03-12-2021, 05:05 PM
(03-12-2021, 04:09 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: To be honest, I had forgotten that a promise of 30 minute service had been made (is that true?); I thought the promise was for hourly service, and I’m not expecting anything better than every 2 hours for quite some time.
My point was that we could have something that could reasonably be described as “all day both ways” service without twinning the track. Eventually we will definitely want twinned track all the way; the part you might be able to get away with not twinning (in Kitchener) is already twinned.
You are right that there are some complexities, but it’s still fundamentally true that the last 1/2 headway can be single-tracked because there is only one train at a time in that portion of the line. Strictly, 1/2 of (headway minus terminal time). For example, 30 minute service that takes 10 minutes at the terminal only ever sees one train at a time in the last (30 - 10) / 2 = 10 minutes of the route. Time for switches and signals to adjust will shorten the physical length of track that corresponds to a particular amount of time.
Speed of operation is also an issue; with track improvements, the time between Kitchener and Guelph or Guelph and Georgetown should each be well under 30 minutes meaning that hourly service (but ignoring freight, which is unrealistic) should be achievable without twinning. Of course the closer the schedule gets to the theoretical maximum the worse the impact of any problems, but still we’re used to ridiculously slow operation on this line so distances seem to be of greater duration than they should be.
Absolutely. Hourly all-day service, with improved travel times, would be a fantastic start in my books.
Also, passing sidings could be added without complete twinning in order to enable opposing trains (including freight trains) to pass.