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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

ShonTron said:
I'm also skeptical of the ridership of GO Trains out towards Niagara Falls. It's still faster to drive from Grimsby to Burlington and take the GO from there. Commuters would be better off with a one-shot bus to Burlington from the park and ride already there. The slow orders through Hamilton slow things down, as does the many stops as far as Oakville or Clarkson. It'd have to run on a different stopping pattern from GO local and express trains. Regional rail makes more sense. There might be some commuter traffic headed to Hamilton, but it's not a big office node, and West Harbour isn't well connected to HSR buses to McMaster (the A-line does at least link it to Mohawk).
Click to expand...
I think there's a lot of potential for a great Niagara GO extension. Especially if it is used in conjunction with gradually speeding up the whole corridor for a much more viable Toronto-NYC service over the long term. The use of faster 125mph Amtrak/VIA trainsets can feasibly go that speed once Lakeshore West is fully grade separated (to Burlington) and the track class is then incrementally upgraded over the next 10-20 years. This will also invariably help express services.

The infrastructure is currently underutilized and should be utilized a huge deal more. Possibly the recent new all-day 2-way West Harbour GO expansion proposal that was was recently released, will provide a ridership-growth opportunity and for the HSR 10-year Rapid Ready plan to grow fruits including better connections to West Harbour.

There appears to be a lot of opportunity to grow ridership over time but there is indeed lots of disagreement on the proper gradual path forward -- given the current reputation of West Harbour as a ghost station not even included in the Niagara summer seasonal (yet).
 
The slow ride through Hamilton should be fixed when the new GO trackage are put in service and extended to Confederation (note to self to see if there has been any progress on same....)

All the same, something approaching a truer express service is likely needed east of Hamilton to compete with the quicker drive over the Skyway to Burlington.

The VIA commuter train to Niagara ran full, at a higher fare, and it was just one train per day. I suspect that a 3- or 4- train peak service, which gives people a Plan B if their workday schedule requires it, would bring the potential ridership out of the woodwork. Add mid-day and late evening service and there would have to be customers...the route parallels a very congested 6-lane freeway.

- Paul
 
Yurek just announced a daily GO train from St Catherines starting in January 2019.

I'd be really interested to see what that schedule looks like.
 
Announcement just now from Transport Min. Yurek that there will be one (GO) commuter train daily from Niagara to Toronto beginning this January.

Also just suggested a bunch more announcements about to drop.
 
Ontario Delivers Historic Weekday GO Train Service to Niagara Falls
New Morning and Evening Train Service Will Start Four Years Ahead of Schedule
December 14, 2018 11:00 A.M.
Ministry of Transportation

ST. CATHARINES — Ontario's Government for the People continues to deliver on its promise to get people moving faster by adding regular weekday GO train service to Niagara Falls and St. Catharines for the first time.
Today, Jeff Yurek, Minister of Transportation, Kinga Surma, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation, Sam Oosterhoff, MPP Niagara West, along with Leslie Woo, Chief Planning and Development Officer, Metrolinx, visited the rail station in St. Catharines to announce that the government will introduce long-asked-for weekday GO train service to Niagara Falls and St. Catharines on the Lakeshore West line.
“Our government is keeping our promise to get people moving and make life better for everyone in Ontario by expanding GO train service to Niagara Falls,” said Yurek. “We are working with our railway partner, CN, to use the existing rail infrastructure to expand GO Transit service for people in Niagara Falls and St. Catharines four years sooner than promised.”
Beginning on January 7, 2019, people travelling by GO Transit between Niagara Falls and Toronto's Union Station will benefit from a new morning trip with an evening return every weekday. The morning train that currently starts from West Harbour station in Hamilton at 6:39 a.m. will now start in Niagara Falls at 5:19 a.m., stopping at St. Catharines before continuing on to Toronto. In the evening, the existing train from Union Station at 5:15 p.m. to West Harbour will continue on to serve St. Catharines and Niagara Falls.
“This is great news for people in Niagara Region,” said Oosterhoff. “Weekday GO train service between Niagara Falls and Toronto will help connect the region and create new business opportunities.”
“We are very excited to introduce this essential commuter rail service to this market. Regular weekday GO trains have never operated out of Niagara Falls or St. Catharines before,” said Leslie Woo, Chief Planning and Development Officer of Metrolinx. “This is new territory and a sign of more great things to come.”
“Today's announcement is a demonstration of our commitment to improving the transportation experience and getting people moving. We make every decision with the customer – the Ontario taxpayer – in mind. Our Government for the People looks forward to continuing to provide better transportation across the province,” said Yurek.
Additional Resources
 
raptor said:
Ontario Delivers Historic Weekday GO Train Service to Niagara Falls
New Morning and Evening Train Service Will Start Four Years Ahead of Schedule
December 14, 2018 11:00 A.M.
Ministry of Transportation

ST. CATHARINES — Ontario's Government for the People continues to deliver on its promise to get people moving faster by adding regular weekday GO train service to Niagara Falls and St. Catharines for the first time.
Today, Jeff Yurek, Minister of Transportation, Kinga Surma, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation, Sam Oosterhoff, MPP Niagara West, along with Leslie Woo, Chief Planning and Development Officer, Metrolinx, visited the rail station in St. Catharines to announce that the government will introduce long-asked-for weekday GO train service to Niagara Falls and St. Catharines on the Lakeshore West line.
“Our government is keeping our promise to get people moving and make life better for everyone in Ontario by expanding GO train service to Niagara Falls,” said Yurek. “We are working with our railway partner, CN, to use the existing rail infrastructure to expand GO Transit service for people in Niagara Falls and St. Catharines four years sooner than promised.”
Beginning on January 7, 2019, people travelling by GO Transit between Niagara Falls and Toronto's Union Station will benefit from a new morning trip with an evening return every weekday. The morning train that currently starts from West Harbour station in Hamilton at 6:39 a.m. will now start in Niagara Falls at 5:19 a.m., stopping at St. Catharines before continuing on to Toronto. In the evening, the existing train from Union Station at 5:15 p.m. to West Harbour will continue on to serve St. Catharines and Niagara Falls.
“This is great news for people in Niagara Region,” said Oosterhoff. “Weekday GO train service between Niagara Falls and Toronto will help connect the region and create new business opportunities.”
“We are very excited to introduce this essential commuter rail service to this market. Regular weekday GO trains have never operated out of Niagara Falls or St. Catharines before,” said Leslie Woo, Chief Planning and Development Officer of Metrolinx. “This is new territory and a sign of more great things to come.”
“Today's announcement is a demonstration of our commitment to improving the transportation experience and getting people moving. We make every decision with the customer – the Ontario taxpayer – in mind. Our Government for the People looks forward to continuing to provide better transportation across the province,” said Yurek.
Additional Resources
Click to expand...

Have to laugh, under the 'additional resources', 'service changes' link, this new service isn't yet mentioned. Sigh, the way this is supposed to be done is the coding for the change on the page is already written and it goes live the moment the minister steps up to the mic.

Edit: Amusingly, the info is embedded in the timetables/schedules.
 
I wonder why they do not schedule more trains or at least one during the day. I get that freight service may preclude it but there may be a niche market for it.

I work the front desk of a condo in Downtown Toronto and the one thing short term rental guests keep asking is "how do we get to Niagara Falls?". People would use the service if provided.
 
Richard White said:
I wonder why they do not schedule more trains or at least one during the day. I get that freight service may preclude it but there may be a niche market for it.

I work the front desk of a condo in Downtown Toronto and the one thing short term rental guests keep asking is "how do we get to Niagara Falls?". People would use the service if provided.
Click to expand...
There's a daily VIA train from Union station to Niagara Falls (runs under 2 hours)
 
innsertnamehere said:
those are some killer commute times. the 5:19am departure from Niagara will arrive at Union at 7:50am.. that is a 2.5 hour travel time.
Click to expand...

Existing morning train West Harbour to Union runs 1hr 11. That would imply an extra 1hr 21 from Niagara to West Harbour. Hmmmm

I see the existing train is all-stop to Clarkson before going express.

They really need to rethink that to get times down to a more reasonable level.
 
Northern Light said:
Existing morning train West Harbour to Union runs 1hr 11. That would imply an extra 1hr 21 from Niagara to West Harbour. Hmmmm

I see the existing train is all-stop to Clarkson before going express.

They really need to rethink that to get times down to a more reasonable level.
Click to expand...

I don't see many people making the daily commute from Niagara to Toronto and back. The distance is long and the departure time is quite early. It is not commuter friendly. If they wanted to make the service workable they would need daytime service.
 
That's a long time to sit on a GO Train. Between Niagara Falls and Aldershot there will definitely be enough room to stretch out the legs, but I find the hard quad seating arrangement on GO too much for more than an hour or so, especially in a full quad.

But at least it looks like through train service can serve West Harbour now.
 
On GO Expansion (RER), Yurek has this to say:

“We’re gonna make a strong effort as a government to make this happen” and “In regards to GO Expansion Metrolinx has been given a directive that we want to expand”

Link to video comment here. Can't embed on UT.

Sounds better than what we've heard so far.
 
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