“ Waterloo already has a tram line that runs directly past the future location of the mainline rail station — permitting a rather simple connection, and which also goes to its university (though I would extend a service one stop to the north to enable access to jobs at the Research and Technology Park)” because I think there is a stop at the research park already
This reminds me a lot of the old interurban railways that existed across many parts of North America between about 50-100 years ago. Chicago and Milwaukee used to be connected via trains that would use the Loop L tracks in Chicago, trolley tracks in Milwaukee, but then run along a mix of city streets and dedicated rights of way in between.
It is an effective and cheap solution, especially in North America, where there are many underused or disused freight railways. Though, I would add a few details: trams using a former railway corridor like Paris T2 or Lyon T3 are not considered tram-trains while Paris T4 which literally runs in the middle of a boulevard with 25kV electrification is without a doupt a tram-train. Rhonexpress runs at 100km/h with a 750V DC voltage on new heavy rail tracks only used by this service but it’s considered a tram. Paris T11 and Ottawa's Confederation Line use tram-train rolling stock but it's hard to consider them as such as they are fully grade-separated, use new infrastructures and a single voltage, they are more like light metros. Marseille T2 future extension will use mainline SNCF tracks during the day, while freight trains will use it at night, does that make it a tram-train? In my opinion, No. Bordeaux line C Blanquefort branch and Valenciennes T1 are also a weird cases. This shows how confusing transit terminology is, as a spectrum rather than very distinct modes. In Europe, the distinction is that a tram-train is built with train standards (high voltages, block signaling, safety standards…), but adapted to be compatible with tram infrastructures (750/600V DC voltage, width, low platforms), that’s why Citadis Dualis are much more similar to SNCF regional trains (eg Z 50000 Francilian rolling stock) than to standard Citadis. In North America, this distinction is even more confused, I personally consider the Citadis Spirit as a tram but with a more powerful engine, derived from the Citadis Dualis, to correspond to LRT standards.
I mean I think what I would call a tram train is mostly just a tram running on a corridor that could reasonably also see a mainline train, irrespective of voltage etc. i.e. I don't think Ottawa's O Train would be a tram train if it used 25kv OHLE. Terminology is certainly fun!
Ontario desperately needs a second public transit builder to contest metrolinx and the problems it has created. This would be a perfect small but ambitious project that would be a very good fit for developing such an org.
My main thought would be to keep the initial program simple:
A track connection at Central has a lot to be said for it, but so does extending frequency west to the Boardwalk area. Sticking with a purely mainline Guelph - Kitchener service adding frequency between GO service to Toronto really might be the best approach here.
Similarly, Guelph does have a nice case for a university spur, but good BRT on Gordon St would be a substantial enhancement to the Guelph network overall, while possibly enabling use of the Guelph Junction Railway to connect to Milton and and/or Burlington. In the short term, adding a bay platform to Guelph is a lost less costly than the connection would be.
I love a Hamilton extension, though am more partial to going through Brantford, but 10s of kilometres of new rural track is gonna be a tough sell when this is all so new.
Guelph to Cambridge via Fergus on the other hand, is short, has very light freight use, limited conflict with whatever GO does on the north main line and would tie in to Ion Stage 2 very cleanly at the top of Hespeler Rd. In short, this is a project that needs some political backing now, but should open WITH Ion Stage 2, and would amount to an almost perfect Canadian tram-train pilot project.
I was actually going to mention Bradford but, I didn't want to get ahead of myself, but as you say the optimal network probably connects a lot more places and perhaps runs a wide range of services between different centers on a 30 minute takt.
I agree that purely mainline is simpler, but in that case I don't see a reason to use trams instead of mus. The connectivity with a tram solution also woullld be better.
It's interesting that Cambridge, Brantford (via Paris) and Hamilton are actually somewhat connected via about 80km of rail trails. They would have made for an interesting interurban rail connection. The trails themselves are great, but only very limited parts get any regular recreational traffic.
I think that tram-trains are great because they offer a great solution to places where heavy rail is either too expensive or not in enough demand so tram-trains can fill in these gaps! I recently went on my first tram-train journey in December (The Badner-Bahn in Austria) and loved it! It's great that the Waterloo area will receive tram-trains as a mid-ground between heavy rail and buses!
Got a little confused with this
“ Waterloo already has a tram line that runs directly past the future location of the mainline rail station — permitting a rather simple connection, and which also goes to its university (though I would extend a service one stop to the north to enable access to jobs at the Research and Technology Park)” because I think there is a stop at the research park already
This reminds me a lot of the old interurban railways that existed across many parts of North America between about 50-100 years ago. Chicago and Milwaukee used to be connected via trains that would use the Loop L tracks in Chicago, trolley tracks in Milwaukee, but then run along a mix of city streets and dedicated rights of way in between.
It is an effective and cheap solution, especially in North America, where there are many underused or disused freight railways. Though, I would add a few details: trams using a former railway corridor like Paris T2 or Lyon T3 are not considered tram-trains while Paris T4 which literally runs in the middle of a boulevard with 25kV electrification is without a doupt a tram-train. Rhonexpress runs at 100km/h with a 750V DC voltage on new heavy rail tracks only used by this service but it’s considered a tram. Paris T11 and Ottawa's Confederation Line use tram-train rolling stock but it's hard to consider them as such as they are fully grade-separated, use new infrastructures and a single voltage, they are more like light metros. Marseille T2 future extension will use mainline SNCF tracks during the day, while freight trains will use it at night, does that make it a tram-train? In my opinion, No. Bordeaux line C Blanquefort branch and Valenciennes T1 are also a weird cases. This shows how confusing transit terminology is, as a spectrum rather than very distinct modes. In Europe, the distinction is that a tram-train is built with train standards (high voltages, block signaling, safety standards…), but adapted to be compatible with tram infrastructures (750/600V DC voltage, width, low platforms), that’s why Citadis Dualis are much more similar to SNCF regional trains (eg Z 50000 Francilian rolling stock) than to standard Citadis. In North America, this distinction is even more confused, I personally consider the Citadis Spirit as a tram but with a more powerful engine, derived from the Citadis Dualis, to correspond to LRT standards.
I mean I think what I would call a tram train is mostly just a tram running on a corridor that could reasonably also see a mainline train, irrespective of voltage etc. i.e. I don't think Ottawa's O Train would be a tram train if it used 25kv OHLE. Terminology is certainly fun!
Ontario desperately needs a second public transit builder to contest metrolinx and the problems it has created. This would be a perfect small but ambitious project that would be a very good fit for developing such an org.
That's a *very* interesting idea for sure. However, I am not sure what this body would be.
My main thought would be to keep the initial program simple:
A track connection at Central has a lot to be said for it, but so does extending frequency west to the Boardwalk area. Sticking with a purely mainline Guelph - Kitchener service adding frequency between GO service to Toronto really might be the best approach here.
Similarly, Guelph does have a nice case for a university spur, but good BRT on Gordon St would be a substantial enhancement to the Guelph network overall, while possibly enabling use of the Guelph Junction Railway to connect to Milton and and/or Burlington. In the short term, adding a bay platform to Guelph is a lost less costly than the connection would be.
I love a Hamilton extension, though am more partial to going through Brantford, but 10s of kilometres of new rural track is gonna be a tough sell when this is all so new.
Guelph to Cambridge via Fergus on the other hand, is short, has very light freight use, limited conflict with whatever GO does on the north main line and would tie in to Ion Stage 2 very cleanly at the top of Hespeler Rd. In short, this is a project that needs some political backing now, but should open WITH Ion Stage 2, and would amount to an almost perfect Canadian tram-train pilot project.
I was actually going to mention Bradford but, I didn't want to get ahead of myself, but as you say the optimal network probably connects a lot more places and perhaps runs a wide range of services between different centers on a 30 minute takt.
I agree that purely mainline is simpler, but in that case I don't see a reason to use trams instead of mus. The connectivity with a tram solution also woullld be better.
It's interesting that Cambridge, Brantford (via Paris) and Hamilton are actually somewhat connected via about 80km of rail trails. They would have made for an interesting interurban rail connection. The trails themselves are great, but only very limited parts get any regular recreational traffic.
I think that tram-trains are great because they offer a great solution to places where heavy rail is either too expensive or not in enough demand so tram-trains can fill in these gaps! I recently went on my first tram-train journey in December (The Badner-Bahn in Austria) and loved it! It's great that the Waterloo area will receive tram-trains as a mid-ground between heavy rail and buses!
I wouldn't say they are quite getting it yet, but one can certainly hope!