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GO Transit
(03-06-2019, 08:12 AM)timio Wrote: I was thinking quick wins in terms of feasible grade separations.

Closures might be ok in Guelph where there are many crossings in a short distance.

Yes, but … in the countryside, where crossings are further apart, eliminating (or grade-separating) a crossing may improve the speed substantially. In a city, if there are three crossings within 500m, if you eliminate the middle one, it doesn't help as the train will have to go slow for the other two anyway.

Adding gates to the remaining uncontrolled crossings might help, too. I don't know enough detail about rail safety, though.
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The town hall, in full:

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(03-06-2019, 02:45 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(03-06-2019, 08:12 AM)timio Wrote: I was thinking quick wins in terms of feasible grade separations.

Closures might be ok in Guelph where there are many crossings in a short distance.

Yes, but … in the countryside, where crossings are further apart, eliminating (or grade-separating) a crossing may improve the speed substantially. In a city, if there are three crossings within 500m, if you eliminate the middle one, it doesn't help as the train will have to go slow for the other two anyway.

Adding gates to the remaining uncontrolled crossings might help, too. I don't know enough detail about rail safety, though.

I did ask this already, but I'm still curious, I was under the impression trains were not slowing for crossings at all?  What is the speed limit through level crossings for trains, compared with the top speed of GO Trains?
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(03-06-2019, 04:58 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(03-06-2019, 02:45 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Yes, but … in the countryside, where crossings are further apart, eliminating (or grade-separating) a crossing may improve the speed substantially. In a city, if there are three crossings within 500m, if you eliminate the middle one, it doesn't help as the train will have to go slow for the other two anyway.

Adding gates to the remaining uncontrolled crossings might help, too. I don't know enough detail about rail safety, though.

I did ask this already, but I'm still curious, I was under the impression trains were not slowing for crossings at all?  What is the speed limit through level crossings for trains, compared with the top speed of GO Trains?

I think we need @Canard or @trainspotter139 to answer this question. My attempts at searching the Internet for answers were not successful.
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Pretty sure we're the same as the US, where gated grade crossings can be used through Class 6 — max 177 km/h, which is faster than GO will move within our lifetimes.
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(03-06-2019, 06:50 PM)kps Wrote: Pretty sure we're the same as the US, where gated grade crossings can be used through Class 6 — max 177 km/h, which is faster than GO will move within our lifetimes.

Thanks for the clarification. Do you know the speeds for with no gates and bells, and with no bells?
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(03-06-2019, 07:43 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(03-06-2019, 06:50 PM)kps Wrote: Pretty sure we're the same as the US, where gated grade crossings can be used through Class 6 — max 177 km/h, which is faster than GO will move within our lifetimes.

Thanks for the clarification. Do you know the speeds for with no gates and bells, and with no bells?

Here's a US reference. It seems they now require gates at all crossings running passenger trains.

The only thing I've found for Canada is this which forbids new level crossings where the railway can exceed 177km/h.
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Cambridge/Milton GO bus is being cancelled

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/g...-1.5163631
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That article states that each trip had a mere five passengers on average... Yikes.
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Yet getting the GO Train to Cambridge was Doug Craig's biggest transit priority.
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In better news:


Metrolinx CEO says two-way, all-day GO train service to Waterloo Region is ‘close’
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More trains is fine, but "trains will be half an hour quicker" makes me much happier.
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Same here. We already have two-way all-day Go service. Why people insist that it has to be by train to count is beyond me.

The bus is already good in terms of frequency- hourly service. But it's too slow, at a minimum of two hours. If travel time on at least one of the modes can be cut to 90 minutes, that's a very significant improvement.
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(06-06-2019, 10:22 AM)MidTowner Wrote: Same here. We already have two-way all-day Go service. Why people insist that it has to be by train to count is beyond me.

The bus is already good in terms of frequency- hourly service. But it's too slow, at a minimum of two hours. If travel time on at least one of the modes can be cut to 90 minutes, that's a very significant improvement.

Weekends would be more important to me than getting a train. Though trains are better than buses in general. The 30 is pretty fast but due to the connection timing/potential traffic it's still slow in general.
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So some effort has been put into analyzing options for GO trains to Cambridge via Guelph, and where the best location would be for a station. A surprise (to me) front runner has emerged: at the future Pinebush Ion station. It's considered centrally located in Cambridge and would have a good catchment; I guess it's a good idea if only one station is being considered, but for my money I'd go with multiple stations including Hespeler.

It's all in the P&W agenda, starting page 113. https://calendar.regionofwaterloo.ca/Cou...6c0103d9aa
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