Bordercollie
Senior Member
Would be nice to increase trips to more than two a day. It's much faster than the GO train.
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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
Yeltsa Kcir
New Member
Metrolinx put up a new Youtube short yesterday titled "New connecting track at West Harbour GO Station". No new information. Would have liked a longer video on the topic with additional footage, explanation dialogue for those not in the know and an associated written article (coming soon hopefully?). But at least some new drone footage perhaps and something official from their end albeit a little cryptic.
SaugeenJunction
Senior Member
It doesn’t make sense for VIA and GO to compete in the same corridor and cannibalize eachother’s ridership.
Bordercollie
Senior Member
Via is a premium service. It's about an hour faster than taking the GO.
nfitz
Superstar
And on average how many hours later arriving in Toronto?
Bordercollie
Senior Member
I rode the maple leaf about a month ago to Niagara and we left Toronto about half an hour late due to train issues and congestion.
We maintained the schedule to st Catharines so I wouldn't think it would be delayed getting to Niagara. Coming from NY on the other hand is another story.
nfitz
Superstar
It's the only story that I enquired about.
Corktownie
New Member
Huh? Via/Amtrak from Union to Niagara Falls is 2 hours; GO is 2:16.
PShells
Active Member
This tweet states new rails will be installed on the Stouffville line. I am guessing either finishing the missing second track around Milliken station or installing a switch to finish the second track between Kennedy and Agincourt (except the bridge over the creek).
Sauga89
Active Member
I'm not sure if this has been mentioned anywhere, but Metrolinx has announced that construction of the Heritage Rd layover on the Kitchener line is starting this month.
From the construction notice:
From the construction notice:
reaperexpress
Senior Member
I see that they have quietly rolled their "20 minutes saved per round trip" promise back to 15 minutes. Based on my measurements, the reverse move did genuinely take 10 minutes, so maybe there have been 3 minutes of additional slow zones added on the Grimsby sub at the same time that they saved 10 minutes at West Harbour.@Allandale25 made note of this in the GO Service thread as well, but it has a place here.
The province's Hamilton presser this morning is for completion of the West Harbour related works (including new track-tie in)
Ontario Newsroom
news.ontario.ca
From the above:
View attachment 642684
View attachment 642685
It's also worth that the time saving is only for the one trip per day that did the reverse move. For the rest of the trips the benefit is a stop at West Harbour. Hopefully they remove the stop at Aldershot when they add it, otherwise the trip will actually be slower than before.
And totally unrelated but since West Harbour is Hamilton's primary train station, it should have 'Hamilton' in its name. So "Hamilton Harbour" station, in contrast to "Hamilton Centre" station on the other branch. Plus that name is less likely to be confused with "East Harbour" station in Toronto, a mistake I have already made a couple times.
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Bordercollie
Senior Member
2:41 vs 2:03
Corktownie
New Member
I don’t know where you’re getting those numbers from. The GO trips that don’t reverse out of West Harbour only take 2:16 to 2:28, depending on the day and time.
Attachments
Allandale25
Senior Member
Media article about the Bowmanville Extension. Looks like just preliminary work at the moment.
www.insauga.com
GO train extension work back on with watermain installation in Oshawa | insauga
Progress may seem to be moving at a snail’s pace for the much-discussed and joyously announced extension of GO train service to Bowmanville but there is actually some work being done, with the installation of a new watermain across the Albert Street corridor in Oshawa the latest development in...
www.insauga.com
GO train extension work back on with watermain installation in Oshawa
By Glenn Hendry
Published April 9, 2025 at 4:25 pm
Progress may seem to be moving at a snail’s pace for the much-discussed and joyously announced extension of GO train service to Bowmanville but there is actually some work being done, with the installation of a new watermain across the Albert Street corridor in Oshawa the latest development in the project.
The new watermain, which involves micro tunneling, a trenchless method that utilizes a guided boring system to install underground watermains, will be installed across the Albert Street corridor between April 21 and July 31.
It’s the first visible sign of action on the project since the former Knob Hill Farms mega-grocery store was finally torn down earlier this year.
It’s been more than a baker’s dozen years since plans were first made to turn the Knob Hill Farms site into a new Central Oshawa GO station. And nine years since Metrolinx and the former provincial government finally announced they would be building the new station, along with three others, to extend train service all the way to Bowmanville.
The actual time frame to get the new stations built and service to Clarington is still a mystery, though it appears to be 2027/2028 at the earliest, and progress on the project is illusive [sic], at best.
Metrolinx purchased the Knob Hill property at 500 Howard Street in 2014 as part of GO train expansion plans that will see two new stations built in Oshawa – including the central station on Howard Street – and two more in Clarington.
The project was promised by the Liberals in 2016 and then delayed when Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives came to power before Ford made the extension a campaign plank during a subsequent election.
Two years ago Ford declared the project is “one step closer to getting shovels in the ground” after announcing Bowmanville Construction Partners – a general partnership between Ledcor CMI Ltd. and Dragados Canada – as the construction manager.
There hasn’t been much to report since then, with the crossing from the existing Oshawa GO station south of Highway 401 to the north side, still to be built.
Earlier this year, the former grocery store was finally torn down but there has been little work on planned stations at Thornton’s Crossing in Oshawa and at Courtice and Bowmanville stations in Clarington.
Most of the work on the watermain installation is scheduled to take place between Monday to Friday, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Some activities are scheduled overnight when micro tunneling is taking place and work hours may be extended or rescheduled due to inclement weather or unforeseen circumstances.
Work will happen within the rail corridor and on public roadways and land. Residents should anticipate noise, vibration, and dust due to construction and removal of low-lying vegetation. Sight lighting will be used but pointed away from residents’ homes.
Staff will take reasonable precautions to minimize disturbances to residents and commuters, and pedestrians will be rerouted around work zones via temporary detours. Fisher Street traffic will be detoured on Albert Street and Albany Street traffic will be detoured south to Elena Avenue.
The $730-million, 20-kilometre extension will include new tracks and signals, seven new bridges and at-grade crossing upgrades. Once completed, it will provide all-day service in both directions between Bowmanville and Union Station, including peak weekday service every 30 minutes, and is expected to reduce in-vehicle travel times between Bowmanville and Union by 15 minutes.
Yeltsa Kcir
New Member
It's probably been said before, but I am genuinely surprised that the government managed to negotiate the Bowmanville extension with CPKC as I've heard they're harder to deal with than CN and that's a big reason why we don't have a Midtown GO line. Unless the Belleville sub just sees a lot less freight traffic than say the North Toronto sub?Media article about the Bowmanville Extension. Looks like just preliminary work at the moment.
GO train extension work back on with watermain installation in Oshawa | insauga
Progress may seem to be moving at a snail’s pace for the much-discussed and joyously announced extension of GO train service to Bowmanville but there is actually some work being done, with the installation of a new watermain across the Albert Street corridor in Oshawa the latest development in...