Transport: Leaves? Oh, come on...

GO Transit's Barrie-Bradford Line train #801 departed Toronto, Ontario on 28-October-2010 with a locomotive on each end--an unusual practice designed to deal with fallen leaves

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Earlier this week, GO Transit, the local commuter rail operator in the Great Toronto-Hamilton Area, made the news by canceling a train because of leaves on the tracks. While loose leaves on the track certainly can lead to adhesion problems, this is far from a new problem and there are plenty of known mitigation techniques for the seasonal phenomenon--it's pathetic that GO would have to cancel a train because of leaves.

The cancellation of the train on Tuesday was especially ironic considering that GO had already taken action to ensure continued service on one of its lines. Starting last week, GO started placing engines on each end of the first two trains that ran on its Barrie-Bradford Line in the morning and afternoon commutes. Normally, GO runs its trains in a push-pull fashion with one engine on the east end of the train; these trains ran with an engine on the west end and the east end; I photographed one of these trains earlier today as shown above. The idea was that with double the power available on the train, any problem from leaves would be overcome, and indeed trains on that line have been operating normally.

However, no such precautions were taken system-wide, with is not necessarily surprising, since GO does not have two locomotives for each of its trains. There are plenty of other ways to avoid the issue, though. Network Rail in Britain goes out of its way to trim trees along its right-of-way, but perhaps most relevantly, operators in the northeastern United States use water to blow the leaves off the tracks.


The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's "Spray Train" was noted in action on the Lowell Line in Medford, Massachusetts on 26-October-2005

Both the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) around Boston, Massachusetts and Metro-North, the operator from New York, New York to east of Hudson River and Connecticut destinations, use this technique. The MBTA's "Spray Train" was photographed above five years ago, and Metro-North's version is known as "Waterworld". Each uses high-pressure streams of water aimed at each rail to clear the immediate vicinity of flying leaves.


The MBTA "Spray Train" worked its way back to Boston at Medford, Massachusetts on 26-October-2005

Falling leaves are an annual event in Ontario. GO Transit may not need "Waterworld" to run its trains in the autumn, but it needs to do better than it did this week--there's no excuse for canceling trains because of leaves.

Railfanning: Always More Change

Brand new GO Transit MP40PH-3C #647 was sitting at the Canadian Pacific Lambton Yard Office in Toronto, Ontario on 17-August-2010, the first locomotive of a ten-unit add-on order

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Last weekend, I was actually excited that I had gotten a picture of the last of GO Transit's new order of locomotives that had been arriving in 2010. GO, which had relied on the F59PH locomotive type since the late 1980's, needed new, more powerful locomotives in order to run 12-car trains. The result was the Wabtec (Motive Power Industries) MP40PH-3C, a new model for GO. The model had a variety of teething problems, and while the new units were expected in 2007, the full first order of 27 units, numbered 600-626, did not all arrive until the end of 2008.

The units apparently performed well enough that GO decided to proceed with standardizing on the new type, and an additional 20 units were ordered (#627-#646). Those units started to arrive this spring, trickling in through this summer. I saw one of the new units, the 627, for the first time in March. While I haven't really sought to see the new units, preferring to try to photograph the F59PH locomotives they are replacing (as discussed on this blog previously), I did try to pay attention to any MP40PH-3C's that came into my sight, just in case they might be one of the new units.

When I stumbled upon #644 on a Lakeshore Line train last weekend, that was the last of the twenty that I had not previously seen. I felt like I could now ignore MP40PH-3C's and just pay attention to the few remaining F59PH's, which are becoming quite rare in revenue service, and even considered writing about completing the set of twenty on this blog.

Then, today, the railroad enthusiast network on the Internet was alive with news of a new MP40PH-3C in my local neighbourhood yard. It had been known that GO had exercised an option to purchase ten more units for late 2010 delivery. In light of past history, I thought late 2010 would mean late fall and winter. Instead, the two orders seemed to have been run together. The first unit of the additional order, #647, shipped out of the manufacturing plant in Boise, Idaho less than two weeks after the last units from the previous order. When I took a walk this evening, I found it sitting right where it was expected to be.

So, instead of being 20-for-20, I'm now 1-for-10. On the railroad, change rolls on.

Transport: GO Electrification Study

The audience was less than impressed with a technology comparison slide at the GO Transit electrification study town meeting at the Lithuanian House in Toronto, Ontario on 26-May-2010

TORONTO, ONTARIO - The first public meeting for the GO electrification study held Wednesday evening at the Lithuanian House near The Junction in Toronto, Ontario drew a who's who in area transit advocacy. Everyone from local city councillor Gord Perks to the Clean Trains Coalition's Mike Sullivan to the influential Steve Munro was noted in attendance. They were there in part because the general public knew little about this study, which we learned will be taking place throughout 2010. After two and a half hours, I'm not sure anyone left the room satisfied.

Unlike a previous study that focused only on the Lakeshore line, this study is system-wide in scope. Rather than just dispositioning the idea of electrification as a yes or no based on economic models, it is intended to provide a blueprint for how recommended options might actually proceed. In order to do that, it makes a variety of assumptions, foremost that Union Station will be able to handle the expanded schedules anticipated for all lines in 2020, the approximate "medium term" that is the focus of the study. Furthermore, it looked at a variety of options including diesel multiple-units, electric multiple-units, and even hydrogen locomotives, as well as the use of electric locomotives.

That all might seem well and good, but there are some bizarre aspects to the study. The baseline for the study is the use of the MP40PH-3C diesel locomotives that GO has been placing in service since 2008, upgraded to so-called Tier IV emissions standards. However, no passenger locomotive meeting the Tier IV emissions standard has yet been produced, nor is there any certainty that the MP40PH-3C fleet will be able to be upgraded to meet the standard. So, the baseline assumption, far from being a well-characterized option, is essentially all guesswork--not exactly a firm foundation for any study.

Then, there were a number of things that the study managers seemed to not realize that would seem to be quite relevant to the study. Steve Munro pointed out that the potential need of a second, below-ground level of platforms at Union Station would likely make electrification necessary regardless of what the study determined. Mike Sullivan pointed out that the bi-level coaches used by GO were originally designed to be converted to electric multiple-units, which could radically change the economics of transitioning to that option. A GO manager was crucified by the audience for displaying ignorance of the sound levels produced by diesel locomotives, claiming that sound walls would have to be built regardless of the technology chosen.

Most people in the room were quite concerned about the "Air Rail Link" or ARL between Union Station and Pearson International Airport, which uses the Georgetown Line right-of-way for most of its distance. Despite the fact that service will be run by a private operator and not GO, electrification of that line was included in the scope of the study. However, because of the 2015 timeline for opening, study project director Karen Pitre actually stated that "I don't think it's practical" for the ARL to be built as an electrified line if so recommended by the study, implying that it would have to be a subsequent upgrade.

This meeting will likely be one of only a few public meetings during the study; GO and Metrolinx are instead trying to get public feedback through the web site for the study, http://www.gotransit.com/estudy/. This was pointed out as inaccessible to many residents along the rail lines who are not web-savvy, including seniors.

I was left with the impression that the people doing the electrification study are sincere and possibly even positively disposed to the implementation of electrification on GO Transit. However, with the base case chosen, the lack of Metrolinx authority over the ARL, and the lack of broad forums for public feedback (never mind the political realities that might ignore whatever the study says), the study may prove to be all for naught--just like the earlier Lakeshore electrification study has been.

Transport: Changes on GO Georgetown Line

The final GO Transit mid-day Georgetown Line train for now, Bramalea-Toronto train #266, crossed Black Creek in Toronto, Ontario on 1-April-2010

TORONTO, ONTARIO - This week, GO Transit introduced a variety of spring schedule changes, but arguably the most interesting ones were on the commuter rail Georgetown Line. The second line to see mid-day service after the Lakeshore Line, the Georgetown Line is set for major service expansion, including an express line from Union Station to Pearson International Airport.

For now, that means the end of mid-day train service on the line, replaced by expanded bus service, in order to allow construction crews greater access to the tracks of the GO-owned Weston Subdivision that carries the line from the Bathurst Street interlocking near Toronto's Union Station to Halwest near the Bramalea, Ontario station. Previously, a single train set did three round trips at mid-day spaced about 90 minutes apart, meaning a regular and repeated need to clear the tracks to let that train through.

As long-time readers of this blog know, I can be over-interested in the operational logistics of railroads. It's interesting that this service change eliminated only the train set and crew associated with those three mid-day round trips. The "shoulder" trips on the edge of rush hour remain, as those used different train sets and crews. What's especially interesting is that two VIA Rail Canada intercity trains, one each direction, are still scheduled to use the line about 11:00. So, the longest break in the action will extend from about 11:00 to 15:30 in the afternoon--I guess four hours is useful.

The morning schedule was basically unchanged, with four through trains from Georgetown to Union Station (which overnight in Georgetown) supplemented by three shorter-distance trains from Bramalea (which deadhead empty to Bramalea to start their runs). Thus, I didn't pay much attention to the afternoon trains, which I presumed had retained the old pattern (#281 running to Brampton, then deadheading back to Union Station to become a Stouffville Line train, four through trains to Georgetown #205, #207, #209 and #211, and a final train #269 running only to Bramalea and then returning to the Willowbrook Yard service facility for the night).

The afternoon schedule has actually changed significantly. The first train, #281, now leaves at 15:30 instead of 14:45 and runs all the way through to Georgetown (why it wasn't renumbered to #203 to match the through series is hard to explain), not returning to Union Station. The four through trains to Georgetown were left the same. That meant that the last one, #211, has nowhere to remain in Georgetown and has to return to Willowbrook Yard. Train #269 has been extended to Brampton, and still deadheads back to Willowbrook Yard. Thus, each evening there are two trains that head back empty over the line to Toronto.


The first "deadhead" of GO Georgetown Line train #211 back to Toronto passed a Canadian National work train at Dundas Street West on 5-April-2010

Last night, I happened to be walking in Parkdale and crossed the Georgetown Line as the first train #211 deadheaded back to Toronto. At the time, I thought maybe #269's schedule had changed more than I had thought, and it was only after I took a closer look at the new schedule that I realized it was #211, not #269. Such are the hazards of being a railfan after schedule changes!

Residents along the line, who are pushing for electrification, will see three fewer of "Dalton's Dirty Diesels" at mid-day, so they ought to be happy for now.

Transport: Georgetown Line Upgrades

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Coming on the heels of the news last week that GO Transit will purchase the Canadian National's Weston Subdivision, which is the first 17 miles of GO's Bramalea/Georgetown commuter rail line out of Toronto's Union Station, Metrolinx today released the Draft Environmental Project Report (EPR) on what it plans to do to upgrade the line. The document is accessible through the Metrolinx Consultation Portal. With GO and Metrolinx planning to merge, the GO purchase of the line pretty much guarantees that what Metrolinx plans to do will actually be built, assuming funds are available.

So far, the usual suspects (Steve Munro, Transit Toronto, and Metronauts) have not weighed in on the document. Perhaps this is because there really isn't anything new in the plan that hasn't been seen before, but I found some of the technical details and their long-term implications interesting.

The EPR covers the portion of railroad between Bathurst Street (just west of Union Station, and the end of the current GO-owned Union Station Rail Corridor) and Highway 427, just short of the junction with the CN freight line at Halwest west of the Woodbine race track. Throughout most of this distance, the current double or single-track Weston Subdivision will be expanded to four tracks to accommodate both more frequent GO and VIA service on the line, but also the every-fifteen minute service to be run by a private company between Union Station and Pearson Airport (once called "Blue 22", now the Union-Pearson Air Link).

The interesting design details are all found under Appendix E, so those interested in such things may wish to go directly to the plans presented there. On the four track main, the line will have to be taken below the current grade to achieve grade separation at three locations--Strachan Avenue, the current Canadian Pacific crossing at West Toronto, and the area of Weston station. The grades for these depressions are shown as no more than 2.0%, so these will not present a significant hindrance to any passenger operations, but may present a deterrent to running freight on the corridor in the event future traffic patterns changed for some reason.

I was most interested in the design chosen for the branch between the corridor and Pearson Airport. The option chosen for this single-track line is one with tight curve radii and 3.0% grades, making it unlikely that full GO commuter trains will ever run into the airport, as I would like to see someday. I suspect the private company wants to make sure that this is not an option so that there will be no competition with their expensive express trains to Union Station that will stop only at Weston and Bloor. Since I expect this service will not actually make money and that SNC-Lavalin will eventually want out of those operations, it would appear that the best we can hope for would be shuttle trains between the airport terminal and the Woodbine commuter rail station--and for that eventuality, the extension of the existing airport tram system would be considerably more convenient and likely cheaper. At least a rail shuttle to GO Woodbine would be functional.

Part II of the EDR is supposed to come out in May, then the comment period runs until 30 July. After that, the project proceeds in whatever form is approved.