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GO station future

MehBong5

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I'm currently living in South Korea near Seoul. I'm blown away by the public transportation here. It seems like they are continuously expanding and improving all forms (subway, bus, regional rail and developing LRT). It seems that its not one or the other over here they build what they need and integrate the whole system. They don't argue that the road is for cars, or that they should just build subways. They build subways where the can, improve regional rail where they can, have BRT lanes in the middle of Seoul and on highways, and are building LRT now. Its a thing of beauty.

Anyways I'm currently working outside of seoul, but in what could be called the Greater Seoul Area (GSA) like the GTA. They just completed the electrification and elevation of a rail corridor from Seoul to another city called Chuenchon. I don't know how long the project took, but it looks great. This is the kind of rail corridors I dream on Metrolinx developing in Ontario.

First the elevated the rail corridor, then they built the station. They tore down the old station this summer and the new one just opened. I've included a before and after picture.

Here are the before pictures.In these pictures they have a new bus shelter they installed at almost all stops in the region. They have lcds with real time information about the next buses and local news and weather, plus the smaller displays on the inside and on the outside.
 

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After Pictures

These are the pictures I took today. The station has been opened since last Monday.

Not to mention it runs on the same fare system as subways and buses. (They charge a base rate and then add on based on distance traveled and you can transfer from bus, to subway and to regional rail with same card or electronic payment device)

Like I said before this is what I dream the Go train system could be like. And if it was as affordable and integrate that would be public transportation paradise. Haha
 

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Do want!!!

The funny part is that in the GO Electrification study, they said that single-deck EMUs would not have sufficient capacity to fulfill the projected demand on the Lakeshore line (20 000 people per hour per direction). That's hilarious, considering that there are systems such as the Hong Kong MTR which operate at 80 000 pphpd. And they only have 2 tracks, whereas in GO plans to have a minimum of 4 tracks on the Lakeshore line between Oakville and Guildwood.*

* page 28: GO Electrification Report: Baseline Study
 
They use single deck trains on these lines. They have heated seats along the windows, and the rest is standing room. It looks just like a subway car on the inside. It can get pretty packed inside. However, because of the electrification, the trains come about every 15 to 20 minutes from around 5 am to midnight, with express services and extra service during peak hours. I'm not sure about the tracks, but usually at all stations the tracks split. There are passing tracks for freight trains and passenger trains at every station. The stopping train pulls off the main track to a track by the platform and the other trains can pass right by.

The service is amazing over here. The integration, accessibility, speed, fare price, station design and cleanliness are what I hope we can have one day in Canada. Not to mention the foresight of the planners and how fast they build.

Inside Seoul most of the rail is grade separated, but not underground or elevated. In the suburbs it is elevated. They built the elevated corridor next to the existing one, so there were only very short service disruptions when they had to build stations. Otherwise the old lines kept operating.

Also, Korea is so mountainous, they tunnel through mountains and build bridges over valleys.

Toronto should seriously get some consulting or help from the Korail.
Maybe they should grade separate and electrify the Newmarket section they own. I know it isn't the top priority, but it might be the easiest considering they own it. Also, they can do it in parts and just keep the regular service until the upgrade reaches the next stop.

Any ways, its always nice to dream. When I come back to Canada I'm going to have reverse culture shock. I never realized how powerful public transportation can be, until I came to Korea. In most places in Southern Ontario, your trapped if you don't have a car. Not so much the city proper, but the suburbs and "GTA".

Hopefully, we'll get there someday.
 
Toronto should seriously get some consulting or help from the Korail.
Maybe they should grade separate and electrify the Newmarket section they own. I know it isn't the top priority, but it might be the easiest considering they own it. Also, they can do it in parts and just keep the regular service until the upgrade reaches the next stop.

Any ways, its always nice to dream. When I come back to Canada I'm going to have reverse culture shock. I never realized how powerful public transportation can be, until I came to Korea. In most places in Southern Ontario, your trapped if you don't have a car. Not so much the city proper, but the suburbs and "GTA".

Hopefully, we'll get there someday.

The Newmarket Subdivision is already grade separated, for the most part. There are a few minor road crossings, but that should not affect service in any way. The biggest impediments to frequent service is the single track, and the lack of grade separation at the Davenport Diamond. But not to worry, GO Transit is already on top of that. They're building a grade separation at the Davenport Diamond, and plan to double track the line between Union and Bradford.

I don't think it's necessary to only upgrade the Newmarket sub, because there isn't much preventing us from upgrading the other lines too. Although they only own part of the Lakeshore line (the GO sub between Pickering and Oshawa and the Oakville sub between Union and Mimico), CN seems quite cooperative, and I think they've approved electrification in theory. Besides, GO transit also owns the Weston sub (Georgetown line) and the Uxbridge sub (Stouffville line). There's a map of who owns what on page 21 of this report.

The only line in limbo is the Milton line, which is owned by CP.

So, based on the current projects, we have a good shot at vastly improving the GO network, and the day GTHA transit is competitive with Seoul's should come soon enough.
 
The GO network is improving, but yes I agree we have to invest a lot to have an system that is equal to the one in Korea or in the Tokyo area. GO is grade seperating the Agincourt GO Station on the Stouffville line now at Sheppard near Kennedy. Hopefully this line gets grade seperations when this line crosses Progress Ave and the one at Danforth Rd. near the Midland intersection. Not only does it increase the efficiency of lines when they are grade seperated it also increase safety considerably. Another thing you mentioned, which is system intergration, I think GO and the TTC and other transit systems here in the GTA need better tranfers set up so that tranferring from say GO to any other transit system is more convenient.

Union Station is in the middle of a great project and it is one area where it has good system intergration, but, their is one part of this project that really bothers me. I lived most of my adult life out west (where I got hooked on public transit) but moved to a small Ontario town for a couple of years until I moved to Toronto about 5 years ago. There was no go service to the city I was living in and I had to catch a Coach Canada bus to the Terminal up near Bay and Dundas. It is not the greatest spot for a regional bus terminal, I was hoping that they would put it down near Union, close to all the regional rail, subway, streetcars and all the GO buses. It would improve transit users mobility greatly if it was there AND it would give the regional buses such as Coach Canada and Greyhound much better access to the highway system that they use from Union Station compared to where it is presently locqted.
 
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There has been talk about moving the Greyhound terminal to an expanded Union Bus Terminal. When that happens is anyone's guess.
 
For the first time yesterday I saw the Aldershot GO station in Burlington. It was the weekend and Jan.1st, not very busy, but, I saw a huge parking lot. Is this how most of the GO riders get on the train here- by car? I hope Burlington has a few bus routes that service this impressive piece of infrastructure- I saw loading platforms for GO buses at this train station but I didn't see any city buses in my short time there yesterday. Like I said in previous posts, I would really like to see better connections with GO and different regions local transit systems.
 
The Aldershot GO station offers connections to one Burlington Transit route and one Hamilton route. The GO buses serve downtown Hamilton and McMaster University in west-end Hamilton. Other Burlington bus routes serve the Burlington station a bit farther east.
 
For the first time yesterday I saw the Aldershot GO station in Burlington. It was the weekend and Jan.1st, not very busy, but, I saw a huge parking lot. Is this how most of the GO riders get on the train here- by car? I hope Burlington has a few bus routes that service this impressive piece of infrastructure- I saw loading platforms for GO buses at this train station but I didn't see any city buses in my short time there yesterday. Like I said in previous posts, I would really like to see better connections with GO and different regions local transit systems.

Burlinton Route 1 service the station that force the riders to spend an extra 10 minutes traveling to/from the station from Plains Rd where it picks up no one for all their trips.

It is very rare they pickup someone at the station other than me when I go to it. I had yet to see someone get off the bus at the station.

The parking lot to the south has been 95% empty since day one, but been over 6 months since I have seen that lot.

Since trains only operate hourly, no real need for good transit service to the station today.
 
Last I checked, most GO stations had large parking lots. I don't know why this would be a surprise to anyone.
 
For the first time yesterday I saw the Aldershot GO station in Burlington. It was the weekend and Jan.1st, not very busy, but, I saw a huge parking lot. Is this how most of the GO riders get on the train here- by car? I hope Burlington has a few bus routes that service this impressive piece of infrastructure- I saw loading platforms for GO buses at this train station but I didn't see any city buses in my short time there yesterday. Like I said in previous posts, I would really like to see better connections with GO and different regions local transit systems.

Aldershot happens to be where most Lakeshore West trips end, so there are connections to buses for riders to continue west. It also has a VIA/Amtrak station. Yes, most commuters probably arrive by car, but there are some useful bus connections too.

What I want to know is why the VIA/Amtrak station is at Aldershot and not Burlington. Burlington has much more population around the station, and it looks like it would be able to handle extra demand (it has 4 tracks with 2 centre platforms).
 
Although there's been the track capacity for a few years now, the peak rush-hour GO trains that run to/from Burlington have yet to be extended to Aldershot---presumably an operating dollar issue. Most East Burlington/West Hamilton park and ride types truck on to Burlington station on account of their being more train options, and that's why Aldershot's parking supply is weirdly underutilized.

What I want to know is why the VIA/Amtrak station is at Aldershot and not Burlington. Burlington has much more population around the station, and it looks like it would be able to handle extra demand (it has 4 tracks with 2 centre platforms).

Walking-catchment population hasn't traditionally been looked at too closely when it comes to intercity rail planning in North America---perhaps it should be---but the going assumption is that the typical Via customer is driving to or being dropped off at the station on a one-off business or family trip, and isn't a commuter going from their home to their office every morning.

The whole reason Via operates out of Aldershot is because, rightly or wrongly, in the eyes of national planning it's thought of as "Hamilton, albeit slightly outside of downtown." I believe they moved their operations there from Hamilton (Liuna/James North) after GO built Aldershot in the early '90s because the old Hamilton station was a bit of a dump and it meant they could now offer Hamiltonians service on trains running on the Brantford-London-Windsor leg of the Corridor rather than just the Niagara leg.
 

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