04-27-2022, 12:41 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-27-2022, 12:43 AM by danbrotherston.)
(04-26-2022, 04:59 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:(04-26-2022, 01:03 PM)Bytor Wrote: It won't accomplish the stated goals.
Even if you grade separate Silver Junction west of Georgetown, that whole CN-owned bit (the Halton Sub) from there to Bramalea where Metrolinx ownership resumes has too few tracks to accommodate both freight and passenger traffic. Most of it is only 2 tracks, except for about 4km between Brampton and Bramalea GO stations. There's simply not enough to share to make #2WADGO possible.
How many freights do they run? We’re only talking about one passenger train per hour in each direction. One track should be able to handle a train every 30 minutes — one freight and one passenger per hour. If not, we’re doing something wrong and need to do a field trip to Europe to see how it’s done. We seem to need way more tracks here than they do. I believe the issue at the junction has to do with crossing movements, not with the inherent capacity of two tracks in the absence of conflicts between tracks.
It's their main freight rail line, so I'd guess it's quite a few.
That being said, why should a piece of track be able to handle a train every 30 minutes. It depends a lot on the specific trains it is running. Passenger trains should easily run every 30 minutes, because they're relatively short and fast. A single cross country freight train could take 10 minutes to pass. But even more problematic, those trains travel patterns are very different from passenger rail. Even more worse, those trains delay characteristics are different again...our passenger trains are ALREADY delayed due to freight delays, more frequent passenger services will just increase and cascade those delays.
There are two difference between Canada and Europe that apply here I think. For one, Canada runs vastly more freight by rail. I know its surprising for the undisputed king of the motor vehicle, but Europe runs a larger percentage of freight by truck than Canada or the US, so I think we just have more and bigger trains. I don't know how this applies directly to the GTA, but we're talking about a cross continent freight line here, so it probably applies. The other one is of scheduling. Freight trains are generally shorter in Europe which I suspect makes them easier to schedule around, and less prone to delays.
I also don't think you'll find freight sharing tracks with passenger service (at least not frequent passenger service) very often.