After a brief public session at last week’s Metrolinx Board meeting, there was a press scrum with GO Transit’s Gary McNeil. Many questions focussed on GO’s plans to conform with the recent order from the Minister of the Environment that service in the Georgetown Corridor would have to meet Tier 4 diesel standards in 2015. McNeil stated that GO’s goal was to have its entire locomotive fleet at Tier 4 by 2017 thanks to a planned overhaul.
To clarify what was said, I sent followup questions to GO/Metrolinx.
First, I asked about service expansion. Gary McNeil appeared to say that there were no plans to add more trains in the next six years, only more trips with existing equipment. There has been considerable speculation about new services such as a Kitchener-Waterloo extension of the Georgetown service, a Cambridge extension of the Milton line, and service beyond Hamilton into the Niagara region.
GO responded:
There is a distinct difference between new service outside of our current service area and adding to the existing service. GO Transit is constrained by the capacity of our transit hub, Union Station, to add many more peak period trains. As a result, we add shoulder peak period trains where we can. In the meantime, we are consistently working to identify discrete opportunities to add more peak period rail service whenever possible.
For example, March 2, 2009 was the first day of service for GO’s new extended train trip, from Hamilton Station to Union Station. This new extended train trip, the 7:32 a.m. weekday eastbound train from Aldershot GO Station now starts at the Hamilton GO Centre, leaving at
7:17 a.m. This trip now makes all regular stops from Hamilton to Oakville and then operates express to Union Station, arriving at 8:32 a.m. This was the first new rail service Hamilton received since 2000, made possible by the recent completion of the Hamilton layover site.
Previously, trains had to be taken to Hamilton as out-of-service, empty trains because there was no room to store trains in Hamilton. That 7:32 a.m. weekday eastbound train from Aldershot was the most logical trip to extend in terms of equipment cycling, because the train equipment used for this Aldershot trip is its first run of the day and we are now able to store it in Hamilton.
Our service expansion plans, by bus or train, for St. Catharines/Niagara Falls, Brantford, Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge, Guelph, and Peterborough were all detailed in GO Transit’s Strategic Plan – GO 2020, a document which contains GO’s vision, goals and objectives, and service strategy to the year 2020.
These potential service expansions will depend on various factors, such as fleet availability, reliable and adequate source of capital and operating funds, and supportive business partnerships with the railways.
During the Oct. 20 meeting, Gary McNeil stated that GO has no plans to add more service on the Georgetown South line until 2015, because the corridor construction will cause severe restrictions on our ability to provide more services.
The Environmental Assessment looking into rail service expansion for the Georgetown corridor from Georgetown to Kitchener-Waterloo is complete, the Environmental Study Report was filed for the public review period, and based on the study’s results, GO Transit is now awaiting the final decision from the Government of Ontario. The go ahead for expansion of GO Train service to Acton, Guelph and Kitchener is subject to funding approval by the Government of Ontario. In the meantime, the new GO Bus service to Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge will begin this Sat. Oct. 31.
At this time, there are no immediate plans for rail expansion to Cambridge. However, according to GO’s Strategic Plan, our vision includes the possible service extension, by bus or train, to serve travel demands throughout the day to Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge by the year 2020. Plus, the new GO Bus service to Cambridge will begin this Saturday.
For the Niagara Region, GO Transit launched seasonal weekend and holiday GO Transit train service to Niagara Falls from June 27 to Oct. 12, 2009 as a pilot project. Expanding this service would need to be the subject of a study because year-round service would require infrastructure upgrades on this rail corridor. In the meantime, the new year-round — weekday, weekend and holiday — bus service to and from the Niagara Region began on Sat. Sept 5, 2009.
For other rail corridors, we may expand as required and as possible based upon the various factors, such as fleet availability and funding.
GO receives operating funding on an annual basis so we cannot guarantee when new services will be available. Also, the levels of service for the Georgetown South service were greatly overestimated, instead of underestimating the service levels, which means careful due diligence was used to model the most extreme service levels to determine maximum levels of impact.
The map on page 20 of the Strategic Plan shows GO’s plans for its network in 2020, and if we see this implemented, it will mark a major change in the role of GO within the GTA. However, it is clear that GO (and by implication Queen’s Park) does not intend to embark on major expansion of peak services between now and 2015 due to various constraints, some operational, some fiscal. This leaves much to be done in the five years up to 2020 if the Strategic Plan will be fulfilled.
I also asked GO about their fleet plans for expansion, renewal and replacement. GO responded:
GO Transit has a locomotive fleet strategy that is guiding us through the transition from our F-59 to a core MP40 locomotive fleet. We’re now waiting for recommendations of the Electrification Study, scheduled to be complete in December 2010, before revising our locomotive strategy.
For bi-levels coaches, we are matching supply to anticipated demand looking out 2 to 3 years, subject to funding availability.
Our bi-level maintenance strategy is geared to developing an East GTA maintenance facility and expanding the maintenance capacity at our Willowbrook facility (West GTA).
We will bridge the 3 to 4 year transition period by expanding use of third party rail maintenance facility capacity.
This confirms that GO will wait out the year-long electrification study before making decisions on its locomotive fleet.
Electrification was part of the GO 2020 plans as reflected in this statement:
Introducing electric trains on the Lakeshore corridor, and the Georgetown corridor if appropriate, will offer travel time savings and environmental benefits. [Page 33]
Considering some of the bilge that came out of Metrolinx during the Georgetown electrification discussions, that’s an amazingly succinct, reasonable position leaving only the questions of timing and financing. Indeed, at the press conference, Gary McNeil quite candidly stated that he wished GO had been electrified decades ago, but the benefits of service expansion always took precedence.
While the thought of limited expansion of GO’s peak capacity before 2015 is troubling, GO’s approach to planning is refreshing by contrast to Metrolinx. GO has always operated with limited financial resources, and even their 2020 plan is a huge leap in the rate of system growth.
The GO plan is a fascinating contrast to the Metrolinx “Big Move” in that GO looks at services that might reasonably be operated within the growth opportunities available to it, while Metrolinx took a much more aggressive approach placing very frequent services on a number of corridors. The final paragraph above notes that service levels on Georgetown South were “greatly overestimated” and delicately explains that this was done for worst-case modelling.
That’s a polite way to put it, but what we really are looking at are two quite different views of how transit services will evolve in the GTA. Part of the mandate of Metrolinx was to produce a plan that would substantially divert traffic from autos to transit, reduce pollution and address gridlock problems. Metrolinx claims for the “success” of their plan rests on the same extremely high ridership (and trip diversion) figures that GO now describes as merely “due diligence” for purposes of evaluating the effect of service buildup on Georgetown South.
Those ridership numbers have other implications beyond GO, not least for the debate over the effect of a Richmond Hill subway extension and alternative ways to handle demand in the Don Valley corridor.
Both sets of figures cannot be correct, and this major divergence must be addressed by Metrolinx to bring its regional plan into line with the outlook of its major agency, GO Transit.
Steve Munro 
If I understand correctly, GO wish to replace all its current F-59 locomotives with MP40s, which would allow all services to be 12-car rather than 10-car. That will bring a 20% increase in capacity.
The key capacity pinch point is Union… so when will the current works allow extra trains to be run? I know that the resignalling should be completed in 2014, but will there be any capacity increases before then?The ongoing replacement of switchwork (to be compleetd by Novenber 2011) will allow speeds to rise from 25km/hr to 50+km/hr, and my instinct says that must raise capacity because trains can move from their platform tracks to their ‘route’ tracks more quickly.
Steve: The other missing piece is passenger capacity to get from trains to the subway and the PATH system. The reconstruction of Union Station and the more-than-doubling of GO’s passenger concourse areas won’t be done until roughly 2014. That’s another reason why so much is tied to the 2015 date.
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Steve,
I don’t know if you got these answers or not … but the 4 service expansion answers from GO I really want are the ones that were promised by 2009/2010 under the old GO TRIP program years ago.
1) 30-min Lakeshore off-peak
2) Full-day 2-Way Barrie/Bradford
3) Full-day 2-Way Stouffville
4) The existing Georgetown off-peak extended to Downtown Brampton from Bramalea
Its my understanding that the work needed for all of these is very close to completion.
But no formal announcement as yet on any of the long-proposed improvements actually starting.
Steve: As GO said in their response, all new services are subject to funding. You may have noticed that Queen’s Park is a feeling a bit hard up these days. Old announcements are of little value in the current environment.
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Too bad GO Transit can’t take over MetroLinx, instead of the other way around!
Steve: If you watch closely, this may be what is actually happening. The people who actually run a transit operation handle the questions.
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Once again I will drag up my pet plan/peeve. Before GO/Metrolinx wastes a lot of money building the wrong system it is time they looked at something else, especially for the Weston Sub and the CP ‘s Belleville Sub. Here is my modest proposal. It works in many other countries why not here. Thje basic idea is not mine but an adaptation of what I have seen elsewhere.
GO DRL.
Since GO’s electrification study is to also look I know a split infinitive) at segregated Rights of Way and other types of service I suggest that they look at City Rail in Sydney, Australia. It runs with 65 foot bi-level electric cars with the doors at the ends over the trucks for high platform loading. Rather than build a 5 to 8 track line up the Weston Sub to run A mix of GO and Pearson Air Rail Link Trains and then spend a fortune 4 tracking the Belleville Sub to run GO trains to North Oshawa and Peterborough Metrolinx should build a totally segregated electric operation from northeast Scarborough down the Belleville sub to around Don Mills and Eglinton. They would then go underground {probably) through Flemington Park and Thornecliffe park down Green wood or Donlands hopefully to find room on the Kingston Sub to either Richmond or Adelaide. It would then go in a subway to the Weston Sub and up it to the airport.
The line would have the following advantages:
1. Since this line would have station spacing of 3 km or more it would provide a high speed service from the northwest and northeast into the downtown. Since it would have a segregated Right of Way it could operate at a much more frequent headway than GO does.
2. Since it is electric, high platform and large vehicles it would have a high enough capacity to act as a downtown relief line and a super GO.
3. It would need to be part of the TTC’s fare structure and not part of GO’s, if they still have separate fare systems.
4. It would be cheaper to build than GO’s super corridor through Weston and would provide better service.
5. The Georgetown, Brampton, Kitchener and perhaps Stratford trains would make a transfer connection in North West Etobicoke and still stop and Bloor.
6. The GO trains to North Oshawa and Peterborough could be routed down the Uxbridge Sub to the Kingston Sub and go to Union that way. There would be a transfer connection around Agincourt.
7. The line would avoid Union Station and would divert many riders from Union. It would make connections to Yonge at King and University at St. Andrew or perhaps at Queen and Osgoode.
Before Metrolinx ruins these Rights of Way with ill conceived expansion of GO it should look at something that is cheaper, faster and serves more people. Unfortunately I do not think that there is enough room on the Kingston or Oakville Subs to provide this type of service so they are stuck with GO or the TTC. This line would need a catchy name something like “METROLINX” or “METRO RAIL.”
I realize that using the Kingston Sub from the Union corridor to where it branches north is problematic at best.
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Thanks for looking deeper — I was struck by the 2015 wait for Georgetown improvements as well; hence this week’s article.
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I hope they take this opportunity to add tracks to all of their lines, so when Union station is ready, they can bring all-day service.
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Within those 6 years we are going to add hundreds of thousands of people in the 905. If our highways are full (and they are) and GO cannot expand, then the solution to this ‘problem’ will have to come from urban planning, specifically by moving jobs out of the core and into other areas. I for one hope that areas like “Downtown Markham” work, because the transportation hell that we will be put though in the meantime (assuming they don’t decide to cut cut cut transit in 2015 and beyond) is not going to be pleasant.
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“The ongoing replacement of switchwork (to be compleetd by Novenber 2011) will allow speeds to rise from 25km/hr to 50+km/hr, and my instinct says that must raise capacity because trains can move from their platform tracks to their ‘route’ tracks more quickly.”
45 mph switches have been installed in the east end of the USRC corridor between miles 1.4 & 1.7 (mile 0.0 being the center of Union station) replacing old 15mph turnouts at Cherry st. (at mile 1.0 east limits).
The current signaling only allows for 30mph at these new turnouts, but also the entire Eastern corridor is speed restricted to 30mph anyways (starting from mile 1.7, where the line crosses over the Don river). Both those aspects will have to be modified before any speed increase occurs. The intent is to upgrade it to 60mph between 1.7 and 0.6 once the signal system is upgraded.
Currently it takes almost 3 minutes to cross this area, that time would almost be cut in half.
However the final approach to Union (eastern limits mile 0.6 to 0.0), will always only be 15mph as there is simply not enough space to accommodate longer/higher speed turnouts. The tracks are being reconfigured and decade old switches are being replaced to accommodate the new electronic signal/switching system. But the speeds immediately leaving Union will not change.
“1) 30-min Lakeshore off-peak
2) Full-day 2-Way Barrie/Bradford
3) Full-day 2-Way Stouffville
4) The existing Georgetown off-peak extended to Downtown Brampton from Bramalea”
1) Its coming, this is exactly what all the track improvements between Port Credit and Oakville are for. None of these track improvements would be needed if service was to remain at its current levels. Work is being rushed now to complete the track improvements before winter arrives. Service expansion would occur sometime next year as trains won’t be able to run on the new track until the road-bed has settled .
2) Two way service to East Gwillimbury to begin next year, a passing track is under construction just north of Maple.
3) Two way service to Unionville to begin next year, a passing track has been completed just south of the station.
Service levels are likely to initially mirror those of the limited off-peak mid-day service currently provided on the Georgetown line.
4) Not quiet sure about the time frame on this one. Might be implemented once the 2nd – south side platform at Brampton is complete.
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Re: 30-min Lakeshore off-peak… DT says: “Service expansion would occur sometime next year as trains won’t be able to run on the new track until the road-bed has settled”
Does no-one round here own a tamper? It’s exactly what they are for.
Re: Georgetown off-peak extended to Downtown Brampton from Bramalea.
The line from CN’s big yard joins the Georgetown line about 1km east of Bramalea, and that little section has three tracks. West of that, it’s two tracks. I strongly suspect that GO and/or CN want to add at least one extra track between Bramalea and Brampton before extending all day service.
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@Tom West:
That section between Bramalea and Brampton was only one track a few years ago. I used to live on Orenda (albeit only for six months, luckily), near Kennedy and the tracks in Brampton, trust me.
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Karl Junkin says:
October 28, 2009 at 11:27 am
@Tom West:
That section between Bramalea and Brampton was only one track a few years ago. I used to live on Orenda (albeit only for six months, luckily), near Kennedy and the tracks in Brampton, trust me.
The line through Brampton is triple tracked from the point where the Weston Sub joins the Halton Sub except for the portion from where it crosses Queen St. to just west of the CP diamond. Triple tracking ends just west of Mt. Pleasant Station where the south track will run into the new storage yard. The single track section went about 6 months ago.
I believe that there will be a short section of quadruple track main line from the point where the two subs join to west of Bramalea station to improve the joining of the two lines.
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I agree with Robert. I still think the DRL is the way to go (or the Don-Down-Air Line). Although the density of West Toronto may not fit the bill for a subway, it would make it up by people making the trip to the airport. More high density development would come if there was a subway to West Toronto (but none if there are polluting diesel trains that skip through West Toronto neighbourhoods). There actually already is planned development at Queen/Dufferin and Liberty Village. Those poor people will have to take the King or Queen streetcar to get to the core. I also think there would be interest for commuters who take the 404 and 400 to drive to work. They could park at stations on the outskirts of the city and hop on the subway (or take a GO bus with dedicated highway lanes). The DRL and a line connecting downsview and the Sheppard Line would make a much more efficient system.
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DT said: However the final approach to Union (eastern limits mile 0.6 to 0.0), will always only be 15mph as there is simply not enough space to accommodate longer/higher speed turnouts. The tracks are being reconfigured and decade old switches are being replaced to accommodate the new electronic signal/switching system. But the speeds immediately leaving Union will not change.
For tracks 1 through 3, I would certainly agree with that, as well as for track 14. But for tracks 4 through 13, I am surprised to hear there is a lack of space. If some staggering/overlap of the turnout ladders is done, I would expect there should be enough room. Except for a reversal of the turnout arrangement at the east edge of the USRC on the Bala Sub’s tracks, which should be minor and insignificant, this shouldn’t alter movement pattern options.
I’m basing this off a single pair of No. 20 turnouts (64kmph / 40mph) between a pair of parallel tracks (at 4.3m (~14’1-1/4″) apart) being 131.5m (431’6″) long, a figure calculated with reference to a standard detail engineering drawing for a No.20 turnout from Caltrain.
It should be possible to fit all of them in except those to tracks 1, 2, 3, and 14. Even accounting for the brief curves at Cherry and Parliament, I don’t see why tracks 4 through 13 can’t be approached from the east at 64kmph/40mph. The only part of the approach that should be affected, and only for tracks 1, 2, 3, and 14, would be from mile 0.0 to mile 0.2 (Yonge St.), notwithstanding curvature of tracks within the train shed itself.
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