I rode between Uptown and Northfield a couple of times this evening to try to understand how the freight interaction works. It turns out they do indeed operate reverse-running, but only for one trip (at least this evening) while the freight is occupying the shared track. I started at Waterloo Public Square and went north to Northfield normally; then a southbound train came, and gave an announcement about reverse-running (in addition to platform announcements about delays due to freight) and sure enough the signal went yellow and we crossed over. Then held at Laurier/Waterloo Park for several minutes until the freight was clear of the interlocking (note, we did not proceed to the interlocking in front of the Perimeter Institute until the freight was well past there; we held in station, not at the signal). Then we proceeded, crossed back over just north of Erb, and arrived at Willis Way. I then repeated the trip and except for some residual schedule slippage everything was back to normal.
Mostly a pretty smooth operation, although I did notice two incorrect features of the operation: (1) platform destination signs did not reflect the reverse running; we, a Fairview trip, arrived at a platform with signs indicating two Conestoga trips, and the other platform was still advertising Fairway trips. (2) while we held at Laurier/Waterloo Park for almost 10 minutes, the crossing protection at the south end of the platform remained activated. It is, as a matter of public safety, never acceptable for crossing protection to remain active for a significant period of time for a motionless train in routine operation.
Mostly a pretty smooth operation, although I did notice two incorrect features of the operation: (1) platform destination signs did not reflect the reverse running; we, a Fairview trip, arrived at a platform with signs indicating two Conestoga trips, and the other platform was still advertising Fairway trips. (2) while we held at Laurier/Waterloo Park for almost 10 minutes, the crossing protection at the south end of the platform remained activated. It is, as a matter of public safety, never acceptable for crossing protection to remain active for a significant period of time for a motionless train in routine operation.