Trains were delayed 30% (I think the number is actually higher) of the time for February and many trips were cancelled out right. Passengers fed up with trying to get onto a GO bus to shuttle them to Union gave up and went home, calling in sick. One rider wrote me to tell me she used three sick days because of cancelled trains. Not cool.
This morning, despite a summery -7C, trains departing on the Stillton line are delayed. The reason?
| from: | JG | ||
| to: | cj@thiscrazytrain.com | ||
| date: | Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 8:43 AM | ||
| subject: | Milton |
Check out the Milton delays list.http://www.gotransit.com/
"Minor rail brake"...huh?
We were also told on-board that they had to wait for "paperwork" before proceeding. Paperwork?
9 comments:
Best prepare now: they are calling for snow AND freezing rain tomorrow.
Best pack a snack and extra bottles of water. Survival tips from Metrolinx.
Bicky, it drives me crazy when Metrolinx says this. How about Metrolinx runs their trains on time.
"We were also told on-board that they had to wait for "paperwork" before proceeding. Paperwork?"
Yes paperwork. Ridiculous or not that's how things are done on the railways. When ever there's a problem with the signal system or the track itself there is an elaborate process that needs to be precisely followed so that mistakes don't happen. i.e. two trains crashing into each other and killing everyone aboard - the absolute worse case scenario yes, but that is exactly why there are these procedures in place and why we don't just rush through things just to get going. Afterall what's more important? Getting to your destination on time or your life?
First off, we need to contact the RTC - Rail Traffic Dispatcher, over the radio. Once we get a hold of him he will tell us whats going on and if we need to copy a written authority to proceed. If so, he will then verbally give us instructions that we have to write down exactly word for word on paper - hence the term "paperwork".
I'd love to get these instructions electronically but the railway regulations currently in place do not provide for such.
Transport Canada and/or the railways would have to do a risk assessment before any major changes in procedure can be implemented. Then GO transit would have to provided us with the necessary communication equipment since the locomotives & cab cars are not currently equipped with that type of electronic communication.
Anyways, once we've written down the instructions we need to repeat it exactly word for word. The RTC will then verify that we've correctly repeated his instructions. Only then can we proceed as instructed.
Whoah --- easy on the sarcasm, my friend!
Do we look like transportation engineers???
Paperwork is vague. What the hell do we know? Why can't GO take the same kind of time you did to tell us what is meant by paperwork.
Maybe the CSAs know but passengers do not. No one is suggesting anyone cut corners on any kind of safety procedure if it means we all get to work in one piece!
But for God's sake, can we just get a defined answer as opposed to "paperwork"?
Seriously. It was a GOOD question...
Thank you for answering it. But calm your boobies, ok?
Yeah... in hindsight I can see how my reply came off as being heavy on the sarcasm or even aggressive. Though honestly, aside from the 'worse case scenario part' my intent was to be informative rather than argumentative. Guess I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, lol.
Anyhow you do make a good point, a little bit of clarity would go a long way. Hopefully the powers that be at GO come to realize that sooner rather than later. I don't necessarily think CSA's have to be that detailed but the script they currently follow is definitely lacking in that department.
Dood,
You're passionate about what you do! I love it! Thanks for coming back and being more understanding. I appreciate it.
Dood,
You're passionate about what you do! I love it! Thanks for coming back and being more understanding. I appreciate it.
Aaaaand that's the attitude of employees we as "only commuters" have to contend with.
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