GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[Northern Light]

I can confirm that overgrown, dilapidated remains of a third track are still present on the south side of the ROW in the Dufferin-Bartlett sector, from uh...recent personal observations

If Trouble had a middle name, it just might be Towered.

 

[Towered]

If Trouble had a middle name, it just might be Towered.

Perhaps I should change my forum name to Troubled?

 

[Towered]

Also, how long was the 4 track segment in 1978?

 

[Undead]

Perhaps I should change my forum name to Troubled?

Troubled and don't want help or lost and don't want to be found.

 

[Willybru21]

4) While people look at the lovely former North Toronto station and romanticize about it reverting to a railway station.... the reality of land development already in progress in the area of the station, and the cost of building a terminal at Yonge, or converting the heritage structure and surrounding infrastructure (think platforms and layover infra) is not economically viable or simple in an engineering sense. Possibly a new station might be built, especially closer to the Dupont subway (as opposed to Yonge-Summerhill) but I question the desire to add ridership to the already stressed Yonge transit line.

I have nothing to add in terms of opinion, just throwing this info out there since I was reading about it the other day. In the 1992 study Summerhill station was going to entirely use the old building, which would’ve kept costs down as a new facility wouldn’t have needed to be built:

 

[Northern Light]

Also, how long was the 4 track segment in 1978?

An interesting question, and one hard to give a perfect answer to, unless @Willybru21 has the track diagrams from that year too, LOL

The 1978 imagery gets quite fuzzy when you zoom.

Also, while there are never less than 2 mainline tracks, there are definitely many more that phase in/out be they local service tracks, tracks in/out of yards, or passing tracks.

But broadly, it appears that most of the ROW was 4 active tracks or more from Beth Nealson (Thorncliffe Drive) in the east to the Humber River in the west, with the associated bridges at those points bringing the corridor down to 2 tracks in each case.

The widest number of active tracks, outside of yards, appears to have been in/around Shaw, where I can clearly identify six tracks.

 

[DirectionNorth]

I basically agree w/the above, but will put in a couple of asterisks.

Line 2 was quickly approaching capacity before the pandemic and will foreseeably reach its limits by 2040.
Though I don't see what that has to do with a mid-town GO Line as I don't really see that diverting much existing demand from Line 2 in the form likely to evolve.

My other quibble is the 2060 number, we'll see what unfolds, it certainly is not in the short or medium term offing. But that said.........I think by the 2040s it may well be a matter under examination.

Now that's just a bit far out to take seriously. There are simply a long list of projects in the queue first, and that list is in turn based on likely, but not assured growth, with some idea where it likely to go, but no assurances.

I think that any discussion of Midtown will come from capacity challenges at Union Station. GO RER is not even supposed to finish construction until the early 2030s, and the USRC offers capacity for, in my very unqualified opinion, decades of growth. The station building itself is probably a bigger barrier, but we have little idea of what it will look like beyond @Willybru21's diagrams, and it looks adequate to me.

Midtown GO risks crowding Yonge to an unbearable degree, and that risk goes up, not down, as the transit network expands and the city grows. Bypassing Yonge is also not an option; that's where everyone wants to go. Additionally, Union is a far bigger destination (downtown), and frequency splitting will increase travel time far more than diverting trains to Midtown.

The better solution to hypothetical GO capacity crunches at Union, and keep in mind that I would be shocked to see either Midtown or this happen, would be an RER tunnel under King or similar; I am thinking of LSW-LSE and leaving the other, far less busy, lines to Union; but you can draw any number of crayon scenarios here.

I agree that Midtown will be examined at some point, for no other reason than the fact that it exists. But unless we have become New York City-bad at cost control, it is the weakest option to offer circumferential service and GO capacity relief, and I do not think it will advance close to the construction stage.

 

[drum118]

Get in your concert era with GO Transit​

GO is adjusting train and bus service to help serve fans better for each of the concert days.

Plan ahead and check adjusted schedules

Lakeshore East & West customers can enjoy extra trips before and after the concerts. Barrie, Kitchener, Milton and Stouffville customers can benefit from trains departing after the concerts are over, ensuring you get home safely. Lastly, some bus trips across the network will be modified to accommodate anticipated heavy gridlock. Plan ahead and so you can enjoy the best day!

 

[SaugeenJunction]

On the topic of the North Toronto Sub here’s the 1992 plan for the corridor, including all the connections to the other subdivisions it runs over/under:View attachment 611518

Awesome find. I also understand that this corridor was looked at much much more recently than 1992

 

[Willybru21]

beyond @Willybru21's diagrams, and it looks adequate to me.

Don’t follow that diagram anymore! It’s definitely not the layout that they’re moving forward with. It’s a good thing to base your expectations off of but many many things have changed since I made that.
I’m a bit concerned with USRC capacity post-all the upgrades. Potentially the Bolton Line and (although I strongly believe it’ll end up underneath Union in a new area) HFR will have to be included eventually, on top of the new GO Expansion services. There might not be enough capacity for it to all work out.

The better solution to hypothetical GO capacity crunches at Union, and keep in mind that I would be shocked to see either Midtown or this happen, would be an RER tunnel under King or similar; I am thinking of LSW-LSE and leaving the other, far less busy, lines to Union; but you can draw any number of crayon scenarios here.

No need to draw up any concepts, Metrolinx has you covered with that. Here’s some of their plans for a downtown relief tunnel from the 2010’s:

 

[Willybru21]

An interesting question, and one hard to give a perfect answer to, unless @Willybru21 has the track diagrams from that year too, LOL

Haha I actually don’t have a super good archive of track diagrams, only a physical copy of the GO sub in the 90’s.

It’s a coincidence I happened to have a photo of the Midtown line diagrams as this conversation popped up, I literally just went to the library on Sunday to read about it and that’s what I found.

 

[anb]

Get in your concert era with GO Transit​

GO is adjusting train and bus service to help serve fans better for each of the concert days.

​ Plan ahead and check adjusted schedules

Lakeshore East & West customers can enjoy extra trips before and after the concerts. Barrie, Kitchener, Milton and Stouffville customers can benefit from trains departing after the concerts are over, ensuring you get home safely. Lastly, some bus trips across the network will be modified to accommodate anticipated heavy gridlock. Plan ahead and so you can enjoy the best day!

I feel for the people that would have work on these days, or just have absolutely nothing to do with this, and see their trains get modified to cater to the people for the concerts, instead of just running an extra separate train for them on the other lines as well (aside from Milton for the obvious reason I guess).

 

[T3G]

I feel for the people that would have work on these days, or just have absolutely nothing to do with this, and see their trains get modified to cater to the people for the concerts, instead of just running an extra separate train for them on the other lines as well (aside from Milton for the obvious reason I guess).

As well, it is difficult to understand the logic of running multiple extras inbound on the Lakeshore lines, but only one outbound. Inbound the demand should be staggered, as not everyone is going to be leaving at the exact same time to get there, but the demand will be pretty uniform outbound, and I have serious doubts that a single trip will suffice.

 

[Anastasia]

As well, it is difficult to understand the logic of running multiple extras inbound on the Lakeshore lines, but only one outbound. Inbound the demand should be staggered, as not everyone is going to be leaving at the exact same time to get there, but the demand will be pretty uniform outbound, and I have serious doubts that a single trip will suffice.

Many Swifties won't be getting home swiftly!

 

[Bojaxs]

As well, it is difficult to understand the logic of running multiple extras inbound on the Lakeshore lines, but only one outbound. Inbound the demand should be staggered, as not everyone is going to be leaving at the exact same time to get there, but the demand will be pretty uniform outbound, and I have serious doubts that a single trip will suffice.

It's going to be a repeat of the New Year's debacle.