[crs1026]

Indeed. I've done door-to-door in ~90 minutes. Walk/jog 10 minutes to YTZ, get lucky with the ferry and clear security and board immediately in another 10, door closed immediately and the Porter flight takes ~55 minutes with favourable winds, a few minutes to disembark and get through YOW, then cab downtown Ottawa is another 15. 75 minutes door-to-door time seems impossible to achieve consistently even without the ferry step.

Pearson is usually a bit slower due to the longer taxi times.

AIr Canada in 2006 had a wide-body relocation flight from YOW to YYZ at about 1am which rarely had more than about 10 passengers on it. It took about 50 minutes gate to gate [boarding to leaving] due to the higher airspeed and extremely low volume of traffic at Pearson at 2am. 75 minutes door to door would still be amazing as takes 5 just to walk the length of Pier F.

YTZ is air travel at its best, and sure it happens, but your (enviable) anecdotes prove an important point about frequency versus speed.

Few air travellers would knowingly plan to cut their airport commute that tight if the next flight after their intended flight is four hours away. The nice thing about YTZ commuter style routes is - if you miss one flight the next one is only an hour or two later.
And (unless one wants stress in their day) the uncertainly about delays in each of those trip legs (taxi or Uber in, security, ferry, lineups at bag drop, etc) means that one will likely pad one's travel plan. (I know lots of business travellers who break away from business meetings well before end of business day to catch their flight.... and others who just resign themselves to the lottery of how long it will take to get home in the evening.)

Which validates the HFR premise that frequency, rather than speed, will be the selling point for many.

And--- you may have cherrypicked a very extreme example, and the cases at the other extreme need to be balanced. If anyone peeked at a flight tracker last night during YYZ's thunderstorm delays, consider the plight of air passengers who were stuck in holding patterns over Wiarton and Peterborough, only to land and sit on the tarmac for up to an hour before a gate was available to debark. And then cope with overloaded customs and baggage delays when the crush of incoming flights finally arrived en masse. Or sat at another airport because their flight was held from departure as YYZ couldn't assure a landing time.

I would rate air travel as much more of a crapshoot, and in planning a trip, people give much more of a safety cushion to air travel time than to train, even with the current fiasco with CN. If you have the kind of express flight that you describe, it's a windfall, but not something you can plan.

- Paul

 

[crs1026]

So why is it only the group of crossings? They are more susceptible to the low shunt issue?

Other crossings we passed them at full speed. We were on time until Kingston. Now we are 15minutes behind.

This has been explained ad nauseum, but to repeat
- Only crossings with certain brands and models of crossing protection are affected. On CN, the low-impedance type that is the concern is most prevalent, but not universal.
- Only crossings where the equipment is of the "predictor" type are affected. Not all crossings have the predictive feature.

- Paul

 

[Trackside_Treasure]

and Michael

This has been explained ad nauseum, but to repeat
- Only crossings with certain brands and models of crossing protection are affected. On CN, the low-impedance type that is the concern is most prevalent, but not universal.
- Only crossings where the equipment is of the "predictor" type are affected. Not all crossings have the predictive feature.
These are questions the public should hear. No one wants to pay, but if CN signed off on it, then CN should pay for either the extra coaches, or the signal upgrade. IF CN did not need to sign off of it, then this would Via who should pay. I doubt it is this simple.

Believe me, we've tried. Folks have reached out the the Minister and their MPs. VIA has gone to court over it. National media reporters have been tipped to the story. CN has not only not answered but has worked hard to shield the information it possesses related to the Grade Crossing Predictors, some of which are ironically made by Siemens!!

Perhaps it's because trains have a reputation in North America of being late. Readers are way more interested in TikTok and AI than they are in good ol' late trains. CN has not come up with a 'smoking gun' and now calls 'safety' as a reason to perpetuate the Venture issue. It's also not a question of 'who will pay' it's who will be made to pay by Transport Canada. If they ever come out of the shadows and regulate like they're supposed to regulate as the regulator!

 

[Bordercollie]

I think it wouldn't hurt to have a later time slot than leaving Ottawa at 6pm.

If it left at 7:30 it could arrive at 12:30 before Union station closes.

It's too bad they can't have a 4am departure for a 9am arrival in Ottawa. I guess this is a limitation or having staff at Union and It would be pointless to have it start at Guildwood since you would miss downtown customers.

1:50 am departure for 7am arrival? Given that there is a slot that CN allows. Could you get to Montreal by 9am?

FLIX bus has a 2am departure from STC with arrival in Ottawa around 7am.

 

[dowlingm]

I think it wouldn't hurt to have a later time slot than leaving Ottawa at 6pm.

If it left at 7:30 it could arrive at 12:30 before Union station closes.

It's too bad they can't have a 4am departure for a 9am arrival in Ottawa. I guess this is a limitation or having staff at Union and It would be pointless to have it start at Guildwood since you would miss downtown customers.

1:50 am departure for 7am arrival? Given that there is a slot that CN allows. Could you get to Montreal by 9am?

FLIX bus has a 2am departure from STC with arrival in Ottawa around 7am.

Ottawa-Toronto is not just CN and Metrolinx slots but CP as well (Smiths Falls). My understanding is that adding 641 maxed out VIA's agreed slots through there.

 

[Bordercollie]

The thing with the venture can car leading is the horn. It's loud. I don't notice it as much on GO can cars but I guess you are a bit further away or mounted differently? The emergency horn is especially noticable.

I would not want to ride cross country in the cab car in economy class. Perhaps making it the baggage car would be more suitable.

 

[Trackside_Treasure]

This could be a news flash. If it's just a rumour, I'll delete it:
*****News flash, all LRC cars temporarily removed from service after cracks discovered. They'll return to service once inspections are complete.

 

[Bordercollie]

This could be a news flash. If it's just a rumour, I'll delete it:
*****News flash, all LRC cars temporarily removed from service after cracks discovered. They'll return to service once inspections are complete.

This looks like a repeat of the horizon cars