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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

Sort of OT re: electrification, but I wonder if the Lakeshore West is the busiest (number of riders) diesel-only line and Union the busiest (again, number of passengers) diesel-only station in the world. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a busier one.
 
Hipster Duck said:
Sort of OT re: electrification, but I wonder if the Lakeshore West is the busiest (number of riders) diesel-only line and Union the busiest (again, number of passengers) diesel-only station in the world. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a busier one.
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The Great Western Main Line in the UK (from near Heathrow Airport, where the electrification ends, to Reading, Bristol, and branches to Oxford, etc.) is by far the busiest diesel train line in the world, although much of this line is planned to be electrified in the future.
 
DHLawrence85 said:
I wonder where Chicago Union Station would fall on the diesel-only scale.
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So do I, though Chicago has several other stations for Metra's services (LaSalle, Oglivie, the Metra Electric/NICTD stations). Chicago Union might beat Union by train movements, but I'm sure Toronto Union would beat it by number of passengers. 200-300 passengers off the long distance Amtrak lines such as the Empire Builder or City of New Orleans would be equivalent to a late evening GO Lakeshore train.

Paddington and St. Pancras were all-diesel before the introduction of Heathrow Express for Paddington and Eurostar from Waterloo to St. Pancras and might have beat Toronto Union, and might still by number of passengers through arriving/departing by diesel train. I might imagine that the inner Midland Main Line from St. Pancras and the Great Western Main Line say through Slough, might still be busier by passenger trips than Lakeshore West (after, at least, the GO Milton, Kitchener and Barrie trains split off east of Strachan).
 
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Nah, Chicago's got us beat: 3 million a year with Amtrak alone--and there are six Metra lines besides, all diesel. Pretty much every east-west train other than the Sunset Limited goes to Chicago. Los Angeles has us beat too; 1.6 million Amtrak passengers, not including Metrolink.

I'd prefer electricity to numbers, though ;)

EDIT: Never mind. 2.55 million from VIA and 44 million from GO.
 
DHLawrence85 said:
EDIT: Never mind. 2.55 million from VIA and 44 million from GO.
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And those are 2004 numbers. Haven't seen a more recent one, but one assumes GO has to be higher now.

That said, I found that Metra's BNSF line carries more people daily than GO LSW, so digging through the Chicago numbers was useful for something.
 
In North America, it's gotta be pretty close between Chicago Union and Toronto Union but I'd expect Toronto to overtake Chicago fairly soon. Funny enough, I expect Amtrak ridership to boom with Metra to stagnate, while I think it'll be the reverse here: GO will boom with VIA stagnating.

About the BNSF line. I was kind of intrigued by their schedule. They don't quite have hourly service, but they have an extended rush hour that seems to last from 2:30 until 7pm (or 4:30 until 8:30 in the morning) with - at times - trains leaving every 4 minutes. They also have different classes of trains beyond our two, including a super express that makes it from Chicago Union to Naperville (50km away) in just 32 minutes!

--

I also totally forgot about all the mainline routes in the UK which are still diesel - an anomaly for a densely populated Western European country.
 
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Hipster Duck said:
In North America, it's gotta be pretty close between Chicago Union and Toronto Union but I'd expect Toronto to overtake Chicago fairly soon. Funny enough, I expect Amtrak ridership to boom with Metra to stagnate, while I think it'll be the reverse here: GO will boom with VIA stagnating.
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Metra ridership has a cyclical growth pattern tied strongly to Chicago employment levels. Since they are starting to see interest in building office towers again, Metra will likely start seeing growth in the near future.

http://metrarail.com/content/dam/metra/documents/ridership_reports/2012 ANNUAL REPORT - WEBSITE.pdf

What is really interesting is Metra Electric is by far the worst performing routes (for growth) carrying the same number of passengers today as it did in '84 and dropping rapidly (5% decrease in 2013 from 2012 thus far).
 
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rbt said:
Metra ridership has a cyclical growth pattern tied strongly to Chicago employment levels. Since they are starting to see interest in building office towers again, Metra will likely start seeing growth in the near future.

http://metrarail.com/content/dam/metra/documents/ridership_reports/2012 ANNUAL REPORT - WEBSITE.pdf

What is really interesting is Metra Electric is by far the worst performing route (for growth) carrying the same number of passengers today as it did in '84.
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That's funny as it has the best service of the entire system.
 
Complaint: WTF is up with the GO train washrooms? I'm on a train right now, the Niagara Excursion, and there are at least 4 wasrooms out of service, with the one I eventually used being in a horrible state (though it had an electric hand dryer, when did those arrive? This was a 2500 series car).

Earlier today going toward Burlington on a regular Lakeshore West it was the same story; multiple washrooms out of service and the one I found in service had no paper towels or toilet paper.

I have noticed situations like this have risen significantly this year on trips at all times of day.

Am I having bad luck or did they cut back on washroom maintenance?

EDIT: I have noticed trash accumulation is up too, especially on weekends. Perhaps this is just from increased ridership, but the amount of empty beer and liquor cans/bottles on Saturday nights is crazy.
 
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drum118 said:
It was stated at Metrolinx meeting today that a number of lines will not see 30 minute headway for decades.

Each line will be review on it own ridership once they go to all day service. Some lines may not even get hourly service.

The chair asked what it will take to get 15 minute headway on the Lakeshore and the CEO stated it will take ridership demand.

As lone trains are run as 10-12 car trains, ridership will never be achieve for a number of lines to get better service. Another GO outdated thinking. Need to run shorter DMU/Emu trains to get the better headway.

It was stated it will be 15-20 years before EMu's can run on the Lakeshore line, 5 years for the UP line. Something smell.

Had my last hourly ride on the Lakeshore today, thankful for it.
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If only Metrolinx weren't wasting time and money on a pointless LRT along Highway 10, we could see on the GO Train lines with 30 minute service sooner, especially the Milton and Kitchener line. Such a shame. Metrolinx really needs to get their priorities straight.
 
Jonny5 said:
Complaint: WTF is up with the GO train washrooms? I'm on a train right now, the Niagara Excursion, and there are at least 4 wasrooms out of service, with the one I eventually used being in a horrible state (though it had an electric hand dryer, when did those arrive? This was a 2500 series car).

Earlier today going toward Burlington on a regular Lakeshore West it was the same story; multiple washrooms out of service and the one I found in service had no paper towels or toilet paper.

I have noticed situations like this have risen significantly this year on trips at all times of day.

Am I having bad luck or did they cut back on washroom maintenance?

EDIT: I have noticed trash accumulation is up too, especially on weekends. Perhaps this is just from increased ridership, but the amount of empty beer and liquor cans/bottles on Saturday nights is crazy.
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One train I was on had the bathrooms in two adjacent coaches deemed "occupied" for about half the trip to Aldershot. Was someone in a really bad way, or do those lights go on when the bathrooms are out of service?
 
The last train Sat night in Barrie only had 9 riders get off it.

Here #818 departing Sunday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVfr7O8AaH8

Cut the crap on Hurontario LRT, as it will do nothing in getting 30 minutes on any line tomorrow. Ridership will determine that as well having shorter trains.

As long GO Think Long Trains for service, only a few lines will support hourly service if that.

Getting down to 30 is a long range plan since a number of things are out of Metrolinx control at this time.

If you want 30 minutes service on all lines, then expect to see cost ratio about 30% and paying 3 times what you pay today for that cost ratio.

Sorry, KW cannot support 30 headway until at least if that by 2040 using the current fleet. It going to have a problem doing hourly. It maybe every 2 hours for part of the day, but not at night.
 
drum118 said:
The last train Sat night in Barrie only had 9 riders get off it.

Here #818 departing Sunday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVfr7O8AaH8

Cut the crap on Hurontario LRT, as it will do nothing in getting 30 minutes on any line tomorrow. Ridership will determine that as well having shorter trains.

As long GO Think Long Trains for service, only a few lines will support hourly service if that.

Getting down to 30 is a long range plan since a number of things are out of Metrolinx control at this time.

If you want 30 minutes service on all lines, then expect to see cost ratio about 30% and paying 3 times what you pay today for that cost ratio.

Sorry, KW cannot support 30 headway until at least if that by 2040 using the current fleet. It going to have a problem doing hourly. It maybe every 2 hours for part of the day, but not at night.
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So Just Barrie/Bradford, Milton, Kitchener and Markham, correct? Those are my guesses.
 
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