METROLINX GETS ON TRACK
Provincial agency may not have a strict timeline for electric trains, but they are talking with manufacturers,
There’s no timeline, except a vague, 10-year end date to the provincial plan to electrify GO train service.
But Metrolinx has issued a call on a government procurement website for manufacturers to provide information on the types of trains that could potentially run on its regional express rail (RER) network.
The provincial agency is looking for manufacturers of electric locomotives, dual-mode (hybrid) locomotives and electric multiple-unit trains (featuring several engines through the length of the vehicle).
The trains would be used to furnish the province’s plan to electrify the GO lines so they could provide allday, two-way service across the network with 15-minute frequencies in “core areas,” a Metrolinx spokesman confirmed on Monday.
“We’re looking into vehicle infrastructure options to support RER,” said Malon Edwards.
At this point, Metrolinx is only looking for information. “Once the RER work plan is complete we will know more about the future procurement needs for the GO Transit fleet,” he said.
Although there were no details on when that work plan will be done, more information is expected at the March meeting of the Metrolinx board, said Edwards.
Signs of movement on electrification also bode well for Toronto Mayor John Tory’s SmartTrack plan to move more commuters in and out of the downtown on the GO Stouffville and Kitchener tracks.
The city’s executive committee has approved a $1.65-million study of SmartTrack that would be available in the fall. Tory’s plan includes 53 kilometres of track, including a spur along Eglinton West, with 22 new GO stops for an estimated cost of about $8 billion. The mayor campaigned on having SmartTrack run- ning in seven years.
During the campaign he said that the city’s willingness to invest in the electrified GO tracks would help make the Stouffville and Kitchener electrification a priority in the overall scheme.
Electric multiple units would be the electric equivalent of the diesel multiple units that will run on the Union Pearson Express shuttle between Union Station and the airport before the Pan Am Games this summer. The engine — diesel or electric — is incorporated into the coach of the train, rather than having a locomotive that pulls the coaches.
Dual-mode locomotives would be trains that are fuelled by either diesel or electricity.