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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

Ideally, there should be a high speed rail line that goes through a tunnel parallel to the Peace Bridge, and parallel the QEW before rejoining the CN mainline near St. Catherines.
 
SeanTrans said:
My dream was to do the opposite - open a new joint Amtrak/VIA Station in or near Downtown Buffalo and cut out the Niagara Falls NY stop and have customs processing for both countries in Buffalo.

The VIA Toronto-Buffalo runs would connect there to the Empire Service (day trains to Albany and NYC) and Empire Builder overnight service. Cleveland's been wanting an extension of the Maple Leaf there if it is pulled from Toronto, so they can have some Buffalo-Erie-Cleveland trains.

But your idea works as well.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of that as well but with the distance from Niagara Falls ON to Buffalo NY being what it is I would have a hard time imagining the Department of Homeland Security going for it. Terminating in the US would make more sense for the Toronto-Windsor/Detroit run. Fixing up the grand Detroit station and putting customs in there would work well as part of a Detroit revitalization project.
 
Vancouver has a preclearance system for their train to Seattle, but I suppose you're probably right about Homeland Security being more difficulty than the Canadian border people.

Preclearance is pretty much the only system that could work on these border routes. I think Sean's idea of a Buffalo station would be ideal.
 
A station in Niagara Falls, ON would be the ideal for attracting tourists to take the train at least from Western New York, but Buffalo would be ideal for attracting the same tourists to Toronto as well as attracting Torontonians to Buffalo for Sabres games, Albright-Knox, Darwin Martin, etc. The connections to the Lake Shore Limited and the Empire Service would be great.

A station in Buffalo would be ideal to integrate that region to the Golden Horseshoe better.
 
Buffalo has the big advantage of being able to sell it to the Americans as a Buffalo economic development project. Political lobbying from Buffalo congressmen and senators is by far the most effective way to get Homeland Security concerns pushed aside. The two New York senators are rather influential, and they're all desperate to prove that they care about upstate. They'd jump at any project that could attract tourists to Buffalo.
 
unimaginative2 said:
Buffalo has the big advantage of being able to sell it to the Americans as a Buffalo economic development project. Political lobbying from Buffalo congressmen and senators is by far the most effective way to get Homeland Security concerns pushed aside. The two New York senators are rather influential, and they're all desperate to prove that they care about upstate. They'd jump at any project that could attract tourists to Buffalo.
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One senator is running for president. The other (Schumer) is one of the best in the Senate. The Governor is always trying to woo Upstate - Spitzer was looking at ending the tolls on the Thruway, a big complaint, and did remove the toll barriers on I-190 in Buffalo. Earlier governors had huge jails built upstate for jobs. NYS has a lot of power for sure to push this if they wanted. It makes more sense than another ferry proposal.
 
Buffalo was trying to woo Canadian companies to make it their U.S. headquarters. Since there's no air connection, and the drive is a little long, a speedy rail connection could really help. It would allow people to bypass long queues at the bridges. I think a train that took under 2 hours to Exchange Street could be a strong seller. Get Amtrak to operate it. They might go out and buy some Talgos like in the Pacific Northwest. Never underestimate NYS politicians' desire to woo Upstate.

The route on the Canadian side should be pretty speedy. It's 1h50 to Niagara Falls right now, which is painfully slow. The Oakville sub is fast, and the Grimsby Sub is perfectly straight. There's no reason why they shouldn't be able to cut that down to 1h30 without serious investment.
 
I'm not sure why everyone is saying NYS politicians would be so keen to woo upstate NY? It's in economic decline: okay, so are a lot of other areas. And the population is likely declining as well, so why worry so much about them when NYC is so much more wealthy and influential?
 
We're saying it because it's a fact. You don't get elected to any statewide office in New York without support from Upstate, and its economic decline is exactly why it wants and needs support from government. There's a lot of resentment, some of it justified, that the NYC spends far too much time on Downstate issues.
 
Well hopefully they do extend the GO train to Niagara Falls. No one is going to want to take a bus that far, and just sit in traffic.
 
Yet more public transit investment in Hamilton......

GO service gets closer
Ken Mann
4/11/2008

Another big step forward for the expansion of local GO Transit service.

Construction of a six million dollar addition to the Hunter Street station will begin next month, now that it has officially been approved by GO's board of directors.

The layover facility is expected to be operational by December. It will allow GO to keep trains in Hamilton overnight rather than bringing them in from Mimico each morning.

The result should be more train service to downtown Hamilton, along with fewer late or cancelled trains.
 
Kiwi said:
Yet more public transit investment in Hamilton......

GO service gets closer
Ken Mann
4/11/2008

Another big step forward for the expansion of local GO Transit service.

Construction of a six million dollar addition to the Hunter Street station will begin next month, now that it has officially been approved by GO's board of directors.

The layover facility is expected to be operational by December. It will allow GO to keep trains in Hamilton overnight rather than bringing them in from Mimico each morning.

The result should be more train service to downtown Hamilton, along with fewer late or cancelled trains.
Click to expand...

That's great news for Hamilton. There should be much better Toronto-Hamilton service in my opinion. All Lakeshore W trains should go to Hamilton.
 
It's insane that Canada's largest metropolitan area is right beside the 7th largest metropolitan area, but don't have a regular all-day rail connection.

Actually, an embarrassment is what it is.
 
CDL.TO said:
It's insane that Canada's largest metropolitan area is right beside the 7th largest metropolitan area, but don't have a regular all-day rail connection.

Actually, an embarrassment is what it is.
Click to expand...

Talk to CP about it since it their tracks.

There is a need for a 2nd tunnel and there are already a large number of NIMBY living above the area.

CN is another one to talk to for the junction.
 
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