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Why not take a different approach? If Metrolinx is expecting a negligible number of passengers to travel west of Kitchener, it shouldn't be too hard to double the expected number.
1. Find a friend with a car. Have them drive to Stratford while four others take the train there. Even better, find a friend with a school bus license and do the same thing.
2. Talk to the people at the Stratford Festival. Could you arrange for Festival goers to take the train west to catch a show, and then the Festival buses them home? (they already do this for audience members from Toronto).
3. Take a trip to London on Friday evening, stay the weekend, and return Monday morning.
Yes, it's less than ideal for now, but with some creative activism, it could confuse the Metrolinx data!
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(09-17-2021, 04:17 PM)Bytor Wrote: Kitchener→Union Station is finally competitive time-wise after the recent minimal upgrade work (1:41 station to station, vs ~1:50 driving), it's just not convenient in terms of scheduling. However, track work can still be done K→U as the best possible time for an all-stops run with Class 3 tracks and 2 minute dwells is ~1:27. Inwards past Mount Pleasant the stations are too close together for trains to go any faster, but Class 5 tracks would shorten up K→MP times and the complete all-stops run would be ~1:16, making it competitive with cars outside of rush hour as well.
A K→U express (skipping everything between Mount Pleasant and Union), at Class 6 speeds would take roughly 59 minutes.
If there's interest, I could produce similar stats for L→K.
Thanks for working this out. It’s really amazing how much improvement would be possible with changes that would be much less expensive than building HSR.
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09-19-2021, 06:08 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-19-2021, 06:10 PM by danbrotherston.)
(09-19-2021, 09:47 AM)ijmorlan Wrote: (09-17-2021, 04:17 PM)Bytor Wrote: Kitchener→Union Station is finally competitive time-wise after the recent minimal upgrade work (1:41 station to station, vs ~1:50 driving), it's just not convenient in terms of scheduling. However, track work can still be done K→U as the best possible time for an all-stops run with Class 3 tracks and 2 minute dwells is ~1:27. Inwards past Mount Pleasant the stations are too close together for trains to go any faster, but Class 5 tracks would shorten up K→MP times and the complete all-stops run would be ~1:16, making it competitive with cars outside of rush hour as well.
A K→U express (skipping everything between Mount Pleasant and Union), at Class 6 speeds would take roughly 59 minutes.
If there's interest, I could produce similar stats for L→K.
Thanks for working this out. It’s really amazing how much improvement would be possible with changes that would be much less expensive than building HSR.
Is it? Or is this even different from HSR? The main reason for a new alignment for HSR would be to increase turn radii or eliminate turns altogether, which you'd have to do to achieve class 6 speeds anyway. I don't think this is likely to be cheaper or even meaningfully different from the HSR proposal from KW->T which significantly involved using the original tracks and rerouting around a few places which had constrained turns for high speed.
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(09-19-2021, 09:47 AM)ijmorlan Wrote: (09-17-2021, 04:17 PM)Bytor Wrote: Kitchener→Union Station is finally competitive time-wise after the recent minimal upgrade work (1:41 station to station, vs ~1:50 driving), it's just not convenient in terms of scheduling. However, track work can still be done K→U as the best possible time for an all-stops run with Class 3 tracks and 2 minute dwells is ~1:27. Inwards past Mount Pleasant the stations are too close together for trains to go any faster, but Class 5 tracks would shorten up K→MP times and the complete all-stops run would be ~1:16, making it competitive with cars outside of rush hour as well.
A K→U express (skipping everything between Mount Pleasant and Union), at Class 6 speeds would take roughly 59 minutes.
If there's interest, I could produce similar stats for L→K.
Thanks for working this out. It’s really amazing how much improvement would be possible with changes that would be much less expensive than building HSR.
1:27 is respectable (with current track). 1:16 is already quite good. Presumably either one of these would be somewhat better with an express service, too.
Are any of these improved by removing some of the current level crossings? Or are those already good enough to not have an impact?
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(09-19-2021, 08:41 PM)tomh009 Wrote: (09-19-2021, 09:47 AM)ijmorlan Wrote: Thanks for working this out. It’s really amazing how much improvement would be possible with changes that would be much less expensive than building HSR.
1:27 is respectable (with current track). 1:16 is already quite good. Presumably either one of these would be somewhat better with an express service, too.
Are any of these improved by removing some of the current level crossings? Or are those already good enough to not have an impact?
Level crossings with crossbucks can be used for Class 6 tracks (110mph, 177km/h), according to my understanding of Transport Canada rail regulations, so none of them would need to be removed. The only modifications I assumed for my numbers was getting ride of the small number of curves that were too small a radius.
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Not Just Bikes: Commuter rail is a rail system designed to bring people from the suburbs into a central business district for work. But is it really an efficient transit system, or just another subsidy provided to car-dependent suburbanites? This video explores commuter rail in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), the train system known as "GO Transit."
The Trains that Subsidize Suburbia - GO Transit Commuter Rail
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GO train speeds to more than quadruple through Guelph - Guelph News
https://www.guelphtoday.com/local-news/g...ph-4515823
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I saw some back of the napkin calculations that showed this roughly translated to only a few minutes time savings because the stretch of track with the speed increase is so short (~2k from Hanlon to Guelph station). But I guess any increase is better than the current crawl into Guelph station.
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(10-16-2021, 01:24 PM)timio Wrote: I saw some back of the napkin calculations that showed this roughly translated to only a few minutes time savings because the stretch of track with the speed increase is so short (~2k from Hanlon to Guelph station). But I guess any increase is better than the current crawl into Guelph station.
A few minutes here, a few minutes there … not too long until the service is noticeably better than before. But yes, each individual area has only so much potential for improvement.
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On the east side of Guelph station, I understand the bridge is getting rehabilitated (and perhaps double-tracked?) as well.
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Replacing the spans for single track, but leaving capacity for future growth.
https://blog.metrolinx.com/2021/05/13/gu...expansion/
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I believe they replaced the Speed River spans over a few weekends a few weeks ago.
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Still working on them today — drove past as a large span of the bridge was missing. Tons of people stopping to take photos
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Waterloo Region takes step towards closing Duke Street for transit hub
https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...t-hub.html
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