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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

I read recently that all day service is going from Bramalea to Brampton station and that there will be two more rush hour trains in the morning and evening.


Good, ridership will grow...
 
lordmandeep said:
I read recently that all day service is going from Bramalea to Brampton station and that there will be two more rush hour trains in the morning and evening.


Good, ridership will grow...
Click to expand...

Careful now...

Are you talking about true all day service, or just extending the limitted midday offerings?

I've only heard about the latter happening.

But, more rush hour trains will make me happy. 3:45 and 6:15 departures from Union would be my guess. As for the morning, I'm guessing one run will split into an express/local trip, and another during the 40 minutes before the 7:40ish departure from Georgetown.
 
Kiwi said:
From the sounds of it any GO Train to the Niagara Region will be a complete different regional rail network than GO Train. It'll go from Hamilton to the Niagara Region. If residents from the Niagara Region wish to go to the GTA they'll have to hop on the GO Train in Hamilton to the GTA.
Click to expand...

Hamilton eyes broader rail service

Hamilton could be on track for more passenger trains beyond expanded GO service.

Hamilton and Welland officials are pushing an idea with CP Rail of having some type of rail service return to the former Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway line that runs between the two communities and passes through Smithville, Grassie and Fenwick. Passenger service ended in 1981.

“I think there’s an opportunity there,†said Welland Mayor Damian Goulbourne.

“It’s just a question of whether the other players we need to make this a reality are going to help us.â€

The move, first floated two years ago by the operator of a short-line railway in Port Colborne, comes after the province approved spending $3 million to build a platform near the former CN station (now LIUNA Banquet Centre) for new GO trains that could roll down to Niagara Falls. GO also approved building a new $6.1-million train layover facility at the Hamilton GO Centre (formerly the TH&B station), which will allow it to give Hamilton a new morning train to Union Station.

Wayne Ettinger, head of Trillium Railway, a short-line which runs on former CN lines in Niagara, proposed operating two self-propelled rail cars (called Budd Cars) on the CP line. The idea was to show demand and attract GO service one day. He was reluctant to talk about his proposal.

“The big railroads don’t like things in the paper until they make decisions,†he said.

Hamilton Councillor Bob Bratina has met and talked to Goulbourne, plus CP officials, and believes the idea has merit.

“There’s nothing concrete yet, but no one has given up on it.â€

CP Rail spokesperson Michel Spenard says the company is open to the idea, but some conditions have to be met. They are insurance and liability, traffic and signal upgrades and squeezing passenger trains onto a busy freight line. “We’d certainly not slam the door on anybody,†said Spenard.

“But that route is a busy international freight corridor and for any kind of augmentation, as far as passenger service is concerned, we’d have to put in a significant amount of capital to really make it viable.â€

CP officials met in February with Welland-Niagara officials to talk about the scheme. Welland and Hamilton officials are to meet next month “to see if this thing has legs,†said Goulbourne. The mayor notes Welland has been identified in Niagara policy statements as an economic gateway for future development.

He also notes the Niagara-GTA corridor study. “It’s not just a highway. All modes of transportation will be xamined. It makes me think rail is an option.â€
 
I would think if Trillium Railway were to run Budd Cars it would make more sense to run them from Port Colborne to St Catherines and meet the Toronto bound VIA Trains.
 
Georgetown GO expansion

From: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/toronto/story.html?id=460009

Georgetown GO expansion remains stalled in its tracks

Terms Under Review

Shannon Kari, National Post Published: Monday, April 21, 2008
Related Topics

Ridership on the Georgetown line has tripled in 20 years.Peter Redman, National Post File PhotoRidership on the Georgetown line has tripled in 20 years.

It is the GO Transit service improvement that everyone agrees is sorely needed and no one appears to be against, yet it has been stalled for the past 18 months.

The expansion of the Georgetown South rail corridor, which goes through Brampton and brings thousands of commuters each day down to Union Station, has been on hold since the terms of reference for an environmental assessment remain with the provincial Minister of the Environment.

Passengers using the line have more than tripled in the past 20 years and rush hour trains are standing room only, yet GO is unable to supply the same level of service as on its east-west lines because of a lack of track capacity.

The first plan to expand service on this line fell through in 1994 because of a lack of funding. This time, the delay is a result of the linking of the regulatory approval process for the Georgetown line to the controversial "Blue 22" proposed high-speed rail line to Pearson International Airport.

The terms of reference report, which is the first step in an environmental assessment process for both projects, was submitted in October, 2006.

"Given that the time frame normally associated with planning approvals, design, construction and operational testing of new rail infrastructure is in the order of 5-7 years, it is important that any proposed improvements proceed expeditiously," state the terms of reference report.

The Liberal government has not provided its response, initially believed to be because of opposition to the Pearson line, which became a hot political issue in the riding of York South-Weston.

Several months after the provincial election, there has not been a public announcement by the government. "It is still being reviewed," said a spokesman for Environment minister John Gerretsen.

No date was provided for the completion of the review.

At GO, a spokeswoman said only that it is "working with the Minister" on the terms of reference. Metrolinx, the new entity responsible for the regional transportation plan in the Greater Toronto Area, did not respond to a request for comment.

Instead of explaining why there has been no progress on the planned Georgetown expansion, most agencies have privately pointed the finger at the Weston Community Coalition, which has been vocal in its criticism of proposed Pearson line, which would be privately operated.

"We are opposed to spending public money on a private rail line," said Mike Sullivan, chair of the community group in northwest Toronto.

"We are not opposed to the GO expansion. Not at all," Mr. Sullivan said. "We want rail service though Weston."

He said GO could provide increased service on the Georgetown line with one extra track and there would be no need to eliminate level crossings in Weston or build a lengthy "depressed corridor" through the community. The Weston group is against the Pearson line in part because high-speed trains would zoom through the neighbourhood eight times per hour, 19 hours per day.

skari@nationalpost.com
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^Welcome to the forum. Great name!

The Georgetown line is so obvious for expansion, especially because it's got such a nice wide corridor through the city. The only problem is through Brampton, where it becomes part of CN's freight main, and it's way overcrowded. Don't get me started on the whole Blue 22 issue.
 
I believe the province is waiting on the RTP to finish - and there are no signs of it in the RTP.
 
The newest GO News mentions a station called Lincolnville on the Stoufville line, opening this year. Anyone know the exact location?

Unimaginative said:
GO/VIA would be strictly separated from freights throughout the downtown core, allowing GO to acquire the CP line past the GO Centre so that CP will no longer have a veto on any passenger rail expansion. The key to the entire reorganization is the reconstruction of the existing Belt Line to accommodate higher speeds and train frequencies. Double tracking would be ideal, and at least some grade separation would likely be necessary. The cost would not be astronomical, and certainly well within a reasonable range for providing decent transit service to the core of one of Canada's largest cities.

CP's existing trackage rights on CN from Bayview (the junction near the Botanical Gardens) to Toronto would be extended to East Hamilton, where CP freights could use the rebuilt Belt Line to return to their TH&B route. That's the red line on the map. GO Trains would leave the CN line as they do at present to serve the GO Centre. They would then continue east on an exclusively-passenger corridor until the Belt Line, which they would use to return to the CN corridor for further service to Niagara. VIA trains could also use this route to directly serve downtown Hamilton.
Click to expand...

Have you actually been out to see where the belt line runs through? The north-south segment is so tight to the property lines, I'm not sure how it could be expanded without a massive expropriation, demolition and enormous costs. Grade separation at Wentworth, Maplewood straight through under Gage/Main Dunsmere and King, and then again at Cannon and Barton would be a bare minimum. Do you know if it's actually used at all anymore? Last time I was through there it was pretty overgrown with weeds. I don't think there is political will in a huge construction project like that either, especially after the huge expressway fiasco.
 
One time I drove through Hamilton last year and was stopped at the Belt Line tracks at Main and Gage by a Ontario Southland Railway train.

Weeds on semi-regularly used lines are more common now as the use of pesticides on railway corridors has since been curtailed. In the 1980s, even lines facing abandonment were almost weed-free. The rust on the tracks were the indicator of use.
 
Jonny5 said:
The newest GO News mentions a station called Lincolnville on the Stoufville line, opening this year. Anyone know the exact location?



Have you actually been out to see where the belt line runs through? The north-south segment is so tight to the property lines, I'm not sure how it could be expanded without a massive expropriation, demolition and enormous costs. Grade separation at Wentworth, Maplewood straight through under Gage/Main Dunsmere and King, and then again at Cannon and Barton would be a bare minimum. Do you know if it's actually used at all anymore? Last time I was through there it was pretty overgrown with weeds. I don't think there is political will in a huge construction project like that either, especially after the huge expressway fiasco.
Click to expand...

$10-$20 million per grade separation is no bare bone cost. This does not include expropriation cost.

Done a lot of rail fanning around the area and only image what the rail operation was like in the hay days with these unused tracks. CP Aberdeen yards was busy when I first saw it, but today it only a shell. Even the industries around it are now gone.

The golf course is a nice place to play and only play it twice.
 
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