GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[Allandale25]

What's a #20 Crossover? Also, how many ARL sets will be active on the line with 15 minute headways?

 

[RandomBusGuy]

can anyone tell me when trains will be running into barrie waterfront station? i cant find it on their website, but the town website said that construction was done on Dec. 31.

According to a Barrie Examiner article today about developing the land around the Allandale Waterfront GO Station, it should be "operational in a few weeks". Everything I've been reading lately has said January for the station, so here's hoping it's ready by the end of the month.

 

[smallspy]

What's a #20 Crossover?

Switches come in many sizes depending on the angle of the "frog" that allows the rails to cross each other. A #20 is about as big as you will find in Canada - this is what the vast majority of the crossovers on the Kingston and Oakville Sub use - and allows for trains on the diverging route to pass at 45mph. There are much smaller switches with tighter curves on the diverging route, although they will force slower and slower speeds for trains not going straight.

Also, how many ARL sets will be active on the line with 15 minute headways?

Looks like 4, although it is tough to say without any sort of schedule.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[Dan416]

Going back to Milton/CP, the issue with them is simply money - they are demanding more than Metrolinx thinks is fair to pay for the track time. The 8th wayside box is in place and active at Milton Yard.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

What is a wayside box?

 

[vegeta_skyline]

What is a wayside box?

Wayside power boxes are installed at all GO layover yards and outposts. It allows for the HEP (Head End Power) engine to be shut off. The MP40 locomotives (and the previous F59PH's) are equipped with a main engine (which drives a generator that supply's the power that propels the locomotive/train itself) and a HEP engine. The HEP engine is a smaller secondary engine which is used to supply all power to the train itself (HVAC, lighting, recharge battery backup, etc.). With wayside power, a train can be 'plugged in' so that the electrical grid supply's the power needed to maintain the HVAC while the train is in storage (also reducing diesel consumption and the need for re-fueling).

 

[vegeta_skyline]

The ARL equipment being built by Kinki-Sharyo/Sumitomo is completely FRA- and EPA-compliant, and can run on any railway in the US or Canada. All 3 tracks will be signalized with CTC and will have #20 crossovers every couple of miles, just like on the Oakville and Kingston Subs (although it's not clear yet whether CN will be controlling it or whether it will be GO themselves).

Yes I that's what I assumed, so I was surprised to hear that the intent is to make certain tracks 'exclusive use' only(1 for GO trains only, 1 for ARL only and 1 shared). Perhaps it not because of any safety compliance issue but rather efficiency, unless he misinterpreted some information or the plan has since changed.

I would imagine that dispatching on the Weston sub(encompassing the ARL) would be controlled by GO/metrolinx by that point(2015) since they are in the process of building their own RTC center in Oakville (as well as dispatching for the new CTC systems on the Newmarket & Uxbridge sub's).

 

[smallspy]

Wayside power boxes are installed at all GO layover yards and outposts. It allows for the HEP (Head End Power) engine to be shut off. The MP40 locomotives (and the previous F59PH's) are equipped with a main engine (which drives a generator that supply's the power that propels the locomotive/train itself) and a HEP engine. The HEP engine is a smaller secondary engine which is used to supply all power to the train itself (HVAC, lighting, recharge battery backup, etc.). With wayside power, a train can be 'plugged in' so that the electrical grid supply's the power needed to maintain the HVAC while the train is in storage (also reducing diesel consumption and the need for re-fueling).

One other thing that GO's units do once plugged into the wayside boxes is shut down.

Most diesel locomotives - even modern ones - are cooled with water rather than antifreeze. This means that the coolant can not be allowed to freeze or else it will crack the engine block and radiators. Thus, it is very common to see lines of locomotives running idle when the temperatures drop to 5C or below. Some railroads have even equipped their locomotives with sensors to automatically turn on when the temperature of the onboard systems drop below a prescribed level.

When GO plugs its trains into the wayside system however, a number of things happen. A security system activates for one, and all onboard electrical systems for the coaches continue to run from the HEP bus. In the locomotive, heaters in the coolant loop and fuel tank will turn on if the temperature drops, and the pumps will circulate the coolant. It will also turn on the cab heaters - or at least, it is supposed to - to ensure that the loco will be ready to start quickly when the crew arrives for service the next day.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[drum118]

Wayside power boxes are installed at all GO layover yards and outposts. It allows for the HEP (Head End Power) engine to be shut off. The MP40 locomotives (and the previous F59PH's) are equipped with a main engine (which drives a generator that supply's the power that propels the locomotive/train itself) and a HEP engine. The HEP engine is a smaller secondary engine which is used to supply all power to the train itself (HVAC, lighting, recharge battery backup, etc.). With wayside power, a train can be 'plugged in' so that the electrical grid supply's the power needed to maintain the HVAC while the train is in storage (also reducing diesel consumption and the need for re-fueling).

Georgetown

Kitchener

London

 

[Long Island Mike]

LIRR MU Car Totals By Type...And other observations...

We often think that MUs are rare in North America, but the Long Island Railroad alone has over a thousand EMU cars in service today.

RR: The LIRR currently rosters 170 1985/86 vintage Budd-built M3 cars
and 836 Bombardier built M7 cars built between 2001-2005...
That is 1006 total to be exact...

The LIRR formerly operated a fleet of 770 Budd-built M1 cars that were built
between 1968-1972 that are now retired...

Metro-North also has a fleet of similar M7s-338 to be exact...
They have 140 M3 cars also...
The New Haven Line operates M2-M4-M6-and the now-building
Kawasaki M8s that will replace all the 70s vintage M2s minimally...

NJ Transit has a fleet of Arrow 3 MU cars and SEPTA has a fleet of
over 300 MU cars operating in their Philadelphia-area system...

LI MIKE

 

[borgo100]

Took some pic's of the Allandale Waterfront Go Station tonight, everything is looking pretty good. The Go platforms behind the old station besides a couple of light post and such looks almost done, nothing special just your typical Go Station (didn't take any pics because it was to dark, probably stop by in the day sometime this week). The real prize is the old station, the renovations are coming along and i'm glad they've kept it after being abandoned for years. Pics taken from my iphone 4, sorry about the quality.

 

[nfitz]

Looks fantastic! Might well be the nicest station on the system!

 

[borgo100]

i believe the old station will be used as retail, but so far it depends on what happens with the 4 acres they want to develop, (something along the lines of condos, retail and hotel) http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3431232

 

[GTS]

Good to see Barrie develop their own Waterfront- this GO Station could be a major cog in the development of this part of the city. More and more cities are pumping funds into developing their own 'waterfronts'.

 

[Dan416]

I dislike the name of this station "Allandale Waterfront" nearly as much as I dislike the "Vaughan Corporate Centre" and later "Vaughan Metropolitan Centre" names.

 

[RedRocket191]

I dislike the name of this station "Allandale Waterfront" nearly as much as I dislike the "Vaughan Corporate Centre" and later "Vaughan Metropolitan Centre" names.

Historically this station was named Allandale - Barrie was a bit further up the line where no rails exist anymore. But, I agree that adding marketing names onto the end is a bad precedence to set.