News   Apr 30, 2024
Void If Removed
 224     0 
News   Apr 29, 2024
Sustainability Month: Alternative Energy Sources Help Drive Sustainability in Building Industry
 1.6K     0 
News   Apr 29, 2024
Hidden Histories to be Revealed at Doors Open Toronto 2024
 1K     1 

Orangeville-Brampton Railway (OBRY)

dowlingm said:
GO Train to Shelburne anyone?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/i-m-s...ing-prices-up-in-small-town-ontario-1.4077117
Click to expand...

When you mentioned that, I dug up a map I made from a 2013 project. Re-laying the line to Shelburne could have a few advantages, however I doubt passenger service alone would ever warrant it.

On the plus side, the RoW is in surpurb shape and would really just need a bit of aggregate and new rails. Shelburne is booming, and so is Dundalk to the north. Highway 10 can be very congested sometimes, and is unreliable in the winter due to closures from blowing snow, making rail more reliable than bus. In Shelburne, there is a large lumber yard that used the rails up until they were pulled. Also, there is KTH Manufacturing which makes parts for Honda's Alliston plant. Also, Shelburne could act as a future truck-to-rail hub for farming goods like grains, and could try to attract more rail-based industry. This map assumes use of the Milton line, but the curve onto the Kitchener line in Brampton could be rebuilt. Additionally, tourist trains could run to Shelburne, where people could bike north along the CP Rail Trail and enjoy Dufferin and Grey County's beautiful countryside. Yes, this is fantasy. I'd really love to see rails go north once more to Owen Sound, but Shelburne would be a good enough start for me.

v0uPW1m.jpg
 
denfromoakvillemilton said:
They need to cut arcoss Caledon to link up with the CP Bolton line. With new tracks. That would be better and open up a new rail corridor, rather then taking capacity from the Milton or Kitchener lines.
Click to expand...
they don't have to take capacity out of either line if we just get over our irrational aversion to transfers/train changes......I don't think we will see passenger service on this corridor for a long long time (if ever) but if we do it should be a shuttle to station on one of those two lines with a change of trains to go, either, East to Toronto or west to some other point on the line.
 
TOareaFan said:
they don't have to take capacity out of either line if we just get over our irrational aversion to transfers/train changes......I don't think we will see passenger service on this corridor for a long long time (if ever) but if we do it should be a shuttle to station on one of those two lines with a change of trains to go, either, East to Toronto or west to some other point on the line.
Click to expand...

Same goes for a GO Bolton line....I'd introduce a shuttle that terminates at Mount Dennis (with one overlapping stop at Weston). No need to run these all the way in when you can transfer to 15-minute RER.
 
jcam said:
Same goes for a GO Bolton line....I'd introduce a shuttle that terminates at Mount Dennis (with one overlapping stop at Weston). No need to run these all the way in when you can transfer to 15-minute RER.
Click to expand...
Not sure that stopping at, both, Weston and Mt. Dennis is a good idea....as soon as that train has to run for any length of time (and back again) in the corridor it is reducing the capacity of the main corridor....but yes, the idea that lower ridership, less frequent, routes should terminate when they intersect with more frequent main lines we agree on.
 
The idea of a branch line with transfer at Brampton makes sense, given present volumes. But if things grow.... we don't want the mainline Kitchener trains filling up at the transfer. We will want one full train to go all the way into the city. Bolton might generate too much ridership to make a transfer advisable.

Shelburne's boom is a danger signal for Ontario. I was chatting recently with a guy who lives there. He moved there because the real estate is so cheap, and he doesn't work all the way downtown so the commute, while ugly in winter, isn't prohibitive. His take was, once the GO Bus is extended to Shelburne, real estate prices in the area will skyrocket.....he has lots of envious friends in Brampton who would move in a second if there was transit even just as far as Brampton.

But.... it's an erosion of the Greenbelt, and runs in the face of Places to Grow. I wonder if the planning of infrastructure is keeping up with the pressure caused by the GTA's housing bubble.

Having said all of that, I would love to see some rails relaid into the Grey-Bruce area. The economics are against it, but that drive in winter is awful.

- Paul
 
TOareaFan said:
Not sure that stopping at, both, Weston and Mt. Dennis is a good idea....as soon as that train has to run for any length of time (and back again) in the corridor it is reducing the capacity of the main corridor....but yes, the idea that lower ridership, less frequent, routes should terminate when they intersect with more frequent main lines we agree on.
Click to expand...

2010 Feasibility Study suggested you'd need 4 to 6 car trains for a shuttle service terminating at Mount Dennis, using the CP track, not GTS. From that document:
"CP developed a base case infrastructure plan that supported a maximum of four uni-directional trains operating at forty minute headways. CP indicated that the base case could also support three trains at 30 minute headways."
It also noted "the establishment of a midday layover site in the vicinity of Mount Dennis station...provided a feasible alternative."
 
A GO Bolton train could, in theory, stop at Weston and/or Mount Dennis (allowing transfers for Union/Pearson/Kitchener/Crosstown) and then continue to Dupont and Summerhill and maybe all the way to Leaside yard for turnback. Some issues there but if you've gotten onto MacTier in the first place they probably weren't the smallest issues...
 
dowlingm said:
A GO Bolton train could, in theory, stop at Weston and/or Mount Dennis (allowing transfers for Union/Pearson/Kitchener/Crosstown) and then continue to Dupont and Summerhill and maybe all the way to Leaside yard for turnback. Some issues there but if you've gotten onto MacTier in the first place they probably weren't the smallest issues...
Click to expand...
I agree. And then in the east off the Peterborough. Makes sense to me.
TOareaFan said:
they don't have to take capacity out of either line if we just get over our irrational aversion to transfers/train changes......I don't think we will see passenger service on this corridor for a long long time (if ever) but if we do it should be a shuttle to station on one of those two lines with a change of trains to go, either, East to Toronto or west to some other point on the line.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. Or open up Summerhill as mentioned above.
 
alexanderglista said:
When you mentioned that, I dug up a map I made from a 2013 project. Re-laying the line to Shelburne could have a few advantages, however I doubt passenger service alone would ever warrant it.
Click to expand...

Its kind of funny that you mentioned this because there were discussions about reviving the former Owen Sound Sub from Orangeville to Shelburne for freight purposes. Highland Companies was looking into building a so-called "mega-quarry" North of Shelburne, and because of how much Limestone they were intending to extract, they intended to ship it by rail. Local opposition killed the plan, and no serious attempts at reopening the line have been made since then. Other than that I can't think of too many surviving industries along the former CP route (I drive along HWY 10 a lot). Almost all of the right of way is intact though, including most of the bridges.

Article on the quarry: http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/company-abandons-mega-quarry-plans-1.1047533#
 
Here's the latest update from Rapido on the Edmundston which is located in OBRY's yard in Orangeville. Sad to read of the vandalism they've had to deal with.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top