Onboard the UP Express

The UP Express is a new train and route that was built to connect the Pearson (Toronto, YYZ) airport in Mississauga, Ontario with downtown Toronto.

On a recent trip to the US, I ended up spending several hours in the Pearson airport. I seriously considered taking the UP Express downtown to Toronto just for fun, but the price discouraged me ($44 round trip) plus the timing was a little too close for comfort. I did decide to go have a look at the trains.

They are not hard to find.

The new UP Express station is integrated with the airport; all you have to do is go up an escalator (or elevator) to an area with ticket machines, then on to the trains themselves. There were quite a few staff present, and I asked one of them if it would be all right if I went on board to take a few photos. She waved me on cheerily so I had a look inside the waiting train.

Inside the UP Express

It seemed roomy enough inside, and everything was nice and clean... as I expected, given how new the train sets are. The UP Express launched in June 2015.

Inside the UP Express

The UP Express uses 18 Nippon Sharyo Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) cars, powered by Cummins QSK19-R ultra-low emissions diesel engines. They have 12 type A powered cars and 6 type B intermediate cars with toilets, allowing for 2 or 3 car trainsets. They are designed for relatively easy conversion into Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) cars.

The first pair of cars was delivered to Metrolinx in August 2014. The cars were built in Japan with final assembly at Nippon Sharyo's plant in Rochelle, Illinois.

Pearson is served by a new 3.3 km elevated spur from the GO Kitchener line. The trains run every 15 minutes and a trip between Union Station downtown and Pearson takes 25 minutes. There are intermediate stops at Bloor and Weston.

The train looks nice from the outside too!

UP Express ticket kiosks

I don't normally pay a lot of attention to transit vehicles, but it's nice to be able to railfan right at the Toronto airport.

If I have more time on a future Toronto connection, I'll seriously consider making the round trip... especially now that the cost is going down, due to poor ridership.

Fellow blogger Eric Gagnon took the UP Express from Union Station to the airport and back and blogged about it. I'm not sure where he got the $27.50 round trip fare... maybe I overlooked that option!

While I was at the airport, I couldn't help but do a bit of airplane watching.

Chock it up to good positioning!

The Air Canada Rouge planes look pretty sharp.

Air Canada Rouge C-GBHR

I saw my first Airbus A-380 but I didn't get a good photo of it... too slow!

My favourite was this Boeing Dreamliner 787 with Hainan Airlines.

Hi there, Hainan!

Of course, talking about Pearson airport wouldn't be complete without Rush's classic instrumental, "YYZ".


EDIT: Several people have pointed out other fare options. The "meet and greet" $27.50 round-trip option was not available to me because you have to originate from Union, Bloor or Weston... I guess you can't "meet and greet" from the airport into Toronto.

The PRESTO card is a cheaper option, but then you actually have to have a PRESTO card (cost $6). It was a maximum of $19 one-way but after March 9 it is going down to $9 one-way Union-Pearson.

Acadian Lines Shutting Down

I know this is about buses, not trains, but I do have an interest in public transit in general.

Acadian, the bus company serving the Maritimes, announced it is shutting down its Maritime operations by the end of November. Citing heavy losses, they say it is not economic to continue operation.

Acadian is owned by Groupe Orléans Express. They used to be known as SMT in New Brunswick and were purchased from J.D. Irving in 2004.

The company currently serves all major centres in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. You can view a map or download a PDF.

The Nova Scotia government and the driver's union say they are open to talks to maintain service.

In the meantime, Trius Tours says it is preparing a pitch to governments to maintain service. I used Trius' services when I lived in Oromocto and they certainly have transit experience.

Here's the thing. Bus service in the Maritimes is highly regulated and Acadian is forced to serve low-traffic areas in order to be allowed to serve the high-traffic areas as well. The idea is that the profit from high-traffic routes offsets the losses from the other routes. VIA Rail has the same model, Air Canada has the same model, and it repeats everywhere. The problem comes when there is not enough income from the high-traffic routes to cover losses.

Acadian has been struggling for some time. They had a labour dispute with their employees and locked them out over the winter. They claim they lost $2 million last year. At the time, the New Brunswick government said they would not be providing subsidies.

My opinion? Here's a few things that need to be done to help fix this mess.

• Allow a mix of large and small companies to provide service over routes. Low-traffic routes are best served by local companies using small vehicles like vans to provide personalized services, while the main corridor routes are best served by the big buses.
• Continue to regulate routes to prevent "pirate" companies from siphoning riders from the regulated companies.
• Subsidize public transit. It is a public service and it needs to be available for all taxpayers. I'm not saying that there needs to be a bus through Napadogan or Cork, but it's not realistic to expect that all routes can be profitable.
• Integrate schedules. In the past several years, passengers have not been able to connect between VIA Rail's Ocean and the Acadian buses due to slow orders in New Brunswick. All public transit needs to be integrated to provide the best service.
• Improve service. People need to want to use public transit, and it needs to be easy to use. Recent Acadian changes like moving the bus terminal from downtown Fredericton out into the boonies does not help!

Let's hope a solution can be found soon to maintain and hopefully improve service.

News articles:

• CBC, Acadian Bus Lines shutting down
• CBC, Shutdown hard on rural areas

Canadian Street Railways

If you're into streetcars, this site provides a comprehensive list of all Canadian urban and interurban electric railways.

This list was compiled by David Wyatt, who has several other streetcar-related sites on the same server: Transit History of Winnipeg and Transit History of Brandon. He is a member of the Manitoba Transit Heritage Association.

Check it out!

Related book: Canadian Trolleys In Color Volume 1: Eastern Canada

A TTC Car in Phoenix

I was wandering around Phoenix one night when I came across this sign. I'm not a huge fan of transit equipment, but hey, it rides on rails so I took a closer look. Imagine my surprise when I saw this car deep in Arizona.

This is ex-Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) car 4607.

It turns out that Valley Metro, the transit authority for the Phoenix area, has a transit terminal in that area. As part of the terminal, they have a little fenced-off area as an outdoor display of older transit vehicles.

See on Google Maps.

As it happens, there is a Phoenix Trolley Museum a few blocks north of this location.

Light Rail for Winnipeg?

LRT vehicle in Phoenix, Arizona, April 14 2010

Our esteemed mayor Sam Katz is keen to move on LRT in Winnipeg. LRT=Light Rail Transit.

Currently the city is building phase one of the "Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor", a busway between Queen Elizabeth Way (near the Forks and the VIA station) to Jubilee Avenue at Pembina Highway (aka CN Fort Rouge). Part of this work involves a tunnel under the CN yards at Fort Rouge. This is scheduled to be completed next year. The plans allow for replacement of the rapid transit bus by a light rail system sometime in the future.

Let's hope Mayor Katz gets his way.

A Message for the Atlantic Transport Ministers

CBC News is reporting that Atlantic transportation ministers are meeting tomorrow (Friday) "in Charlottetown to draft a united message in advance of a national meeting scheduled for later this month in Toronto."

The article goes on to say that they will try to agree on "issues of common interest, such as ferry services, road construction, maintenance and airport security."

We don't need more road money. What we need:

• Public transit funding


• Return of VIA Rail services to Saint John, Fredericton (by way of McGivney or Fredericton Junction)


• Support for taking trucks off the road and putting freight on rails where they belong

Let's hope that at the very least, public transit funding will be discussed at the national meeting. It's a travesty how poorly funded public transit is in the Atlantic provinces.

So when does the road industry go green?

Rail Industry to Go Green Under Government Plan

Basically following the EPA's emission reduction plan as far as I can tell.

All well and good... but when is the government going to stop building more roads and instead encourage people to use public transit? THAT is where the real emissions savings are. We need more public transit and the government needs to fund it in a big way.