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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

What would be needed is to signalize the section of track between the signal visible in the photo (which governs westward trains) and the signal on the eastside of the platform governing eastward movements out of the platform.

The simple part of that is just to make it possible for the CTC to detect an occupancy in that section. At the moment, trains fall off the CTC plant when they arrive at the platform. (The RTC currrently sees a "tag" on their console reminding them that the train is there, but there is no circuitry in the field protecting and assuring that).

The harder part is, there is a switch ladder at the east end of the platform. Either one or more switches in that ladder would have to be powered, and control added to those in the CTC, or a different procedure would have to be followed to operate those switches. As it stands today, those switches sit outside the CTC zone - so they can be operated manually without contacting the RTC or doing paperwork. That's important so trains can tie up or leave the yard tracks at Georgetown with minimum fuss. One would have to move the eastward signal which is currently at the east end of the switch ladder to the platform, and possibly add at least one eastward signal further up the ladder.

And then, the signals on either side of the platform that control entry to the platform would have to be reprogrammed to grant more favourable indications which might be different under different situations..... and the signals beyond those would have to be reprogrammed as their "approach" indications give advance warning of those "home signal" signal indications at the ends of the platform. And all of that would have to be tested.

Is it doable? Certainly - with money. The thing is, until there is certainty about the end design for the yard and the new trackage towards Guelph, all that effort would be wasted once further modifications to the track and signal layout are made. I suspect that's the reason for the lack of action..... everyone knows there are more changes in the works, and money and effort spent now would be only a temporary fix and thus a poor investment.

- Paul
It's likely that it would take another five years to come up with a way to resolve this choke point. If spending 100k now will quickly put more service on the line I think it's worth it.
 
The rule of thumb for hourly service is : Trains running hourly in both directions will need to pass each other every half hour.

As of today, there is effectively nowhere for trains to meet west of Bramalea.

So, basically - when a GO train departs westbound from Bramalea, it has to go all the way to Kitchener and then come all the way back before the following GO train can head west from Bramalea.

By timetable it's 1 hour 12 minutes from Bramalea to Kitchener. So, at bare minimum, and allowing even a small margin for turnback at Kitchener, in theory the best that Ml can do is run on headways of about 2.5 hours. That is only possible outside of peak hours - the peak service removes any possibility for that spacing during rush hours.
Not entirely correct. There is one, Kitchener itself. Basically a train comes in makes its stop and then dwells at Kitchener for about an hour. In that time the next westbound train makes its way from Gtown to Kitchener. Then the first train departs westward until it gets to the single track, then goes eastward into the passing track north of the station and waits for the 2nd train to get into Kitchener. Once train #2 is in there, train 1 can depart eastward to Gtown. After that it meets train 3 in the two track area between there and Brampton. Train three then gets into Gtown shortly threeafter and then continues on to Kitchener where train 2 is waiting for it on that passing track after completing the same move train one did. Train one meanwhile has continued to Union and does a quick trunaround and presto! with that headways could be cut down in close to half to say around 1:30, maybe even 1:15 if the timing is very precise and you thrown in a forth train ready to go out of Union before the tried train gets in there, though that train would have a long dwell there as a result.

It's incredibly inefficient due to that long dwell at Kitchener but it's not like they haven't done that before at places like West Harbour or Unionville. It's a lot like that weird reversed move they have Niagara trains do at West Harbour, definitely not without precedent and now you have a semi usefull service.
 
Not entirely correct. There is one, Kitchener itself. Basically a train comes in makes its stop and then dwells at Kitchener for about an hour.

It's more complicated than that, as right now Kitchener has only a single platform. The earlier train would have to drop passengers, then continue down the mainline and reverse into a siding. The next train would have to do the same thing, with the first train ducking out, then reversing again to head to the platform. You could exploit the fact that Kitchener has GO storage sidings both west (2) and east (4) of the platform to simplify the dance a little bit, but it would still be awkward. I don't expect that they'd bother, and will just wait until all the passing tracks are in place.
 
^I’m not convinced CN would allow (actually, I’m pretty certain the answer is “no”) two-track meets anywhere between Silver and Bramalea on anything close to an hourly basis. That’s why at minimum ML needs a flyover near Georgetown and some passing capability before we can hope for hourly headways.

Having trains layover at Kitchener is not that much an advantage over just building in turnback time and having the same train double back without having an earlier train waiting to leave. The inability for trains to pass each other (and without impeding CN operations) is the big constraint.

- Paul
 
^I’m not convinced CN would allow (actually, I’m pretty certain the answer is “no”) two-track meets anywhere between Silver and Bramalea on anything close to an hourly basis. That’s why at minimum ML needs a flyover near Georgetown and some passing capability before we can hope for hourly headways.

Having trains layover at Kitchener is not that much an advantage over just building in turnback time and having the same train double back without having an earlier train waiting to leave. The inability for trains to pass each other (and without impeding CN operations) is the big constraint.

- Paul
At the minimum they could probably do hourly to Bramalea on weekends...

L529 doesn't run on weekends
L559 usually will service on the north service track at Wice on Saturday
L549 runs after 9:30 pm shouldn't affect operations
L579 runs after 1:30 am again shouldn't affect things
L577 hasn't been a thing for years...
 
At the minimum they could probably do hourly to Bramalea on weekends...

GO should be good for hourly service all the way to Mount Pleasant, because the only intrusion onto CN's line is at Peel, and GO paid to double track that stretch.... so CN should only expect to run one train at a time from Brampton to Peel.

- Paul
 
It's more complicated than that, as right now Kitchener has only a single platform. The earlier train would have to drop passengers, then continue down the mainline and reverse into a siding. The next train would have to do the same thing, with the first train ducking out, then reversing again to head to the platform. You could exploit the fact that Kitchener has GO storage sidings both west (2) and east (4) of the platform to simplify the dance a little bit, but it would still be awkward. I don't expect that they'd bother, and will just wait until all the passing tracks are in place.
More or less what I mean, the first train would sit there for an hour until it was time to go then go west while the second train was 5 or so minutes out from Kitchener. First train would clear the switch change directions hence the few extra minutes for the crew to do so and then be sent into the passing track while the second train would be pulling into the station at this time when on schedule. There are signals & switches at both sides of the passing track which are clear of Kitchener station, plenty of room to go around the now stopped second train at Kitchener and pop out at the other end(all done with passengers going east already aboard).

But I'm sure Paul is right in that CN would balk at GO trains taking up two of their tracks at the same time. I swear it's really annoying how much power the freight companies have in this country. Even the US as piss poor as it is when it comes to passenger rail has better protections. i.e Amtrak automatic running rights and priority over freight(mandated by law) though I understand the latter is not necessarily enforced at least they can't be denied access ffs.
 
It's more complicated than that, as right now Kitchener has only a single platform. The earlier train would have to drop passengers, then continue down the mainline and reverse into a siding. The next train would have to do the same thing, with the first train ducking out, then reversing again to head to the platform. You could exploit the fact that Kitchener has GO storage sidings both west (2) and east (4) of the platform to simplify the dance a little bit, but it would still be awkward. I don't expect that they'd bother, and will just wait until all the passing tracks are in place.
None of this is necessary. There's a crossover at Lancaster street east of the station, which GO already uses in order to access Shirley Yard, which is on the north side of the tracks. From that switch eastward to the end of double track is 2.8 km, which is enough to schedule a meet with relatively little delay.

Switch at Lancaster Street
Capture1.JPG


Green segment is double-tracked, dots indicate switches.
Capture2.JPG


But this discussion is moot anyway because they are building passing tracks in Guelph and Breslau as we speak, which are both better located than this one.
 

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