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Monday, October 7, 2013

Derailed freight train in Brampton a Monday morning mess for Kitchener GO passengers


Photo by jiwan_bhamra via Instagram
Text graphic by Yours Truly

From GO Transit:
The freight blocking the tracks west of Bramalea GO is partially derailed and we are not expected to be able to pass the affected area for some time. As a result, trains on your line will be rerouted into Union Station and there will be no train service east of Bramalea GO.
Malton passengers are being shuttled to the Long Branch GO Station to connect with the Lakeshore West GO Train service. Passengers may board the TTC with their GO tickets and passes at Etobicoke North and Weston and at a staffed entrance at Yorkdale and Dundas West subways to their destinations.
We continue to work with CN to resolve this issue.


Photo by avvsmith via Instagram

14 comments:

TomW said...

"Passengers may board the TTC with their GO tickets and passes"

1) There are no GO passes anymore.
2) What about people travelling on Presto cards? (Which is most passengers...)

George said...

A perfect demonstration on why GO should have their own rail corridors similar to the Lakeshore lines.



Anonymous said...

George, really? You don't think your fares are high enough?

It's not like this is a daily monthly or even yearly occurence.

It happens once in a blue moon.

Anonymous said...

Rather the freight train than a GO train full of passengers. As a Kitchener commuter, this makes me nervous. What caused it?

MATT said...

@ TomW - For what it's worth:

Recently, there was a natural gas leak near Eglinton Station on the LSE line. I called TTC before leaving work and asked how I would use TTC with my presto card, when the TTC buses (and some subway stations) are not presto-equipped. I was told that the operators should know about any GO delay that allows GO riders to take the TTC, and that simply showing them your presto card (and announcing that you are a displaced GO rider) will be sufficient.

As a failsafe, however, I was told to have them call TTC customer service if the operators refused and demanded a cash fare.

Frankly, if it comes down to holding up a busload of people or paying $3, I'm paying the $3.

vrs said...

Lakeshore east does not have it's own corridor. A year or two back a freight train derailed at pickering station...

TomW said...

@Matt: My point was that GO's communication department doesn't seem aware of how passengers people pay their fares.

George said...

Anonymous...Please understand that the money from the fare boxes is used for operational expenses, not capital expenses.

All the improvements going on at Union for instance are funded by the gov't and do not come from the fare box. FYI, about 20% of your ride every day is subsidized by the province.

Plus their own corridors would make sharing the lines with CP redundant. Freights get first pass on all CP lines. GO transit gets a lower priority. This of course would help avoid delays by freight trains taking up rail space.

George said...

Lakeshore East does have it's own corridor. The freight derailed on the CN line and the GO line was closed for inspection. It was then opened up after a few hours.

Plus it was not at the station, it was about a kilometer east of Pickering. The scars are still there if you look closely.

Anonymous said...

It was pathetic. The 5:50am train managed to depart.
The fire and police departments didn't arrive until after 7am.
No shuttle buses were provided.
GO needs to have a B plan for these situations.

mark p said...

go does have day passes stil, i use them whenever i use go, its not often i use go transit that i need a presto card, nor any other transit that uses them, when TTC gets theirs completely done (if ever) then a presto card will become needed.... so technically they do still offer one type of pass.... just one not one the average go user would use....

Al said...

George, the pickering train derailed at the station, not a KM away, a train car almost ended up in the pickering parking lot.

http://www.google.ca/imgres?safe=active&sa=X&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&rlz=1I7NDKB_enCA521&biw=1117&bih=748&tbm=isch&tbnid=mJ-7ub3Ec8bsJM:&imgrefurl=http://www.citynews.ca/2010/03/30/cn-train-derails-at-pickering-go-station/&docid=W-qb32GskgMymM&imgurl=http://www.citynews.ca/files/2010/03/7e3474e5452d88a2f3ba10e3caeb-473x315.jpeg&w=473&h=315&ei=eSBUUr73E-_d4AP3-YCQDQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=145&tbnw=218&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0,i:94&tx=121&ty=51

vrs said...

On LSE VIA and freight(CN) still take priority over GO and I believe that some areas (closer to toronto) still only have two sets of tracks in that corridor. GO may "own" the tracks but it isn't just for them.

calvinhc said...

MATT said about what the TTC told him, "I was told that the operators should know about any GO delay that allows GO riders to take the TTC..."

That is a big assumption. Many TTC operators are unaware of the everyday policy of "TTC Times Two with GO", where one can use a transfer from a route to a GO station to re-board the TTC at the other end of the GO Train trip (http://ttc.ca/Fares_and_passes/Fare_information/TTC_Times_2.jsp).