132 replies to this topic

[VicHockeyFan]

  What is the solution in 3 years?  10 years? 20 years?

 

Te downtown is already full of workers, there is little expansion available.  So in 10 or 20 years it'l be about the same.  Maybe more will work on the Peninsula, making McKenzie traffic more abundant.

[VicHockeyFan]

I used to commute on the westcoast express.....it might go a bit slower at times, but it never stops until it reaches it's destination. 

 

 

 

But it does not have 30+ busy level crossings on the last 45% of its route, like our E&N does.

[dasmo]

Te downtown is already full of workers, there is little expansion available. So in 10 or 20 years it'l be about the same. Maybe more will work on the Peninsula, making McKenzie traffic more abundant.

What expansion downtown has caused it to be ten times worse than 20 years ago even after multiple highway expansions?

[dasmo]

But it does not have 30+ busy level crossings on the last 45% of its route, like our E&N does.

A bus route has more AND is stuck in the traffic. A train will also get priority at a lot of crossings so will only have to slow most of the time.

[UrbanRail]

But it does not have 30+ busy level crossings on the last 45% of its route, like our E&N does.

 

Well actually, the E&N has approximately 18 crossings, some can actually be reduced and combined. Crossings don't normally affect train speed, since the majority are protected. You are assuming that the train has to yield to traffic like the buses do at intersections. The speed can actually be increased to between 40 and 50 km/h on straight stretches and curves can be banked. The Dayliner was known to hit 50 along this stretch. Plus newer railcars have better acceleration and deceleration than the old RDCs. Also stations would  be at major residential and commerical areas, reducing the number of stops along the way, unlike a bus.

Edited by UrbanRail, 13 October 2016 - 01:03 PM.

[VicHockeyFan]

Well actually, the E&N has approximately 18 crossings, some can actually be reduced and combined. Crossings don't normally affect train speed, since the majority are protected. You are assuming that the train has to yield to traffic like the buses do at intersections. The speed can actually be increased to between 40 and 50 km/h on straight stretches and curves can be banked. The Dayliner was known to hit 50 along this stretch. Plus newer railcars have better acceleration and deceleration than the old RDCs. Also stations would  be at major residential and commerical areas, reducing the number of stops along the way, unlike a bus.

 

Well, I beg to differ.  I worked for CP Rail in Victoria here for 2 years, and my father for 30 years.  I'm the only one on this board that has driven the Dayliner, on my own, with nobody else onboard.

 

There is no way you are taking passenger rail cars through those crossings, "protected" or otherwise at any speed over 30kmh.  It'd be suicidal and reckless.  People drive around the gates all the time.  They are going to absolutely crawl through intersections like Veterans/Goldstream, Admirals/Colville, and across Lampson and Esquimalt Road.  And you want to bank the curves?  Add millions more dollars to this project.

 

A diesel-electric (freight train) or diesel car (like the Dayliner was) actually do NOT have particularly strong acceleration characteristics.  You need to be full electric for that.  

[57WestHills]

20 MILES per hour was the actual speed limit before track maintenance imposed restrictions were added; that's up to around the end of View Royal and then up to 30mph.

[VicHockeyFan]

Some schedule revision, now just two p/u spots.

 

Langford Aquatic Centre 6:35am

Goldstream Village - Eastbound 6:50am

 

STOPS –Drop-offs Drop-off Times (approximate)

 

Uptown -Southbound 7:20am

Mayfair -Westbound 7:22am

Selkirk -Eastbound 7:24am

Douglas at Discovery -Southbound 7:30am

Douglas at Pandora -Southbound 7:32am

Fort at Douglas -Eastbound 7:34am

Downtown Bus Depot 7:37am

[Mike K.]

1:02 for a trip from Langfurd Aquatic Centre (Westhills?) to downtown bus depot (at Belleville?) sounds about right. There's no way around it if that bus has to stop seven times while dodging in and out of heavy traffic.

[VicHockeyFan]

So I spoke to one young lady as she stepped off this morning.  She's not a converted former BCT rider, she's a converted car driver that likes the time to surf the 'net and sip on complimentary coffee on the way in.

[57WestHills]

15 minutes from the Y to Goldstream is bizarrely long, even with loading time. I can bike from the Y to about 40% of the way downtown in that!

[VicHockeyFan]

15 minutes from the Y to Goldstream is bizarrely long, even with loading time. I can bike from the Y to about 40% of the way downtown in that!

 

There is a 5-minute wait time at stop #2, to allow people to leave their cars and walk to the bus without worry of it leaving.

[57WestHills]

Still leaves like six minutes unaccounted for, but not a big deal to be sitting at Goldstream for a bit.

[VicHockeyFan]

I can report that it arrived at the exact correct time at Fort and Douglas today.

[UrbanRail]

Well, I beg to differ.  I worked for CP Rail in Victoria here for 2 years, and my father for 30 years.  I'm the only one on this board that has driven the Dayliner, on my own, with nobody else onboard.

 

There is no way you are taking passenger rail cars through those crossings, "protected" or otherwise at any speed over 30kmh.  It'd be suicidal and reckless.  People drive around the gates all the time.  They are going to absolutely crawl through intersections like Veterans/Goldstream, Admirals/Colville, and across Lampson and Esquimalt Road.  And you want to bank the curves?  Add millions more dollars to this project.

 

A diesel-electric (freight train) or diesel car (like the Dayliner was) actually do NOT have particularly strong acceleration characteristics.  You need to be full electric for that.  

Actually the newer railcars have come a long way since the Dayliner was first built and designed when it comes to acceleration and deceleration.

 

But anyway

 

I am curious, did your Dad drive the Dayliner in his 30 years with CP? Its possible he and my Grandfather may have met. As my Grandfather frequently met the train every morning in Langford.

[VicHockeyFan]

I am curious, did your Dad drive the Dayliner in his 30 years with CP? Its possible he and my Grandfather may have met. As my Grandfather frequently met the train every morning in Langford.

 

No, he worked in the Roundhouse, he even had his own little office there.  He was a "diesel-maintainer" by CP (and union) job title, but was also an electrician by trade.  So he serviced all the trains.  He'd only drive it to test it (mostly in the yard), or perhaps the odd time when he ventured out to re-start a broken-down unit anywhere on the Island.

[Bingo]

No, he worked in the Roundhouse, he even had his own little office there.  He was a "diesel-maintainer" by CP (and union) job title, but was also an electrician by trade.  

So he serviced all the trains.  He'd only drive it to test it (mostly in the yard), or perhaps the odd time when he ventured out to re-start a broken-down unit anywhere on the Island.

 

VHF, you are an old railroader at heart, and I can just see you in the cab of an old steam engine shovelling the coal in.

[LJ]

^Oh, he would be shoveling something alright.

[Nparker]

So I spoke to one young lady as she stepped off this morning...

In other words, you talked to 1/4 of all the passengers. http://www.cheknews....service-231576/

[VicHockeyFan]

In other words, you talked to 1/4 of all the passengers. http://www.cheknews....service-231576/

 

It's already 10% full on the very first day!

 

To be fair, the schedule was only released last week, and potential users have paid their monthly downtown parking and bus passes for October already.  We'll see if they get a few more after November 1st.