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[Rail] Commuter rail


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#1041 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 05 January 2017 - 06:24 PM

Trains in this situation travel at less than 10 mph over those crossings.  There is no crash danger.


<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#1042 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 07:33 AM

http://www.timescolo...rains-1.8549969

 

So far, no convincing business plan has been produced that shows how rail service on the old E&N line can become a reality. The Capital Regional District — or any other level of government — should not commit any more funds to ghost trains.

 

CRD parks committee members are recommending that $1.2 million be spent on E&N Rail Trail construction. Work on the trail is worthwhile, but $440,000 of that amount is proposed to upgrade a rail crossing for trains that might never run.

 

Pouring more money into a possible E&N rail service is a bit like continuing to invest in swampland property or mythical mines that are going to produce at any moment. We don’t for a second suggest the Island Corridor Foundation is deliberately trying to dupe anyone — the delusion is the wishful thinking that imagines trains running on a track that has outlived its useful days.

 

- See more at: http://www.timescolo...h.fTM1yUYc.dpuf


<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#1043 tedward

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 10:23 AM

^ We can thank Graham Bruce for the total lack of a plan.  Former MLA has himself a nice gig pretending to work while the best alternative to the Malahat languishes.


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#1044 johnk

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 10:34 AM

If anything is going to be done it should be done correctly otherwise it will be bandaids on top of bandaids, service outages, slowdowns etc. People will not find this an attractive alternative. Reliable service is everything.

Its a decrepit system that needs pretty total rebuild. Banging on about the valuable right of way etc doesn't mean a trainset can just be plunked down and operated. 

The railbed is likely pretty shot in a lot of places with rotted sleepers. Rails are probably pretty bad, too.

A total rebuild isn't going to happen and anything less will be a patchwork job. If this dream ever becomes real I expect it will offer a less than first class experience while needing and begging for ever-increasing subsidies.


Edited by johnk, 24 January 2017 - 10:35 AM.


#1045 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 24 January 2017 - 10:34 AM

^ We can thank Graham Bruce for the total lack of a plan.  Former MLA has himself a nice gig pretending to work while the best alternative to the Malahat languishes.

 

But it's an alternative that even at the most grand scale, can only take 3% of the vehicles off the Malahat.  So that's not really an alternative.


<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#1046 tedward

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Posted 25 January 2017 - 09:04 AM

But it's an alternative that even at the most grand scale, can only take 3% of the vehicles off the Malahat.  So that's not really an alternative.

 

Riiiiight... because your made up numbers somehow negate the reality of modern rail worldwide and it's capacity to move people and goods with less carbon emissions, more comfort, and more speed.


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#1047 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 25 January 2017 - 09:20 AM

Riiiiight... because your made up numbers somehow negate the reality of modern rail worldwide and it's capacity to move people and goods with less carbon emissions, more comfort, and more speed.

 

30,000 people go over the Malahat each day.

 

On an average day, more than 84,600 passengers ride more than 300 Amtrak trains.

 

https://www.amtrak.com/national-facts

 

Using my 3% figure that's 900 people per day on the train.  The average Amtrak train carries 282.  So if our train is more than 3x more successful, it'll hit that 3% of cars off the road.

 

To get to 10% of the cars off the road, you'll need 10 or more trains per day in each direction.

 

More speed?  You also realize that no matter how modern the new train rolling stock is, this train will never, ever, ever be able to average more than about 45kmh, right?  To go any faster would require the elimination of most of the the ~ 130 level crossings between here and Nanaimo plus an entire track upgrade and partial re-routing of sections, probably at the cost of over $500M if we just close the level crossings (drive a few extra miles to get around it), or over $1.5B if we re-engineer them.  So it'll take at least 60% longer than a car trip, plus of course the extra time to get to your destination from the track/train station to your actual point you are going to.

 

The trend for inter-city public transportation is on a downswing, not an upswing, especially here on the Island.


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<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#1048 Bingo

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Posted 25 January 2017 - 10:45 AM

Commuter rail  in Vancouver,

 

West Coast Express  is the only interregional commuter railway in British Columbia, Canada.

Opened in 1995, it links MissionMaple RidgePitt MeadowsPort CoquitlamCoquitlam and Port Moody with Waterfront Station in Downtown Vancouver,

where it interchanges with SkyTrain rapid transit, SeaBus and other public transportation services.

The West Coast Express operates from Monday to Friday excluding holidays, with five trains per day running from Mission to Vancouver in the morning peak hours and returning to Mission in the evening peak.

A one-way trip takes 75 minutes, which is faster than driving to Downtown Vancouver.

Route is 69km - 43 miles  - daily ridership 10,600 (2014)

https://en.wikipedia...t_Coast_Express

 

Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows commuters could see another train added to the West Coast Express schedule to help out with the rush-hour rail commutes,

according to comments from TransLink’s boss Kevin Desmond.

http://www.mapleridg.../393304031.html

 



#1049 AllseeingEye

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Posted 25 January 2017 - 12:12 PM

While I am personally a huge fan of rail having been across this country from BC to NS four times, my main concern locally is user cost; at ~ 370,000 people give or take, I have to presume if a Greater Victoria commuter system actually did see the light of day we'd be one of if not the smallest region in North America to implement.

 

Has the ICF (or anyone else) produced any estimates of the cost of ridership or of required, anticipated government subsidies? As I recall at the time Calgary implemented the C-Train system, the city was sitting at roughly 5-600K population and yet unsurprisingly required years and years of government subsidies in order to make it work.


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#1050 Mike K.

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Posted 26 January 2017 - 01:28 PM

Yes, I'm sure we've got all sorts of studies that show how astronomical the cost to the public will be, therefore these studies never see the light of day. If this were a viable alternative we'd have been riding trains two or three years following the formation of the ICF. Instead we've been promised something spectacular just around the corner for as long as VV has been around.


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#1051 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 26 January 2017 - 01:35 PM

Commuter rail  in Vancouver,

 

A one-way trip takes 75 minutes, which is faster than driving to Downtown Vancouver.

 

 

Uh huh, OK.  But our track is nothing like theirs.  They have next to no level crossings, and the ones they do are minor service streets mostly, absolutely nothing like the monstrosities that are Admirals/Colville and Goldstream/Veterans Memorial or Esquimalt Rd. (where trains will not go through those at more than 15-20kmh) and they do not have the Niagara Canyon bridge etc.


<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#1052 Mike K.

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Posted 26 January 2017 - 01:48 PM

According to Google maps, a one-way trip at 1:42PM takes 1 hour, 6 minutes. I can imagine it takes longer during peak hours, of course.


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#1053 lanforod

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Posted 26 January 2017 - 03:02 PM

Yeah. In rush hour it's maybe 90 minutes to Mission from downtown. Off peak, it's about an hour.
The train takes 75, barring delays, which do happen.

#1054 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 26 January 2017 - 03:09 PM

$T2eC16VHJGoFFvfhhPiMBScYS8Nmng~~60_57.j


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<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#1055 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 26 January 2017 - 03:13 PM

The Budd Car, fully capable of speeds over 120kmh, went to Courtenay and back in 8.75 hours.  That driving distance today is under 5.5 hours. 


<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#1056 RFS

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Posted 26 January 2017 - 03:31 PM

The Budd Car, fully capable of speeds over 120kmh, went to Courtenay and back in 8.75 hours. That driving distance today is under 5.5 hours.


more like under 4 if you are willing to go slightly above speed limits

#1057 jonny

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Posted 26 January 2017 - 03:36 PM

That driving distance today is under 5.5 hours. 

 

That's like the time it takes to get to Port Hardy!

 

It's like 3, 3.5 hours to Courtenay/Comox.



#1058 Mike K.

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Posted 26 January 2017 - 03:41 PM

I think VHF meant there and back, compared to VIA's 8.75 hour there and back.


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#1059 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 26 January 2017 - 03:53 PM

That's like the time it takes to get to Port Hardy!

 

It's like 3, 3.5 hours to Courtenay/Comox.

 

Google says 2:44 from Victoria City Hall to Courtenay (I did not specify a point).


<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#1060 dasmo

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Posted 26 January 2017 - 04:15 PM

Google says 2:44 from Victoria City Hall to Courtenay (I did not specify a point).

Wow! Maybe speeding and no bathroom stops! 



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