GO's efforts can't defeat cold snap
Kevin McGran
Toronto Star
22 December 2004

Frozen switches. Frozen doors. Old locomotives.

Those were some of the excuses GO Transit officials threw out to commuters last year when winter hit the city's inter-regional transit system hard.

A week after the transportation ministry said enhancements at GO "will make it more reliable for commuters this winter," there was a new excuse put forward this week: split rails.

The extreme cold - it hit minus 24.3C on Monday - caused the old steel to split, which led to delays and cancellations for commuters.

"It's the reality of our climate," said GO chair Gordon Chong. "The fact of the matter is the changes we made this year ... couldn't have prevented this."

In January, the service will introduce a Global Positioning System to allow GO to locate trains experiencing difficulties, respond quickly to these delays, and notify customers faster.

In the fall, GO installed seven hot-air blowers to prevent switches from freezing and purchased a high-pressure blower to clear snow and ice buildup on switches. It plans to install 22 more hot-air blowers in 2005.

In Moscow, Russia the temperatures sometimes in witres could reach -30C and still I've never heard about any delays in surface transportations including commuter trains. I've never heard about subway problems on above ground parts of system during heavy snow squalls. There was always enough machinery to clean snow and the equipment was design to sustain the extreme cold.

We should stop pretending that Toronto is something like Florida and invest in reliable infrastructure.

What...equipment failures in Russia...could never happen. LOL

Com'on...you could have problems getting toilet paper in Russia for chrsit's sake. Get a little perspective. Equipment failure happens everywhere...even in Florida.






KGB

What...equipment failures in Russia...could never happen. LOL

KGB

:hilarious

You're using some lame cliches there, KGB:|

You can't compare Russian technology to cheap, "Made in Taiwan" stuff Canada uses. Every component made in Russia, at least for such crucial systems as rail & transports, are pre-tested to see how they stack up again severe Siberian temperatures.

And its true, such things rarely happen in Russia.

"You're using some lame cliches there, KGB"


Lame posts deserve them don't you think? Sometimes it's better to join them than to beat them.






"And its true, such things rarely happen in Russia."


Sure...the whole country malfunctions...but at least the trains don't break down. LOL!!






KGB

WHere do you get that? "Whole country malfunctions"?
Hollywood movies?:D

What...equipment failures in Russia...could never happen. LOL

Com'on...you could have problems getting toilet paper in Russia for chrsit's sake. Get a little perspective. Equipment failure happens everywhere...even in Florida.






KGB

I'm not trying to say that it all was perfect in communist times (now there is no problem with toilet paper :)
I'm just saying that Moscow has approx. the same climate as Toronto (as well as Scandinavian countries), still Moscow, Helsinki, Stockholm are better prepared to harsh winters and snow.
The point is that every year we hear the same stories. I don't understand why sidewalks/secondary roads aree not cleared immediately just north of Eglinton. Who said that people should not walk and cars should not leave subdivisions before entering the major routes?

With regard to rail transport...GO has almost everyday record of problems, delays etc. leave alone winter storms with ONLY 3-4 trains each way daily on some direction (compare that with 5-15 minutes peak intervals on S-BANs/commuter trains in Europe and Russia).

I can also remind you constant winter troubles with open-surface subway parts (i.e. Eglinton to Bloor).

See the images of new monorail transit in Moscow - winter (http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=153206)

GO had alot of problems that day, but how often does it reach -30 degrees celsius here in Toronto?

I do think that GO is behind the times, though.