Toronto - A slow ‘go’ home for GO Train riders this afternoon. After first warning of major service disruptions due to CN signal problems at the Mimico station, GO Transit now says commuters should just expect delays. GO tells 680 News that the signals that are used to direct rail traffic experienced problems this morning at the Mimico station. As a safety precaution, CN shut the system down and are now pulling the trains through manually. More at: http://www.680news.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20061031_071844_5212 http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20061031/go_transit_061031/20061031?hub=TorontoHome http://torontosun.com/News/2006/10/30/2176194.html
“Pulling the trains through manually”. Now, doesn’t that conjure images of Canadian grit and determination, eh? We could use some of that down here!
Is Canadian grit coarser or finer than American grit? [(-D] [:D]
Yes.
I’d like to learn what the root cuase of this was. I read earlier today on the www that CN was doing upgrades to its signal system but now no amount of Google searching will find that news page again.
The story you probably saw appeared on the UTU.org website today:
http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=31418
It states that the problems at Mimico were caused by upgrades in connection with an expansion of GO Transit service.
“I’d like to learn what the root cuase of this was.” The answer wouldn’t sit too well for many here. But I’ll let you in on a little secret. This sort of garbage didn’t happen on the old CN to the extent and frequency it does with the new one. And I know what I’m talking about. Over the years I’ve worked and have been a major player in the field, on many big projects. Thankfully I made the smart decision to stay away from this one. For one thing, I don’t take kindly to being spied upon by Weed Weasels. A proud Canadian in the Signal Department of the Canadian National Railways.
For those less familiar with the area: Mimico is the location of both the GO and VIA storage yards for Toronto. Problems there mean that it’s difficult for the trains to get out to Unuin Station for their runs.
It was just a couple of months ago that CN managed to scatter a feight train across all the main-line tracks at the entrance to the yard.
I’ve been hearing a lot like this lately. The new CN seemes to have a lot of the same nutjob problems as the American railroads. Things seemed to work a lot better when there were zebra (pronounced “ZEB-ra” to you Americans) stripes on the engines and the gov had control.
As for the GO, well these kind of slowdowns happen on major systems from time to time, just look at all the weirdness that the Long Island RR has gone through over the years. It’ll get fixed and the green-and-whites will keep going.
I can’t wait to see their new locomotives, anyone know when they’re going to start coming in?
Cheers!
~METRO