vegeta_skyline
Senior Member
Anyhow,
The hot rumor going around is that 1/2 hr service is coming in the fall, that is if they have the man-power for it...
Word is GO is under a lot of pressure from the general public to provide this service. Which is quite obvious, but somewhat surprising to hear that that they are in a sense 'giving in' to the general consensus rather than implementing the plan at perhaps a more practical time... Than again, it is something that was originally promised years ago as we're all well aware, but had to be continually postponed(for a variety of reasons).
Question is, is it logistically possible?
Barrie & Niagara weekend service will both be ending in the fall, but that will only amount to 11 days worth of work per week (2 Barrie crews on Sat, 2 on Sun & 1 NF crew on Fri, 3 on Sat and 3 on Sun). Mid-day 1/2 hour service would mean doubling the trains out there at one time, from 5 to 10. Allocating those 11 days per week would only result in 2 of the 5 required crews.
The key is to re-arrange and re-distribute the jobs. One idea is to change several split shifts into 'long hauls'(split shift crews generally do fewer revenue runs, because they usually have to 'prep' their trains twice a day instead of once and because of additional equipment runs) and another would be to extend the service times of individual jobs( but that would result in more OT and higher operational costs, something that was curtailed only recently. By doing so, the required additional manpower requirements may be meet with the current work force.
The current engineer training class won't be qualified by the fall since they are continuously being taken out of training to cover other positions as the spare board is currently not sufficiently staffed to do so. There has recently been an unprecedented amount of staff currently off (for a multitude of reasons).
It's hard to plan for the unplanned. i.e. fatalities, health issues(heart attacks, illnesses), rule violation, etc.
GO has also really tightened the purse strings and is only allocating for a certain preset budget to go towards new hires. Seemingly without any leeway for any further degradation of available crews.
In defense of GO, its understandable that in the current economic climate the government is hard pressed to increase spending in any area. Also, it is the contractors responsibility to manage its own work force as efficiently as possible. But taking a look at the current circumstances, I think its entirely unreasonable to just demand for something to happen when an entity is just physically incapable of providing for such, at least not without potentially degrading the current quality of service.
Therefor, despite rumors to the contrary, my personal conclusion (based on the current situation) is that 1/2 hr service is unlike to begin in the fall(Sept) - 33% yay 67% nay.
Imo some time around the New Year would be more realistic since the throttle trainees will have been qualified by then as well as more CTO's (conductors). Either way, the fall or new years, seems like we're finally on the verge of a new era
The hot rumor going around is that 1/2 hr service is coming in the fall, that is if they have the man-power for it...
Word is GO is under a lot of pressure from the general public to provide this service. Which is quite obvious, but somewhat surprising to hear that that they are in a sense 'giving in' to the general consensus rather than implementing the plan at perhaps a more practical time... Than again, it is something that was originally promised years ago as we're all well aware, but had to be continually postponed(for a variety of reasons).
Question is, is it logistically possible?
Barrie & Niagara weekend service will both be ending in the fall, but that will only amount to 11 days worth of work per week (2 Barrie crews on Sat, 2 on Sun & 1 NF crew on Fri, 3 on Sat and 3 on Sun). Mid-day 1/2 hour service would mean doubling the trains out there at one time, from 5 to 10. Allocating those 11 days per week would only result in 2 of the 5 required crews.
The key is to re-arrange and re-distribute the jobs. One idea is to change several split shifts into 'long hauls'(split shift crews generally do fewer revenue runs, because they usually have to 'prep' their trains twice a day instead of once and because of additional equipment runs) and another would be to extend the service times of individual jobs( but that would result in more OT and higher operational costs, something that was curtailed only recently. By doing so, the required additional manpower requirements may be meet with the current work force.
The current engineer training class won't be qualified by the fall since they are continuously being taken out of training to cover other positions as the spare board is currently not sufficiently staffed to do so. There has recently been an unprecedented amount of staff currently off (for a multitude of reasons).
It's hard to plan for the unplanned. i.e. fatalities, health issues(heart attacks, illnesses), rule violation, etc.
GO has also really tightened the purse strings and is only allocating for a certain preset budget to go towards new hires. Seemingly without any leeway for any further degradation of available crews.
In defense of GO, its understandable that in the current economic climate the government is hard pressed to increase spending in any area. Also, it is the contractors responsibility to manage its own work force as efficiently as possible. But taking a look at the current circumstances, I think its entirely unreasonable to just demand for something to happen when an entity is just physically incapable of providing for such, at least not without potentially degrading the current quality of service.
Therefor, despite rumors to the contrary, my personal conclusion (based on the current situation) is that 1/2 hr service is unlike to begin in the fall(Sept) - 33% yay 67% nay.
Imo some time around the New Year would be more realistic since the throttle trainees will have been qualified by then as well as more CTO's (conductors). Either way, the fall or new years, seems like we're finally on the verge of a new era
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