407 Rail Freight Bypass/The Missing Link

[Allandale25]

Forgive me if discussed before, I'm just too lazy to read all 36 pages of the thread. Has anything been said about the leftover portion of the Halton sub between CN Silver in Georgetown and the new junction of the missing link in Milton if this gets completed? Would it be abandoned, used as a freight spur, or used as a new transit route between Georgetown and Milton?

Can't remember if that section has been specifically mentioned but I think generally CN would want to keep it for emergencies or any local running they'd want to do. Others may have a better sense.

 

[steveintoronto]

@Momin a correction to pass on to whomever wrote the article:
The York sub actually ends east of the tracks in and out of CN's MacMillan Yard. West of here, it is the Halton sub, all the way through the junctions south of Bramalea GO (Halwest) and north of Georgetown GO (Silver) down to Burlington.

It's a curious point, as references are conflicting on this:

CN Halton Subdivision
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The CN Halton Subdivision is a major railway line in Southern Ontario.

The Halton Subdivision is owned and operated by the Canadian National Railway (CN), and was first constructed in the 1860s.

It runs from CN's MacMillan Yard in Vaughan, from where it continues as the CN York Subdivision to its junction with the CN Oakville Subdivision in Burlington, Ontario. It passes through and services the York, Peel, and Halton Regions.

Major facilities include the Malport Freight Yard in Malton, the Brampton Intermodal Terminal in Brampton, the terminus of the Kitchener GO Train corridor and intersections with several other rail lines, including the Orangeville Brampton Railway.

It is Canada's fourth busiest rail line by volume of traffic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Halton_Subdivision

And quite differently: (And what I always thought to be the case)

http://www.niagararails.com/halton.phtml

Edit to Add: This *may* be the source of confusion in the references:

Caption: A pair of Canadian National MLW RSC-13's (lead by 1716) head east with a short train at Georgetown ON, on CN's "new" Halton Sub, which had only existed for a few months since the January reorganization. A few cars back is a large dimensional load, which appears to be an earthmover known as a scraper. To the right, a GMD SW1200RS works on the lead to the local Georgetown industries and yard, today used by GO Transit to store and load trains.

The pointed spiral of the station is visible in the background above the train, and further in the distance are the signals for Silver, where the Guelph Sub (formerly part of the Brampton Sub just a few months earlier) branches off from the Halton (made up of parts of the former Brampton and Milton Subs, plus a new section to Toronto (MacMillan) Yard).

http://www.railpictures.ca/upload/a...-for-a-few-months-since-the-january-reorganiz

Btw: Is that still the 'Wye' that I see in the background of the above pic? I remember the tracks remaining well after the stretch through Milton of the old Hamilton and Northwestern was re-purposed to the south. North of there up a good ways to the Caledon Mills, I think GO used for turning (and storing?) stock. Tripped across that decades back cycling through there.

 

[steveintoronto]

Can't remember if that section has been specifically mentioned but I think generally CN would want to keep it for emergencies or any local running they'd want to do. Others may have a better sense.

To answer the 'gist' of Tiffer's question, I don't think any of us could foresee it being abandoned as a rail RoW. CN would retain right of access with provisos (possibly nighttime only) no matter if Metrolinx outright purchases it or not. It could end-up being part of a huge trade-around of 'who owns what' if the the Link sees fruition. CN could dispose of it as being almost redundant, and sell or trade with limited access.

 

[Allandale25]

Helpful reminder. Not entirely up to date because GO now owns the line from Georgetown to KW and the Canpa Sub.

 

[gweed123]

@Momin a correction to pass on to whomever wrote the article:

The York sub actually ends east of the tracks in and out of CN's MacMillan Yard. West of here, it is the Halton sub, all the way through the junctions south of Bramalea GO (Halwest) and north of Georgetown GO (Silver) down to Burlington.

Thanks for the correction! I've updated the article.

 

[smallspy]

The York sub actually ends east of the tracks in and out of CN's MacMillan Yard. West of here, it is the Halton sub, all the way through the junctions south of Bramalea GO (Halwest) and north of Georgetown GO (Silver) down to Burlington.

To be really specific about this...

The York Sub starts at Pickering Jct. (the interlocking immediately west of the bridge over Duffin's Creek in Ajax, and ends at the MacMillan Yard access tracks immediately underneath the Highway 7 overpass. Trains from the east heading into and out of MacMillian don't travel on the Halton Sub, as the York Sub's tracks turn to the north to enter MacMillan Yard.

The Halton Sub starts at the western-most switch of the plant at Snider (mile 24.36 of the York Sub, if you want to be precise) and ends at the western-most switch of the plant at Burlington West (mile 32.25), where it meets up with the Oakville Sub.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[rbt]

Helpful reminder. Not entirely up to date because GO now owns the line from Georgetown to KW and the Canpa Sub.

Here's the newest version AFAIK. It was provided by vegeta_skyline from this forum.

http://rbt.ca/railway ownership GTA (vegeta_skyline).png

 

[Allandale25]

Here's the newest version AFAIK. It was provided to me by someone on this forum but I failed to put their username in the filename and have forgotten.

http://rbt.ca/railway ownership GTA.png

Awesome thanks!

 

[nfitz]

It was provided to me by someone on this forum but I failed to put their username in the filename and have forgotten.

vegeta_skyline isn't it? http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...ts-metrolinx-various.9023/page-41#post-616122

 

[rbt]

vegeta_skyline isn't it? http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread...ts-metrolinx-various.9023/page-41#post-616122

Yep, that would be right. Thanks!

Adjusted my comment above.

 

[44 North]

This has probably been discussed here, but was wondering if in the Missing Link talk there had been any official/political noise about bringing GO rail to the CN line (Halton + York subs) - thereby creating a GTA bypass/orbital? Or do we believe this could become a midterm priority?

No doubt it would be a bit redundant with the 407 Transitway, but there's already a push to have the Transitway built with light rail from the get go. If in lieu of that, or part of such an upgrade in plans, would there be a business case for a 905 GO line? The bypass would definitely make this easier, and the CP corridor could be seen as less desirable for several reasons.

 

[crs1026]

It has certainly been discussed here, but hasn't been proposed officially to my knowledge.

It will be interesting to see if the design for the bypass leaves room for GO or VIA expansion. I'm sure the freight railways would adamantly object to sharing a single set of tracks, so any passenger operation would require additional tracks.

I think it's a very wise option to build in for the future, but don't expect to see it in the next couple of decades.

- Paul

 

[muller877]

Here's the newest version AFAIK. It was provided by vegeta_skyline from this forum.

http://rbt.ca/railway ownership GTA (vegeta_skyline).png

They forgot that the commuter lines go past Bradford, Georgetown and Stouffville. Plus the new station in Hamilton.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I imagine it would fall a little close to the 407 service planned by GO - that BRT is planned to handle very high levels of traffic that will be much more effective at servicing dispersed and low density suburban densities than heavy commuter rail.

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

This has probably been discussed here, but was wondering if in the Missing Link talk there had been any official/political noise about bringing GO rail to the CN line (Halton + York subs) - thereby creating a GTA bypass/orbital? Or do we believe this could become a midterm priority?

No doubt it would be a bit redundant with the 407 Transitway, but there's already a push to have the Transitway built with light rail from the get go. If in lieu of that, or part of such an upgrade in plans, would there be a business case for a 905 GO line? The bypass would definitely make this easier, and the CP corridor could be seen as less desirable for several reasons.

Having an express airport train along the Halton/York subs between Pearson and a future Pickering airport has been discussed, but that's quite a different proposal.

I can't see a GO train running along that corridor. There are few destinations to be served, the only potential ones I see being the TTC subway stations at 407 (University line) and Clark (Yonge line) and Markham Centre (Unionville GO). Everything else is industrial lands, and other potential destinations are too far away. Plus, you have to add more track and widen a bunch of grade separation structures; don't think cost would come close to matching benefit. The Transitway is cheaper and gets around that problem by bveing able to have buses use existing roads to serve destinations.

At least with the Missing Link proposal, you're doing the aforementioned work above in exchange for GO taking over the Galt and North Toronto subs, where there is tremendous existing and potential ridership.