Bordercollie
Senior Member
They said police are investigating so it maybe foul play involved.
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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
kalis0490
New Member
Did some arm chair non scientific GO extension/improvement analysis for fun:
Assumptions:
- Good service means bidirectional GO service at least every 60 minutes all days of week.
- All current in progress projects are implemented (Kitchener 2WADGO, etc)
- The goal is to figure out which further corridors should be upgraded to the aforementioned bidirectional GO service at least every 60 minutes all days of week
First I looked at what potential lines serve the most population (summing of population centres along line, or summing of population less than 5 km away from the proposed station for urban areas):
The I eanked the Cost/Ease of implementation. (Looking at factors such as the amount of track needed to be upgraded/rebuilt, the number of stations that need to be built, whether passing track is required etc)
By summing the rankings, we get a final score (lower = better)
Highlights:
Overall it seems that upgrading the existing Lakeshore West-Niagara and Barrie line service are most viable and have the high benefits to costs. These projects were formerly part of GO expansion but have descoped and pushed back in the timeline.
Improvements around the Region of Waterloo also look to be viable (both London and KW are approaching 700K residents)
The Midtown and Milton lines have the highest potential ridership but also require the most Infrastructure needs (resulting in high costs) due to requirements of CPKC for additional track.
Most rural upgrades that commonly feature in rail fantasies are not worth it.
This was pretty non-scientific as mentioned before but an interesting exercise to illustrate valuable upgrades.
Assumptions:
- Good service means bidirectional GO service at least every 60 minutes all days of week.
- All current in progress projects are implemented (Kitchener 2WADGO, etc)
- The goal is to figure out which further corridors should be upgraded to the aforementioned bidirectional GO service at least every 60 minutes all days of week
First I looked at what potential lines serve the most population (summing of population centres along line, or summing of population less than 5 km away from the proposed station for urban areas):
| Ranking of population served | |
| Milton Line Improvement (*Union-Bloor-Milton) | 1 |
| Midtown line New (Kipling-Malvern) | 2 |
| Kitchener Line Extension (Kitchener-London) | 3 |
| Lakeshore West Improvement (West Harbour-St Catharines) | 4 |
| Richmond Hill Improvement (Union-Bloomington) | 5 |
| Barrie Line Improvement (Bradford-Barrie) | 6 |
| Bolton Line New (*Union-Weston-Bolton) | 7 |
| Kitchener Line Extension (Guelph-Cambridge) | 8 |
| Lakeshore West Extension (Aldershot-Brantford) | 9 |
| Lakeshore East Extension (Bowmanville-Cobourg) | 10 |
| Barrie Line Extension (Barrie-Collingwood) | 11 |
| Richmond Hill Extension (Bloomington-Beaverton) | 13 |
The I eanked the Cost/Ease of implementation. (Looking at factors such as the amount of track needed to be upgraded/rebuilt, the number of stations that need to be built, whether passing track is required etc)
| Ranking of Implementation cost/ease | |
| Barrie Line Improvement (Bradford-Barrie) | 1 |
| Lakeshore West Improvement (West Harbour-St Catharines) | 2 |
| Kitchener Line Extension (Guelph-Cambridge) | 3 |
| Kitchener Line Extension (Kitchener-London) | 4 |
| Stouffville Line Extension (Old Elm-Uxbridge) | 5 |
| Lakeshore West Extension (Aldershot-Brantford) | 6 |
| Lakeshore East Extension (Bowmanville-Cobourg) | 7 |
| Richmond Hill Improvement (Union-Bloomington) | 8 |
| Bolton Line New (*Union-Weston-Bolton) | 9 |
| Milton Line Improvement (*Union-Bloor-Milton) | 10 |
| Midtown line New (Kipling-Malvern) | 11 |
| Barrie Line Extension (Barrie-Collingwood) | 12 |
| Richmond Hill Extension (Bloomington-Beaverton) | 13 |
By summing the rankings, we get a final score (lower = better)
| Potential of Lines | Summed |
| Lakeshore West Improvement (West Harbour-St Catharines) | 6 |
| Barrie Line Improvement (Bradford-Barrie) | 7 |
| Kitchener Line Extension (Kitchener-London) | 7 |
| Kitchener Line Extension (Guelph-Cambridge) | 11 |
| Milton Line Improvement (*Union-Bloor-Milton) | 11 |
| Midtown line New (Kipling-Malvern) | 13 |
| Richmond Hill Improvement (Union-Bloomington) | 13 |
| Lakeshore West Extension (Aldershot-Brantford) | 15 |
| Bolton Line New (*Union-Weston-Bolton) | 16 |
| Lakeshore East Extension (Bowmanville-Cobourg) | 17 |
| Stouffville Line Extension (Old Elm-Uxbridge) | 17 |
| Barrie Line Extension (Barrie-Collingwood) | 23 |
| Richmond Hill Extension (Bloomington-Beaverton) | 26 |
Highlights:
Overall it seems that upgrading the existing Lakeshore West-Niagara and Barrie line service are most viable and have the high benefits to costs. These projects were formerly part of GO expansion but have descoped and pushed back in the timeline.
Improvements around the Region of Waterloo also look to be viable (both London and KW are approaching 700K residents)
The Midtown and Milton lines have the highest potential ridership but also require the most Infrastructure needs (resulting in high costs) due to requirements of CPKC for additional track.
Most rural upgrades that commonly feature in rail fantasies are not worth it.
This was pretty non-scientific as mentioned before but an interesting exercise to illustrate valuable upgrades.
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crs1026
Superstar
An interesting thing to add to that analysis is "closest to the finish line" from current state.
I would rank Barrie to Aurora as soonest in that much of the 2-track grading is mostly complete.
- New track Strachan-Dundas likely doable by year end
- Caledonia and Lansdowne station construction is an obstacle, both could be expedited but still 2 years
- One significant culvert extension needed near King City
- Grading and drainage for second platform King City
- Bridge and second platform at Downsview Park needed, this is underway
- Unclear how close the signals and turnout design is to readiness for installation
I would speculate that Kitchener service can't be upgraded beyond Bramalea until the Halton 4-tracking and flyover are designed and built - 4-5 years
All improvements on LSW/Niagara likely need
- 4th track segments which have not even been planned yet - 5 years+
- 3rd track West Harbour - Confederation
- 2nd track Jordan-Glenridge
- Niagara Falls spur upgrade
LSE/Stouffville lines - 3-4 years
- East Harbour, Danforth, and Birchmount construction and possibly
- revision of tracks at Scarborough Jct
Stouffville needs the infamous bridge built and possibly Scarborough Jct- Kennedy - 3 years
Milton - 3 years of EA/Consultation/Design to reach shovels in ground - 6 years
Just my guesses
- Paul
I would rank Barrie to Aurora as soonest in that much of the 2-track grading is mostly complete.
- New track Strachan-Dundas likely doable by year end
- Caledonia and Lansdowne station construction is an obstacle, both could be expedited but still 2 years
- One significant culvert extension needed near King City
- Grading and drainage for second platform King City
- Bridge and second platform at Downsview Park needed, this is underway
- Unclear how close the signals and turnout design is to readiness for installation
I would speculate that Kitchener service can't be upgraded beyond Bramalea until the Halton 4-tracking and flyover are designed and built - 4-5 years
All improvements on LSW/Niagara likely need
- 4th track segments which have not even been planned yet - 5 years+
- 3rd track West Harbour - Confederation
- 2nd track Jordan-Glenridge
- Niagara Falls spur upgrade
LSE/Stouffville lines - 3-4 years
- East Harbour, Danforth, and Birchmount construction and possibly
- revision of tracks at Scarborough Jct
Stouffville needs the infamous bridge built and possibly Scarborough Jct- Kennedy - 3 years
Milton - 3 years of EA/Consultation/Design to reach shovels in ground - 6 years
Just my guesses
- Paul
Sauga89
Active Member
I would note that Niagara Region believes Metrolinx could immediately increase Niagara service to 9 round trips daily, up from the current 3 round trips, if the province bought the track from CN.
This is according to a staff presentation made to Niagara Regional Council last year (Here is the YouTube link with discussion starting at the 1 hour 46 minute mark). According to region staff, CN is open to the sale.
crs1026
Superstar
I don't disagree with them.....it's doable, if...........but...... the "if" is a big one.
So long as CN owns the line, they will undoubtedly protect their own interests ahead of GO.
- Paul
Bordercollie
Senior Member
Does CN need this route to get access to New York?
Bojaxs
Senior Member
CN needs access to the CSX yard in Niagara Falls, New York. CN & CSX have a switching agreement at this yard for containers going to and coming from the east coast, U.S. ports.
I would know. On occasion, I've been asked to load the trains that are destined for this yard. We call them the "CSX trains". Although lately I've noticed a slow down in Canadian shippers using east coast U.S. ports. The container stacks in the Brampton yard are smaller, and we don't send out as many CSX trains as we did the last couple years.
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