GO Transit

[Chris]

Guelph needs to move the historic Locomotive 6167

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener...-1.5257802

The city has been leasing the property, but Metrolinx told the city in December 2018 it will be terminating the lease agreement. That triggered a part of the agreement that says the locomotive must be moved off the land within two years. Metrolinx plans to extend the south platform for "two-way, all-day GO Transit service," a staff report to council says. Dates for that to happen were not in the report.

[MidTowner]

What I don’t understand about stopping in Guelph is this: where do they park the train? Do they deadhead it to Shirley Drive? Seems weird to kick everybody off in Guelph if so.

According to sources on urban Toronto, they will indeed be deadheading the rest of the way to Kitchener. Track manoeuvres with other traffic means they can't have much hope for schedule adherence on that part of the line at that time of night, apparently.

[taylortbb]

What I don’t understand about stopping in Guelph is this: where do they park the train? Do they deadhead it to Shirley Drive? Seems weird to kick everybody off in Guelph if so.

According to sources on urban Toronto, they will indeed be deadheading the rest of the way to Kitchener. Track manoeuvres with other traffic means they can't have much hope for schedule adherence on that part of the line at that time of night, apparently.

I think beyond just schedule adherence, they expect the train will spend significant time sitting on a siding waiting for freight traffic. So I understand not wanting a schedule that involves taking an hour or more to get from Guelph to KW.

[Rainrider22]

Time to double that line up then !!! ridiculous in today's day and age...

[Chris]

Kitchener GO trains to get new SmartTrack stations in Toronto
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener...-1.5260407

King Liberty Smart Track http://smarttrack.to/smarttrack/new-stat...e-station/

St Clair Smart Track http://smarttrack.to/smarttrack/new-stat...t-station/


Personally I'm looking forward to the stop at Liberty Village and access the Village and Exhibition place. Not sure of the timing though. Only thing I saw was this is part of a 12 year investment in transit by the feds.

The federal funds come from the federal government's $180-billion, 12-year infrastructure plan.

[KevinT]

Kitchener GO trains to get new SmartTrack stations in Toronto
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener...-1.5260407

King Liberty Smart Track http://smarttrack.to/smarttrack/new-stat...e-station/

St Clair Smart Track http://smarttrack.to/smarttrack/new-stat...t-station/


Personally I'm looking forward to the stop at Liberty Village and access the Village and Exhibition place. Not sure of the timing though. Only thing I saw was this is part of a 12 year investment in transit by the feds.

The federal funds come from the federal government's $180-billion, 12-year infrastructure plan.

That would be great if the line and the train cars were electrified, but with diesel hauled 12 car trains and their slow acceleration these extra stops will add 10 minutes to the trip and erase the gains recently made between Kitchener and Guelph.  :-(

[danbrotherston]

Kitchener GO trains to get new SmartTrack stations in Toronto
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener...-1.5260407

King Liberty Smart Track http://smarttrack.to/smarttrack/new-stat...e-station/

St Clair Smart Track http://smarttrack.to/smarttrack/new-stat...t-station/


Personally I'm looking forward to the stop at Liberty Village and access the Village and Exhibition place. Not sure of the timing though. Only thing I saw was this is part of a 12 year investment in transit by the feds.

That would be great if the line and the train cars were electrified, but with diesel hauled 12 car trains and their slow acceleration these extra stops will add 10 minutes to the trip and erase the gains recently made between Kitchener and Guelph.  :-(

That was exactly my thoughts....*sigh*...

[tomh009]

Maybe just get off the train at Liberty Village, and avoid the crowds at Union Station?

[timio]

I recall something about long distance trains not stopping at the ST stations, requiring a transfer at an intermediate station.

This would limit the impact of additional acceleration/deceleration of the diesels.

[danbrotherston]

Maybe just get off the train at Liberty Village, and avoid the crowds at Union Station?

I work a block from Union...at Liberty Village I'd have already waited through almost all the extra stops.  Of course, given how long it takes to get into union, it might actually be better, who knows.

That being said, yes, I do hope they don't make all stops...but then that would be complex in terms of both scheduling of trains, and for users of the system.

[tomh009]

That being said, yes, I do hope they don't make all stops...but then that would be complex in terms of both scheduling of trains, and for users of the system.

I've heard rumours of some countries running both "express" and "local" trains on the same line. Maybe that could work?

[jamincan]

From what I can tell, with the new schedule starting in September, Kitchener will have the following train service:

Going to Union:
5:20
5:45
6:10 Express (Guelph, Acton, Georgetown, Mount Pleasant, Brampton, Bramalea, Union)
6:50
7:15
7:57
14:57 Express (Guelph, Acton, Georgetown, Mount Pleasant, Brampton, Bramalea, Malton, Union)
20:57

Leaving from Union:
12:53
15:35
16:50 Express (Bramalea, Brampton, Mount Pleasant, Georgetown, Acton, Guelph, Kitchener)
17:27
18:00 Express (Bramalea, Brampton, Mount Pleasant, Georgetown, Acton, Guelph, Kitchener)
18:53
21:53
22:53 to Guelph

[Bytor]

That being said, yes, I do hope they don't make all stops...but then that would be complex in terms of both scheduling of trains, and for users of the system.

I've heard rumours of some countries running both "express" and "local" trains on the same line. Maybe that could work?

Doing so requires a combination or larger headways and station siding tracks so that your express doesn't catch up to and get stuck behind the all-stops train. The fewer places where the stopped trains move onto a siding at the station, the more you have to rely on large enough headways.

However, the point is mostly moot for beyond (from Toronto) the Georgetown Station because of it only being singled tracked. That's why the new (half) express train at 6:10 is still all-stops until Bramalea Station. managing both all-stps+express and both directions on a single track would be very complicated and fraught with problems on any delay.

[timio]

The 6:10 isn't new, just rescheduled from 6:05 (was 6:04 until January), still arriving at 7:56.

[tomh009]

I've heard rumours of some countries running both "express" and "local" trains on the same line. Maybe that could work?

Doing so requires a combination or larger headways and station siding tracks so that your express doesn't catch up to and get stuck behind the all-stops train. The fewer places where the stopped trains move onto a siding at the station, the more you have to rely on large enough headways.

In general, yes. But for GO (to Kitchener) to shortest headway is 25 minutes (and usually much more), so the express train still wouldn't catch up to the local one.