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Interesting.. not much different than today’s VIA 85, minus the Generator car…
2 cars and a locomotive?
With GO arriving in Kitchener, will VIA be cutting back on this route?
Yes. VIA 85 has one engine and two cars and has been as such for the better part of 10 years now, sometimes three coaches… Runs in the lunchtime slot.
VIA cut one train a day a few years ago, 86 and 89 no longer run (86 was in the commuter slot, 89 was late late at night)
VIA 87 still runs in the westbound commuter slot between two GO trains (block on block – radio block in this case – item 7 on OCS clearances) but in the morning the first VIA eastbound arrives in Toronto about 1030 from the Guelph sub so there is no eastbound commuter alternative to GO.
The Guelph sub is in the midst of a CTC upgrade, should be complete by months end, and the plan always was for VIA to add service. Three RDC’s recently spent time testing on the Alexandria sub in Ottawa.. so there may be something up their sleeve in the not too distant future, but it’s anyones guess what VIA may actually do if anything at all..
GO will add two departures within a year in each direction.. but VIA paid for the CTC, it is their project.
Very neat shot Steve.
@Steve Host: Why is VIA paying for the CTC? I thought GO was the one who wanted to upgrade the line.
JP That is a good question. I presume that there has been CTC east of Georgetown for quite some time. How does VIA justify that kind of spending, with GO moving onto the line?
These short inter-city runs are perfect for the RDC’s even though I would rather see a “real” train
@ Steve – VIA only rosters six RDC’s… that’s it. Three are for Vancouver Island but that’s on hold…. so there are only three available.
The other three are in use for Sudbury-White River.
VIA started the CTC project in 2007 or so but disagreements with GEXR delayed the project. As far as I know VIA capitlized the project, ultimately, it’s to improve safety and increase capacity on the line – a catalyst may have been the two near-head-on accidents on the GEXR Guelph sub, both involving passenger trains in 2005, at the time the railway was using Cellphones for clearances, in dark territory. After the accident investigations within two years radio towers were installed and CTC was planned. Keep in mind these misses are fully investigated and the TSB gets involved, the feds paying for it is one way to ensure it happens – GEXR certainly has no interest in it for their operations.
GO Transit and VIA both participated in the 2009 EA for improvements to the Guelph sub for GO Train service and I have no doubt Metrolinx has become a partner in the CTC project, but the funding allocation is unclear, as far as I know it’s still VIA bankrolling it.
I feel compelled to share current shots for the Time Machine photos. Thanks for sharing Steve!
Well, either way, I’m going to miss OCS clearances.
Four days left – CTC should turn on on November 1st if all goes according to plan. If you can, hook your scanner to a computer and record the clearances
Steve here’s a photo from the last month or two showing the factory at left getting a switch – still a factory after all this time:
http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=20495
Found this gem again today.
Via did nothing. Cut 85/88. Never added anything.
Go added a londom train scheduled to be cancelled thi fall after 2 years.
Go is up to 12 trains each way per day though to kitchener and more CTC upgrades are underway. New South track in guelph and North track in breslau gojng in now with new signals for these
Found this gem again today.
Via did nothing. Cut 85/88. Never added anything.
Go added a londom train scheduled to be cancelled thi fall after 2 years.
Go is up to 12 trains each way per day though to kitchener and more CTC upgrades are underway. New South track in guelph and North track in breslau gojng in now with new signals for these
West of Kitchener it is a ghost town