Comments on: Could Commuter Rail Equipment be Used for Affordable Intercity Travel?

By: Curtis Bulatovich

Curtis Bulatovich — Tue, 07 May 2019 02:58:01 +0000

This is a brilliant idea… so imagine that the Commuter train arriving in Downtown Montreal at 0850 (originating in Mt. St. Hillaire) left montreal on a Kingston bound journey at 0900… making stops in Cornwall, Brockville and terminating at Kingston station at 11:30, then turning back at noon, arriving in Montreal for 1430…

Now imagine that a GOTransit train left Toronto Union Station at 0830, making stops in Coburg and Belleville and terminating at Kingston station at 11:30, and turning back at noon, arriving at Union for 3pm…

This scheduling would ensure no modifications are needed on platforms at Toronto Union or Montreal Gare Central, and no exchanges of equipment either…

Kingston is a fast growing city, and there are plans to replace the existing 1974 station… a rail service like this could be part of the design process for Kingston’s new station… Imagine a platform where at one side, a bi-level GOTrain would arrive, and directly across a spacious, enclosed island platform, an AMT train would arrive, and passangers could easily transfer from train to train… the 30 minute layover in Kingston would give the required wiggle room to ensure passagers made their connections in the event of a delayed train…

A passager could board a bilevel GO train at Union Station in Toronto at 0830, arriving in Kingston at 1130… fetching a cup of coffee at the new Kingston station, and boarding the 1200 AMT train, arriving at Gare Centrale at 1430…

You could forseeably run a rail service with the following schedule:

AMT – Midday “Stlawrence Connector”
Montreal (Depart) 0900
Kingston (Arrive) 1130
Kingston (Depart) 1200
Montreal (Arrive) 1430

GOTRANSIT – Midday “Lakeshore Connector”
Toronto (Depart) 0830
Kingston (Arrive) 1130
Kingston (Depart) 1200
Toronto (Arrive) 1500

AMT – Evening ” St. Lawrence Connector”
Montreal (Depart) 1900
Kingston (Arrive) 2130
Kingston (Depart) 2200
Montreal (Arrive) 0030

GOTRANSIT – Evening “Lakeshore Connector”
Toronto (Depart) 1830
Kingston (arrive) 2130
Kingston (Depart) 2200
Toronto (arrive) 0100

GOTRANSIT – Midday “Thames Connector”
Toronto (Depart) 1000
London (Arrive & Depart) 1200
Toronto (Arrive) 1400

GOTRANSIT – Evening “Thames Connector”
Toronto (Depart) 1930
London (Arrive & Depart) 2130
Toronto (Arrive) 2330

AMT – Midday “Ottawa-Outauais Connecter”
Montreal (Depart) 1000
Ottawa (Arrive & Depart) 1200
Montreal (Arrive) 1400

By: Mannie Salado

Mannie Salado — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 01:25:14 +0000

It’s a good idea, although you should emphasis the bargain fares you are intending. I could see having train sets waiting for 9 am departures from Toronto and Montreal on a no reservations, $50 fare. As you say, let them run the pm rush as visitors, and then return home on an evening schedule.

By: ant6n

ant6n — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:51:30 +0000

Actually most modern commuter trains include washroom facilities. If commuter cars were diverted for temporary intercity service, it should be ensured that only ones with toilets aboard are picked. That said, the ratio of passengers to toilets would be lower, but that probably fits the idea of having a more affordable, lower quality service.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:32:16 +0000

Another factor would be washroom facilities. Commuter trains usually have limited facilities (if any at all).

By: Matthew

Matthew — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 22:47:26 +0000

I chose Connecticut because of Stamford: it has good connecting service, yards, and platform space. It already turns CDOT diesels. But all of this is moot. The Shore Line Road can only accommodate a certain number of trains per day and it’s already at that limit. Any increase in that limit will be allocated to Amtrak or CDOT for its own Shore Line service.

By: ant6n

ant6n — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 07:15:27 +0000

@Matthew
Firstly, the Providence line is electrified, and all stations are high platform, so MBTA and NYP are compatible. MBTA does appear to have single level coaches, even though they don’t have electric locomotives. But those can be bought, or leased, or whatever creative thing one can come up with. Secondly, not going into NYP doesn’t imply one has to stop in Connecticut. There are other stations (and not stopping downtown was part of the plan), in Long Island, north of Manhatten. Even Grand Central could work, with the rolling stock going back and forth between MBTA and metro north — It would only need one extra Diesel Locomotive with third rail shoes.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 06:23:45 +0000

MBTA equipment cannot go into New York. First of all, it’s diesel, which isn’t allowed in the tunnels. Second, the bilevel cars are too big for NYP. Suppose you only ran them as far as a destination in Connecticut? Well, there’s a limit on the number of trains per day over the Shore Line Road because of the need for moveable bridges to be open for maritime traffic, and Amtrak’s already pushing it. If there were more slots, then Amtrak would probably want them for its normal service.

That’s on top of the other issues, such as staffing.

By: ant6n

ant6n — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 01:18:58 +0000

@Stewart
The same thing that would happen any time a train is delayed, and the equipment needed for the next one – more delays.

One way to deal with that is have lots of padding in the schedules – and the numbers that I used have a fair amount of padding in them (1-3 hours). The padding before the commuter runs can be made larger than before the intercity runs – this will result in the intercity runs to be more likely to be late, but the commuter runs to be more likely to be on time, if there are delays. But a 30 minute delay for a cost-conscious city-traveller is more excusable than a 30 minute delay for a commuter.

By: Stewart Clamen

Stewart Clamen — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:10:03 +0000

What would happen to the evening commuters if their trip relied on a trainset that was expected to arrive with turnaround time to spare from Toronto, but got delayed due to weather?

In southern Ontario, there is no jurisdictional obstruction. I don’t think there is anything preventing GO Transit from expanding their train offerings during the day, and running trains between Toronto, London and Windsor if they wanted to. They already run weekend trains all the way to Niagara Falls.

By: karl

karl — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 11:47:06 +0000

Infrastructure and monitoring of the infrastructure. In France, everything is already in place. In Canada, it is a bit cave age for the infrastructureÂ : not enough tracks, platforms, no systems for monitoring the trains with high traffic, etc. etc. etc. It is sad that so few development is made into the rails system.