[reaperexpress]

Anecdotally I don’t think I’ve ever seen the VIA train arrive at its scheduled 9:44am time in Guelph.

Well, it looks like it's true today in any case... Apparently the train arrived in London on time but then accrued a 15 minute delay before St Marys, which grew to a 25 minute delay by Kitchener.

Times are 6 hours off because my computer is set to Central European Time

Oh and just for reference, the 10 mph (16 km/h) speed limit is still in effect:

 

[christiesplits]

What are the odds that the London GO train route makes it past pilot?

 

[DirectionNorth]

What are the odds that the London GO train route makes it past pilot?

I think it's fairly high. GO was originally a pilot, service to Kitchener was operated as a pilot, I doubt they would withdraw the service, if only because they don't want media backlash.

 

[Richard White]

I think it's fairly high. GO was originally a pilot, service to Kitchener was operated as a pilot, I doubt they would withdraw the service, if only because they don't want media backlash.

That depends on ridership and delays. With an election coming up next year, nobody wants to be responsible for wasting taxpayers money on a train very few people ride.

If it starts having significant delays nobody will use it and it will quickly start operating at a loss. I doubt the PCs would want a multi-million dollar empty train scandal cropping up before election day.

 

[DirectionNorth]

That depends on ridership and delays. With an election coming up next year, nobody wants to be responsible for wasting taxpayers money on a train very few people ride.

If it starts having significant delays nobody will use it and it will quickly start operating at a loss. I doubt the PCs would want a multi-million dollar empty train scandal cropping up before election day.

I doubt it. There seems to have been lots of media fanfare, and closing it only a single year after it opened would probably be worse (politics wise) than an empty train.

 

[reaperexpress]

That depends on ridership and delays. With an election coming up next year, nobody wants to be responsible for wasting taxpayers money on a train very few people ride.

If it starts having significant delays nobody will use it and it will quickly start operating at a loss. I doubt the PCs would want a multi-million dollar empty train scandal cropping up before election day.

There is absolutely no way the current service will attract any measureable ridership, even if it runs 100% on time. The travel time from London to the GTA is insane, there are insufficient connections at the current Kitchener station for it to provide convenient access to anything other than the handful of offices within walking distance, the frequency is basically nothing and the morning departure time is so early that London Transit hasn't even started running yet.

What is it exactly that they're claiming to be piloting? Do they seriously think there's a chance that a large number of people will drag themselves out of bed at 4:30 in the morning to drive to a train station with paid parking and take a train to Kitchener which itself already takes double the entire door-to-door driving time and them dumps them at a station which doesn't even have a direct pedestrian path toward downtown, let alone useful connecting transit services?

The ridership we (won't) see on the present London train service has absolutely no relation to the demand which would exist for a train service which had reasonable speed and frequency, and which provides convenient ontward connections via the future Kitchener Central Station. The most pessimistic view would be that the Province is trying to "demonstrate" that there's no demand for rail west of Kitchener, in order to kill off any larger future rail projects. But personally I don't think that's the case since the provincial Conservatives don't think that far ahead when it comes to transport or land use planning.

 

[kingkam]

Won't make it past the pilot. Bus service can replace it easily.

 

[DirectionNorth]

Won't make it past the pilot. Bus service can replace it easily.

They would have done a bus service first if they really wanted a bus service. Like Richard White said, they're usually not that far ahead when it comes to planning.

 

[reaperexpress]

Won't make it past the pilot. Bus service can replace it easily.

I have to agree with @DirectionNorth, if they were using any kind of transportation planning logic they would have already started with a bus from day one. Clearly the point of this train is not to carry passengers, it's to create a headline about the Conservative government expanding the GO Train to new electoral ridings, while spending as little money as possible. They're fine with flushing the entire operating cost down the toilet because it's a relatively low price for votes in southwestern Ontario swing ridings. I think they're just hoping that nobody in those ridings actually tries to take the train and realizes how useless it is.

 

[Garuda]

There will be. But that won't happen until the new year.

Dan

This is very optimistic in me but if London becomes permanent, Metrolinx could run weekend service from London via Kitchener up until Georgetown. Thereby not having to negotiate with CN.

The connection from Georgetown to Union would SUCK though.

Again it’s not a realistic service.

 

[lrt's friend]

Another tick mark for the Conservative party before the next election. We promise Go service to Niagara Falls. One round trip, done. We promise train service to London. One round trip, done. It doesn't matter if the service is efficient or not terribly useful for many people. The pilot will probably last until after the next election.

Will the Conservatives do the hard work? Actually spending a pile of money to improve the rail lines. I doubt it.

 

[robmausser]

The only way I see the London pilot go past just being a pilot is after the Kitchener Line track upgrades are complete, the time is reduced to 3 hours. This might also require buying the rest of the Gexr sub and upgrading it as well. However I could see that the pilot is extended with the understanding that those upgrades will take place.

 

[Bordercollie]

Nice to see that GO transit has taken initiative to serve Consumers RD.
It would be nice if they could figure out a way to connect with Don Mills Station directly without having to transfer to another bus.
Any idea what the ridership is like to those places?
Does it increase the trip time?

 

[crs1026]

Ah that's great to hear. I wasn't aware that the historic line speed was 80 mph (129 km/h). If tie replacement is all it takes to get it up to 80 mph, then that does sound worthwhile. If the current track structure is in decent condition, then a 95 mph upgrade could be postponed until it needs more serious work.

What is the scenario you're referencing where a 95 mph standard would not be attainable? Although some of the curves do indeed limit speeds to 80 mph or lower, that shouldn't preclude a higher track speed on the extremely long straight segments between stations.

A small nitpick - the OCD in me just had to go pull some old timetables to verify this - A sampling of employee timetables from 1962, 1978 and 1993 all point to the speed limit being 70 mph.

Going back to 1957, the speed limit west of Stratford was only 60 mph.

Doesn't change the point which is - that the line might be able to be modestly repaired to get speeds up to something competitive. Personally I would like to see the jointed rail replaced, but it's not that badly worn so not necessarily an impediment to raising the speeds considerably.

Looking at the many long tangent sections and the relatively gentle curves, there is certainly reason to believe that 90 or more could be achieved some day. Just bring money.

- Paul

 

[Bordercollie]

A small nitpick - the OCD in me just had to go pull some old timetables to verify this - A sampling of employee timetables from 1962, 1978 and 1993 all point to the speed limit being 70 mph.

Going back to 1957, the speed limit west of Stratford was only 60 mph.

Doesn't change the point which is - that the line might be able to be modestly repaired to get speeds up to something competitive. Personally I would like to see the jointed rail replaced, but it's not that badly worn so not necessarily an impediment to raising the speeds considerably.

Looking at the many long tangent sections and the relatively gentle curves, there is certainly reason to believe that 90 or more could be achieved some day. Just bring money.

- Paul

70MPH is much better then the 15 we have now.