RER deployment delay/political delay by 2018 conservatives/etc) -- just need only a tiny subset -- one that is already partially PTC-ready. Framed that way, negotiating with Transport Canada and the freight companies becomes a more palatable (albiet challenging) matter.
The rest could follow as the older Bombardier BiLevel coaches gradually retire incrementally over a half-century period.
(This discussion needs to be transferred over to the
Positive Train Control Thread)
