GO Transit Electrification | Metrolinx

[crs1026]

I am unconvinced that without a clear purge of ML that this can succeed - in fact I am convinced that it will lead to a permanence that is reminiscent of the TTC.

AoD

I have no doubt that a more critical examination of ML's senior strata would lead to some firings. The issue is how to do that in a way that retains the good ones and doesn't create new chaos (incoming leaders have a learning curve and take time to get traction, especially when a bunch are brought in from differing backgrounds and don't immediately align with each other).(which is already very evident at ML)

That has to start with the Board. A main purpose of a Board is to oversee and evaluate the senior management team, against a clearly defined direction and assigned results expectation.

No point in ritual or mass firings at the management level until a new Board has control, has set the direction, and has measures and has a set of kpi's that tell it what is or isn't happening. A Board figures out who are the keepers and who aren't, and works with the executive team to respond to that)

ML's Board is largely redundant because the decisionmaking and policy setting that a Board would normally handle is being made up the street at QP. That's a hidden chain that has to be brought out in the open.

- Paul

 

[dowlingm]

For all the wailing and rending of garments above, I think it does have to be recognized that ML as organization/board and planning entity is wholly controlled by the minister's office and if they aren't delivering, the minister should be first to be accountable, not last. It matters not who fills the board chairs if they don't have true operational authority. Of course, we know in turn the political realities where Cabinet government has been largely replaced by presidential, and ministerial accountability is to the mandate letter and not actual service delivery. Ford seems to be teflon no matter what his government does, and so here we are.

The point here is that the province has pulled several large municipal projects into provincial control - Transit City, YNSE, SSE, DRL, etc. Some of the aforementioned are late and thus requiring supervision and cash when they were supposed to be finished or finishing by now. DRL becoming Ontario Line has directly impacted the operation of GO LSE, resulting in track reductions and works which were unlikely to be required for 4-tracking alone, and therefore has had an impact on GO Expansion beyond cash flow - but it must surely also be having a future cash flow projection impact because any one of the holes in Downtown could become a money pit, and it is possible more than one will be before we see the end of this.

 

[crs1026]

For all the wailing and rending of garments above, I think it does have to be recognized that ML as organization/board and planning entity is wholly controlled by the minister's office and if they aren't delivering, the minister should be first to be accountable, not last. It matters not who fills the board chairs if they don't have true operational authority. Of course, we know in turn the political realities where Cabinet government has been largely replaced by presidential, and ministerial accountability is to the mandate letter and not actual service delivery. Ford seems to be teflon no matter what his government does, and so here we are.

All very true. The fundamental division of authority in a public enterprise is, government staff advise as experts, but elected officials make the final decision. It is usual that elected officials make decisions on a level which considers other factors as well as technical input. There is nothing wrong with elected decisionmakers overriding staff recommendations.... the issue is that staff must speak truth to power (ie their tecommendations shoukd be independently arrived at, rather than presenting what power wants to hear) and the decisionmakers must be willing to explain why they chose the end decision, especially where it may run counter to technical wisdom.

It's pretty obvious that this whole process has broken down with ML.
(Not too long ago, Ford admitted to reporters in frustration that he didn't have a clue what levers he could pull to get Crosstown moving.... the reality is, Premiers and Ministers will seldom have the deep knowledge of a portfolio)

The reason I focus on the Board is that they are instrumental in speaking truth to power, and to the public also. I would like to see ML's fiduciary duty to the public spelled out in law. And I would like to see their rights and obligation to disclose certain things publicly also put in law. The Minister remains the decisionmaker, but their direction needs to be delivered in writing with public disclosure. The ML Board - and not the government's PR function - are the ones executing the Minister's direction, and they must operate with public oversight and with independence in stating truth about plans and results performance.

- Paul

 

[Allandale25]

How Metrolinx’s plan to deliver European-style train service went off the rails

GO Expansion will still transform Greater Golden Horseshoe transit — but likely won’t be as ambitious as what was planned just three years ago

www.thetrillium.ca

First question to the Minister at today's unnrelated press conference was from the author of this article. Haven't had time to watch it yet but here's the time-marked link.

 

[generalcanada]

First question to the Minister at today's unnrelated press conference was from the author of this article. Haven't had time to watch it yet but here's the time-marked link.

yeah so basically blaming it entirely on DB lol

 

[txlseries4]

Haven't had time to watch it yet

I'd encourage you to keep it this way for the sake of your own sanity

 

[hw621]

I mean, electrification is not rocket science right? Other parts of the world has done it decades ago.

 

[cplchanb]

I mean, electrification is not rocket science right? Other parts of the world has done it decades ago.

even countries that we laugh at as third world are getting it like india.... theyve gotten over 90% of their rail electrified. it must be because of the diesel and CN/CP lobbyists who are resistant to change.

 

[Bojaxs]

I mean, electrification is not rocket science right? Other parts of the world has done it decades ago.

It IS difficult. It's not rocket science, but at the same time the urbanist and transit communities are under estimating the complexity of making such a switch.

It's not a matter of simply stringing up wires and purchasing EMU's.

The amount of infrastructure that would have to be built around Union station. Storing electricity, etc.

Unlike the rest of the world, here in North America the freight companies dominate the railroads. Even on tracks owned by GO, they still have to accommodate freight trains in the case of freight having to make a detour.

 

[nfitz]

The 10-year old promise has apparently turned out to be undeliverable, so plans had to be refined and timelines revised to better match reality.

Undeliverable means budget restrictions.

The more services you operate, the more challenging it gets to construct "under the moving wheel". DB InfraGO is closing 2-3 major arteries completely for 4-6 months every year to completely rebuild and upgrade the line. Do you prefer that?

I don't think Metrolinx has once said that these cut-backs have anything to do with construction. They have discussed ridership drops, and they have said the express services were cut because of capacity issues (currently 2 tracks through the subway construction area in Leslieville).

Perhaps you can explain why they can run every 15 minutes on Weekends, but not on Weekdays. There doesn't seem to be any active work on the 2 through tracks, and there is little work yet on most of the line.

It seems to me that you are providing construction theories and excuses to justify Metrolinx's unrelated actions.

 

[Bojaxs]

Perhaps you can explain why they can run every 15 minutes on Weekends, but not on Weekdays.

More capacity at Union station on weekends? No Milton, RH trains. Fewer Kitchener trains. More staff available for the Lakeshore line.

 

[Thaboss]

Indeed! This board was a major help. I plan to continue following GO Expansion, Metrolinx and transit in general, so if anyone has inside scoops, my email/Signal is always open. jack@thetrillium.ca 647-216-6071.

Jack can you please do us all a favour and dig into why the hell finch has no opening date, despite metrolinx publicly declaring the project complete for almost a year...why scarbrough line 2 extention delays have been kept from the public and what the current project timelines are for completion, why was crosstown so delayed and why should we have confidence in a sept opening Date? what is the status of hurontario lrt company that is supposedly near bankruptcy? see if there's any truth to Union Station being one of the major bottlenecks to future electrification, and last but not least, what, if anything, has metrolinx learned from their crosstown mistakes, and has the Ford govt cut funding for transit and is that leading to increased delays and descoping of several projects?


Thank you for all of your hard work. We reaaally appreciate it.

 

[HuskyJet]

First question to the Minister at today's unnrelated press conference was from the author of this article. Haven't had time to watch it yet but here's the time-marked link.

Comments starting at 15:20 she states "the Premier has mentioned [regional rail] and spoken to the Prime Minister about how important [it] is to growth in the Greater Toronto/Hamilton Area, so we will continue to work with our partners...and the federal government..."

I can't help but go back to an earlier post in this thread making conspiratorial connections between the timing of the OOI contract cancellation and the meeting of the Premiers to pitch their nation building ideas. It gives me hope Ford may have a small chance of getting big federal dollars to pick up the slack in this project. That's balanced by my increasing pessimism regional rail is not the nation building the feds are looking for, and Ford (knowing this) can absolve himself of all blame when he inevitably doesn't get federal dollars and can cleanly wash his hands of the ****-show this is.

Even if federal dollars miraculously show up, doesn't solve the backroom debacle Metrolinx is....

.....caring is so tiresome....

 

[nfitz]

More capacity at Union station on weekends? No Milton, RH trains. Fewer Kitchener trains. More staff available for the Lakeshore line.

That doesn't track, as there ARE extra trains on Lakeshore in rush hour. Also they keep using the same platforms. Which trains are using those platforms in between the Lakeshore trains? Yeah, there's a handful of express services that are suspended - but that's a different issue.

It's the mid-day service that was cut.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

It IS difficult. It's not rocket science, but at the same time the urbanist and transit communities are under estimating the complexity of making such a switch.

It's not a matter of simply stringing up wires and purchasing EMU's.

The amount of infrastructure that would have to be built around Union station. Storing electricity, etc.

Unlike the rest of the world, here in North America the freight companies dominate the railroads. Even on tracks owned by GO, they still have to accommodate freight trains in the case of freight having to make a detour.

Industry is slowly moving out of the inner 416 city to the outskirts of the 905. That requires new CN and CP freight lines to be built to service the 905. The new tracks should include provision for any future GO train AND high speed rail. As the new freight lines move out, that makes the old freight line available for GO (and high speed rail). Any new freight and passenger lines should include electrification.