Electrification of Toronto's GO-Transit Lines?

Queen’s Park backs plan to electrify Union Station-Pearson link - The Globe and Mail

Electric trains will eventually whiz down a new line to Pearson airport now that Queen’s Park has endorsed the first phase of an electrification plan that could cost as much as $1.8-billion over more than two decades.

In the long run, speedier electric trains are key to transforming GO Transit into an express service departing every five minutes, Metrolinx and the province say.

In the short term, endorsing any electrification could help the Liberals hang on to two vulnerable Toronto seats in this fall’s election.

However, it may not be possible to electrify the line in time for the Pan Am Games in 2015, when that line is supposed to open.

It will be a spur off of the Georgetown Line, likely branching off between Etobicoke North and Malton, and following Hwys. 429 and 407 to the airport.

GO Transit has plans to electrify three of its seven lines:

• Georgetown: 1 - Etobicoke/Pearson - 2 - Brampton - 7 - Kitchener
• Lakeshore East: 3 - Oshawa - 6 - Bowmanville
• Lakeshore West: 1 - Mimico - 4 - Oakville - 5 - Hamilton

Number = priority

I was skeptical -- they've discussed electrification for yonks, done infinite studies, and it just keeps getting postponed -- but this actually sounds like good news. Apparently Metrolinx (which now controls GO) voted unanimously for electrification of the three busiest lines, and the provincial government is paying for the first environmental impact statement (or whatever they call it in Canada), which hasn't happened before. I'm still suspicious that someone will pull funding again, but this does appear to be actual progress.

Railway Gazette: Metrolinx orders DMUs to work airport rail link

CANADA: The Metrolinx board of directors has approved the purchase of 12 two-car diesel multiple units for Toronto’s future airport rail link from Sumitomo Corp and its partner Nippon Sharyo Inc for C$53m.

Moderator's Note: Added fair use quote, per site policy. 10:05 am CST, 3/2/11

It looks like Metrolinx won't wait until it can electrify that line. The DMU's are a Sumitomo model much like the model that Sonoma and Marin Counties have ordered for a San Rafael - Cloverdale line north of San Francisco: Sonoma-Marin agency awards DMU contract to Sumitomo/Nippon Sharyo

As I read the linked news article, supposedly the DMUs can be turned to EMUs later.

SMART's DMU trains are planned to have high floors (~4 feet above top of rail) while all the existing GO trains have low floors (~2 feet above top of rail). How does Metrolinx plan to accommodate ADA passengers with the new Nippon Sharyo trains? Are they going to install wheelchair lifts on the trains themselves, or are they going to install "high blocks" on the existing platforms that will be shared by both trains? I assume all brand new platforms (at the airport) will be built for high floor trains.

The other question I have is: Are they buying the streamline or blunt nose version? I ask because Metrolinx is buying 24 cars at a cheaper price than SMART is buying 18 cars. I'm thinking the only way that might be possible is that Metrolinx is buying the blunt nose versions instead.
Which means the Metrolinx DMUs will probably look more like Southshore's EMUs than SMART's DMUs.


Credit NICTD: Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District

Again Captain Nitpick to the rescue. Remember this is Canada, so whatever equal access law exists, it won't be the United States Americans With Disabilities Act. And as with all Captain Nitpick posts, this one shows how he exercises his vast superpowers but provides no real help.

Patrick Boylan wrote:Again Captain Nitpick to the rescue. Remember this is Canada, so whatever equal access law exists, it won't be the United States Americans With Disabilities Act. And as with all Captain Nitpick posts, this one shows how he exercises his vast superpowers but provides no real help.

I'm so sorry, but may I ask what harm comes from a rail enthusiast asking questions?
I also notice you didn't provide any answers.
So who is being a nitpick now?

Whether Canada has similar ADA laws or not, I can't believe Canadian transit agencies are politically allowed to completely ignore passengers with disabilities, so I have valid questions worth answering.

electricron wrote:SMART's DMU trains are planned to have high floors (~4 feet above top of rail) while all the existing GO trains have low floors (~2 feet above top of rail). How does Metrolinx plan to accommodate ADA passengers with the new Nippon Sharyo trains? Are they going to install wheelchair lifts on the trains themselves, or are they going to install "high blocks" on the existing platforms that will be shared by both trains? I assume all brand new platforms (at the airport) will be built for high floor trains.

While I don't know the specifics on the equipment to be delivered I think I can answer the platform logistics question. There will be a dedicated area on the west side of Union Station in downtown Toronto for the airport express trains which will not be shared with GO trains. Since there will not be any intermediate stops, high-level platforms can be constructed at both end points for this service.

I honestly think this Sumitomo vehicle will prove to be a game-changer in United States commuter rail transit. Judging from the flurry of interest in the Colorado Railcar DMU, a lot of transit agencies want to take on less-traveled routes, but can't afford to devote an MP36 and 3 Bombardier bilevels. The offering from Sumitomo/Nippon Sharyo seems to solve the major reliability issues that CRC's product faces, and their large new plant gives them the capacity to handle a large number of orders. I'm guessing we can all think of a route that could support commuter rail, but might be marginal - here's the equipment to test the waters.

(Forgive me the dream, but I even think Amtrak could show interest. There's something really appealing about a single train leaving, say, Chicago, and splitting off DMU sections to go to Quincy, Burlington, and Rock Island - it's done all the time in European practice.)

Ken V wrote:While I don't know the specifics on the equipment to be delivered I think I can answer the platform logistics question. There will be a dedicated area on the west side of Union Station in downtown Toronto for the airport express trains which will not be shared with GO trains. Since there will not be any intermediate stops, high-level platforms can be constructed at both end points for this service.

The article states that there will be three intermediate stops, Ken, though it wouldn't surprise me if a no-stop version is an alternate plan. Still, full high-level platforms make sense for the origin and destination, and for intermediate stops, there's always mini-highs like you'd see on the Philadelphia Airport line.

mtuandrew wrote:I honestly think this Sumitomo vehicle will prove to be a game-changer in United States commuter rail transit. Judging from the flurry of interest in the Colorado Railcar DMU, a lot of transit agencies want to take on less-traveled routes, but can't afford to devote an MP36 and 3 Bombardier bilevels.

Flurry of interest? By the end of Colorado Railcar, it was pretty much down to possible Vermont order, which the governor of that state blocked - a very wise move as CRC folded and another customer, TriRail had to pay a high price to get it's CRC cars finished and finally had to resort to elderly RDCs.

mtuandrew wrote: The offering from Sumitomo/Nippon Sharyo seems to solve the major reliability issues that CRC's product faces, and their large new plant gives them the capacity to handle a large number of orders. I'm guessing we can all think of a route that could support commuter rail, but might be marginal - here's the equipment to test the waters.

We'll just have to wait and see how reliable these new DMUs prove to be in actual service. I personally don't see a great surge of orders for DMUs, if only because of the decreasing likelihood of Federal matching funds and the difficulty of financing order in the wake of the coming municipal bond defaults.

mtuandrew wrote:(Forgive me the dream, but I even think Amtrak could show interest.

Amtrak did show interest in the CRC DMU. However, Amtrak was broke at the time and had zero prospects for funding an order. Amtrak was willing to operate CRC DMUs if Vermont would fund them.

goodnightjohnwayne wrote:Flurry of interest? By the end of Colorado Railcar, it was pretty much down to possible Vermont order, which the governor of that state blocked - a very wise move as CRC folded and another customer, TriRail had to pay a high price to get it's CRC cars finished and finally had to resort to elderly RDCs.

The original interest was considerable, before transit agencies realized that the Colorado Railcar DMUs were too heavy, too tall, too unreliable, and too expensive. I obviously can't say for sure that Sumitomo's product will prove any more reliable - see the Budd SPV, a product that should have been reliable - but they have a much better shot than CRC did.

Regarding your other points, it largely depends on who takes the Presidential oath of office in a year and a half, and his or her views on transit. Assuming the units are reliable and economical, political fortune could turn 50 orders for the Sumitomo/Nippon Sharyo DMU into 500 orders.

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Moderator's Note: Sorry for going off-topic. If we don't wrap up this side conversation in the next 2-3 posts, I'll move it to the applicable thread in the Self-Propelled Railcar forum.

Back on topic: I don't recall having seen the electrification plans for Toronto. Are they planning to use 600-750 vdc like heavy rail or LRT, 1500 vdc like Chicago, or 25 kv/60hz ac like Montreal? Converting to one of the first two from diesel-electric wouldn't be too terribly hard, but AC would require a large transformer and possibly new control equipment.

mtuandrew wrote:I don't recall having seen the electrification plans for Toronto. Are they planning to use 600-750 vdc like heavy rail or LRT, 1500 vdc like Chicago, or 25 kv/60hz ac like Montreal? Converting to one of the first two from diesel-electric wouldn't be too terribly hard, but AC would require a large transformer and possibly new control equipment.

I haven't seen anything on this aspect. It's possible the planners haven't gotten to that level of detail yet.

If it true that Go Transit is considering the ALP 46 used by NJ Transit if it electrifies some or all of its lines?