GO Transit / Metrolinx Toronto, ON

[Fan Railer]

http://www.railwaygazette.com/nc/news/s ... ngine.html

Launching the engine at its Seymour, Indiana, plant, Cummins announced that Toronto commuter operator GO Transit will be the first QSK95 customer in North America, with an order for the repowering of 11 MotivePower MP40 locomotives.

http://www.cummins.com/cmi/displayMoreN ... A00%3A00.0

SEYMOUR, Ind. – Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) today revealed at the Seymour Engine Plant the new QSK95 engine with over 4000-hp (2983 kW) output as the world’s most powerful high-speed diesel. The 95-liter 16-cylinder QSK95 is the first engine to be introduced in a new high-horsepower diesel and gas platform from Cummins. The new product line will extend up to the 120-liter 20-cylinder QSK120, capable of over 5000-hp (3728 kW) output.

Designed with exceptional strength and high power density, the 16-cylinder QSK95 exceeds the power output of other large 1800-rpm high-speed engines with 20-cylinders. Compared with much larger medium-speed engines operating below 1200 rpm, the QSK95 offers a far more compact and cost-effective solution to achieve the same power output.

The QSK95 is ideally suited for high-hour, high-load applications in passenger and freight locomotives, many types of marine vessels and ultra-class mine haul trucks. Operators can expect higher levels of equipment uptime and a longer life-to-overhaul with the QSK95.

http://cumminsengines.com/every/news/20111101BR02.page?

For commuter and intercity locomotives, the QSK95 is capable up to 4200-hp (3132 kW) and can be installed with an auxiliary Cummins rail engine to provide electrical hotel power to the passenger cars, freeing up maximum tractive power from the prime mover. The QSK95 engine is also available rated from 3500-hp to 4000-hp (2610-2983 kW) as a highly cost-effective power solution for multipurpose short-haul freight locomotives.

For large line-haul freight locomotives requiring more than 4000-hp output, the QSK95 can be specified with a smaller Cummins locomotive engine as a combined power installation. A smart power-sharing system transfers work between the two Cummins engines to match the locomotive duty cycle more efficiently than a conventional single engine. This innovative approach provides full traction power when the locomotive needs it and the best possible fuel economy when running at lower power levels, to reduce overall operating costs.

The exceptional strength of the QSK95 will improve locomotive traction and increase acceleration, boosting performance with highly responsive quad-turbocharging.

[mtuandrew]

For goodness' sake, why would GO spend the money to install new engines in the MP40PH-3Cs? These locomotives are no more than four years old, and they're still being delivered from MPI with EMD 710s as we speak! I can understand that the City of Toronto and the Government of Ontario want to reduce emissions, and that's admirable, but the 16-710G3B-T2 already meets US EPA Tier 2 status and EMD is working to upgrade the 710 package for Tier 4 compliance. That should happen before 2014, and EMD should be offering upgrade kits by that time.

Beyond the objections having to do with EMD's engine being a quality piece of equipment, the Cummins system has never been tested. Again, I think this is a silly, expensive and wasteful idea. I hope that GO Transit is being paid to use their fleet as a testbed for Cummins engines under heavy service, because otherwise it makes absolutely no sense to rip out perfectly good prime movers (along with alternators and control systems - a 900 rpm alternator won't work with an 1800 rpm engine) to gain a few percentage points in emissions standards that will be made up within two years anyway.

[MEC407]

I hope that GO Transit is being paid to use their fleet as a testbed for Cummins engines under heavy service...

That was my initial thought/guess. I'd also guess that MPI won't have any trouble selling those low-hour 710s and getting a pretty good price for them. My other assumption (which I think I might have mentioned in the MPXpress thread in the "other locomotive builders" forum) is that MPI may have found themselves in the position of needing to align with another prime mover manufacturer now Progress/CAT/EMD are one big happy family and have expressed more than just a passing interest in getting back into the passenger locomotive market.

[mtuandrew]

Still, it seems an odd way of going about the process. Why not just build 11 new engineless MP40PH-4Qs (or whatever the designation) at Boise, send them to Seymour to get the powerpacks, and thence to Toronto? I wonder if GO has 11 particular bad actors in mind, ones that haven't been able to get proper service from MPI or from EMD.

Also, I wonder what this means for MPI's budding partnership with GE on the HSP46s. Presumably the Cummins prime mover will be their go-to for EMD repower projects, but will GE remain their choice for new build?

[DutchRailnut]

MPI is a contract builder, they put in whatever customer desires, MPI does not and can not favor a certain brand.

[mtuandrew]

They certainly can favor a certain brand without precluding another - this happens all the time. Alco partnered with GE to supply electrical equipment through the 1950s, but still installed Westinghouse equipment in some S and RS locomotives. Even if they partner with Cummins to offer MPXpress designs with the QSK95, for the right price MPI will install prime movers from EMD/Progress/CAT, GE, Alco, Fairbanks-Morse, or Wärtsilä.

[MEC407]

But here's what I'm wondering: if CAT/Progress does get back into the passenger locomotive market -- realizing (and I'm sure they do) that the 710 engine is their biggest selling point to potential customers -- could they "cut off" MPI and say "sorry, we're not going to sell you the 710 anymore"? I mean, leaving aside the question of whether they WILL do that or not, is there any legal reason why they couldn't?

It just seems like more than coincidence that MPI would start going to other engine manufacturers at roughly the same time that CAT/Progress talks about getting back into the passenger loco business.

[Nasadowsk]

Legally? I don't see how they can be forced to sell anything to anyone. Rationally? They need to sell every 710 they can. Isn't CAT the 2nd or 3rd owner of EMD over the last 4 or 5 years?

[DutchRailnut]

Sure they could refuse to sell the 710 to say MPI but that would only push MPI to favor other makes.
it would backfire on EMD, despite them designing a passenger locomotive , it does not guarantee them sales.

[mtuandrew]

To pile onto Dutch's post, the legality depends on whether EMD and MPI have a long-term contract to supply 16-710G3B-T2s. If Electro-Motive Diesel agreed to supply a certain number of 16-710 blocks and copies of EM2000 at a predetermined price per copy, Progress can't single-handedly withdraw from the contract in an effort to mess with MPI. Likewise, if MPI agreed to take delivery of a certain number, Wabtec would need cause to refuse some without paying a financial penalty.

Having said that, it's likely that EMD and MPI only execute contracts whenever MPI gets a new order, so all the engines are spoken for before production starts. With the coming of Tier 4, the MP36PH-3x series will almost certainly peter out (not that MPI gets its 645 components from EMD,) and if the Cummins repower proves reliable, I'd wager that the MP40PH-3C will quietly become special-order-only. EMD will be forced to design a new locomotive to retain market share, or partner with someone else who's willing to use the 710 or H-engine.

FYI: I have no inside knowledge, so the above is either contract basics or speculation.

[neroden]

I'm a little surprised that Toronto's commuter operator doesn't have it's own topic (come to think of it, none of the Canadian commuter or mass transit rail systems have topics). So here's one.

Anyway, Metrolinx, the current owner of GO Transit, has bought some more of the GO Transit lines from CN:
http://www.cn.ca/en/media-news-gta-rail-metrolinx.htm

There was a map of the lines which Metrolinx had already bought from CN in the last purchse announcement back in 2011:
http://www.cn.ca/kingston

This puts the great majority of the commuter rail trackage into the ownership of the commuter rail operator. The section from Oakville to Burlington will probably be purchased by Metrolinx sooner or later. The remaining part in CN and CP ownership is all part of freight mainlines and so probably won't be sold, at least not entirely. That remainder is the portion west of Burlington on the Lakeshore West line; the Doncaster diamonds and north of there on the Richmond Hill line, which is CN's transcontinental line; the portion of the Milton line west of the West Toronto Diamond, which is CP's mainline; and the portion of the Georgetown/Kitchener line west of 'Halwest' (between Bramalea and Malton), which is part of CN's east-west mainline through Toronto. That last section has had extra tracks added fairly recently.

The lines which don't run on the freight mainlines have also nearly all been grade-separated from them; the Snider diamond where the Barrie line crosses CN was finished most recently, while the West Toronto Diamond where the Georgetown line crosses CP is currently in progress. The Barrie line still crosses the CP mainline at grade, but there are also plans to grade-separate this. (The Richmond Hill line crosses the CN east-west mainline at grade before entering CN's transcontinental mainline and there are no plans to grade-separate this.)

Metrolinx/GO are also four-tracking the eastern part of the Georgetown line, including at the West Toronto Diamond, for the future Pearson Airport rail service, 'Air Rail Link', which will branch off the Georgetown line between Weston and Etobicoke North. This includes some trenching and station reconstruction at Weston. Plans also include major changes to Bloor station and linking it directly to Dundas West TTC station, and this seems to be partially funded.

GO Transit is also studying addition of service to Niagara Region. Among many other studies, this one seems likely to actually happen.

GO Transit, the City of Toronto, and the TTC, are also all currently performing large reconstruction and alteration projects on Union Station, coordinated with each other; there are honestly too many changes for me to keep track of them all. The pedestrian spaces in the station will be completely rearranged when they're finished, with changes to stairs, elevators, escalators, waiting rooms, passageways, etc. GO is also improving the track and switches and replacing the signalling, and renewing/extending the trainshed.
City's Union Station masterplan:
http://www.toronto.ca/union_station/rec ... proach.htm
TTC's Union subway station plan:
http://www.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Project ... Design.jsp
GO Transit's relatively uninformative Union Station projects page, complete with broken links:
http://www.gotransit.com/UnionStation/en/default.aspx

[Fan Railer]

http://www.railwaygazette.com/nc/news/s ... ansit.html

CANADA: Toronto regional transport agency Metrolinx has awarded Bombardier Transportation a C$200m order to supply commuter operator GO Transit with 60 double-deck coaches to an updated version of Bombardier's BiLevel design.
The contract was announced by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty on May 25 during a visit to Bombardier's Thunder Bay plant, where design work is underway. Production will begin in the second quarter of 2013 for entry into service from spring 2015.

According to Bombardier, the revised design will include a new structure incorporating crash energy management crumple zones. The push-pull driving cars will have a revised cab design, which, as well as increasing safety, will provide better visibility. Cab ergonomics will be improved, and train monitoring capabilities enhanced.

Passengers will benefit from onboard wi-fi, and improved ventilation, door and toilet systems. Better insulation will increase energy efficiency, and LED lighting will be used instead of fluorescent tubes.

[Jeff Smith]

Twin tunnel section completed for Toronto-area subway extension

Yesterday, Toronto and York officials marked the completion of the first mile of twin tunnels for the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension.

The new tunnels represent one complete section of twin tunnels that will connect the future Sheppard West and Finch West stations, Transport Canada officials said in a prepared statement.

[dowlingm]

Cummins and Metrolinx have bailed on installing the new QSK95 platform in the re-engined MP40s (see discussion above) with 2 x QSK60 being used instead.
http://cumminsengines.com/every/news/20120918BR02.page

[Fan Railer]

Not a bad thing necessarily. The locomotive does get more HP, though in the end, traction HP will remain about the same unless they are keeping the third Cummins HEP engine.