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Since the CityRail concept was introduced in 2012, the idea of using existing rail corridors to expand rapid transit throughout the GTA has become mainstream. Metrolinx and the provincial government have embraced the idea of GO Regional Express Rail, which aims to provide high-frequency, electrified service on the GO corridors. John Tory has also adopted a modified, if limited, form of regional rail as part of his SmartTrack platform, while Olivia Chow also includes GO electrification in her transit plan. This is all fantastic news, but we need to make sure that regional rail is done right.
GO Regional Express Rail won't be successful without three essential elements: fare integration, high frequency, and modern rolling stock.
Fare integration is vital for making full use of the RER infrastructure. The TTC subway is well used in the suburbs because most people arrive at the stations by bus and make a free and seamless transfer. Transferring from bus or subway to GO RER needs to be just as seamless. People should be able to get on a bus in Springdale, ride it to the GO RER station, take GO RER to Pickering, and transfer to another bus to their final destination all on a single, distance-based fare. (I talk more about zone fare systems in this article.)
The second essential element is service that is frequent enough for people to miss connections without it seriously lengthening their trip. Buses are delayed all the time, but it's not that serious a problem when connecting to the subway because trains run so frequently. Missing a train that only runs every 30 minutes can really ruin your day. That's why at least 15-minute frequency is essential. Nobody would accept a subway that ran less than every 15 minutes.
The third essential element of successful Regional Express Rail is modern train equipment. There are dozens of regions running the kind of Regional Express Rail we are talking about around the world. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Instead, we should simply acquire equipment that has proven itself in years of operation and obtain the necessary regulatory waivers.
Modern, electrified multiple unit trains would bring immense benefits to the system including far faster acceleration and lower environmental impact. They can also climb much steeper grades. If recent infrastructure projects had been planned with them in mind, it may have been possible to build flyovers like the one in the Junction for much less by not needing to accommodate freight and diesel train grade limitations. This is yet another demonstration of why it's important to design individual infrastructure projects with a long term plan for GO RER in mind.
Counter-intuitively, single-level trains with three doors per car would be better for capacity in Toronto's circumstances than bilevel trains given that they load and unload so much more quickly than bilevels. They would dramatically reduce dwell times at Union, which are the system's most important limitation on frequency. The reduction in capacity per train would easily be made up through the increase in trains per hour. That's a much more efficient way of operating peak period service than maintaining a completely separate fleet of bilevels. The subway is able to move far more people than GO Transit running shorter, single-level trains at high frequency.
The first thing that Metrolinx needs to do is to stop buying bilevels and diesel locomotives. Just this year, a new $481 million purchase (including options) of these vehicles was announced even though Metrolinx's plans suggest that they should soon be replaced. This needs to be the last order of bilevels. Any new purchases should be of modern, off-the-shelf regional rail electric multiple units. Existing cars will continue to be used on lines that have not yet been upgraded to RER and thereafter could operate limited stop services to places like Niagara Falls, Barrie, and Kitchener.
Regional Express Rail in the GTA cannot succeed without a modern, efficient Union Station. The current renovation and concourse expansion will go a long way to easing capacity constraints, but unfortunately the rails and platforms themselves are being rebuilt in exactly the same layout as when the station was first built in 1927. Modifying it to meet CityRail standards is not, however, a particularly challenging or expensive prospect, as I discuss in these earlier articles. The easiest way to boost capacity, reliability, and speed is ensuring that the paths of trains from different routes approaching and leaving the station don't conflict, which is a major capacity limitation at the current station. Instead, all routes should have a fixed corridor to a dedicated platform (that can be shared between several routes) that permits trains to operate at full speed into the station at the maximum capacity limit of double track. Running through trains will also significantly increase capacity at Union by avoiding the need to dwell as trains are reversed. A few other modest changes supplementing the current renovation will provide a modern, efficient Union Station that has more than enough capacity for Regional Express Rail without the need for expensive new underground lines or, worse, terminating some routes at Bathurst.
If people understand what they're getting with GO RER, it will be much easier to build popular and political support. Right now the concept is vague in people's minds, but if they knew that it meant basically a subway in the rail corridor, I believe that support would be extremely easy to marshal. That's why GO RER needs to have a distinct brand from existing GO service. This isn't just about trains every 30 minutes taking you from the park-and-ride to Union Station. It's a fast, high-frequency rapid transit system that can serve all kinds of local and regional trips and that will act as a backbone for transit throughout the GTA just like the subway does in Toronto.
It's a great time for transit in the GTA when Metrolinx and political leaders of all stripes have endorsed the idea of rapid transit throughout the region by taking advantage of the existing rail corridors. Rather than declaring victory, however, this is the time to press them to make sure that GO Regional Express Rail lives up to its promise.
Jonathan English is a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University. His blog is Transit Futures.
