GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[raptor]

 

[ShonTron]

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Interesting. Unlike Brampton and YRT, GO hasn't announced their plans for September, now that the subway is fully operational. I thought that by now GO Transit will have decided to consolidate their buses to Highway 407 Station (which has its pros and cons) and decided to close down its York University "Station."

 

[crs1026]

The how-to-service-York-U debate is the sort of cluster**** that leads to a Doug Ford coming in and arbitratily doing heaven-knows-what, just to impose some common sense and get everyone on one page, damn the torpedoes.

Doesnt help that York U's expectations have changed - at one point they adamantly wanted buses off campus, then they realised that this was not helpful to students. GO, YRT, TTC, and BT have all been coming from different places with different degrees of concern for the rider experience versus minimising their costs versus ensuring net-neutral cost to passengers. And blindsiding their partners by announcing we are doing x, you need to take up the slack.

I'm not taking sides - but this is an example of utterly disfunctional relationships among these properties. And the riders will somehow be the worse for it.

- Paul

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

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And here I thought the subway/Highway 407 connection *was* the permanent strategy.

 

[raptor]

And here I thought the subway/Highway 407 connection *was* the permanent strategy.

And I thought they would stop servicing the York U GO (rail) station...

 

[TOareaFan]

So, let's see if I've got the straight.

The buses that used to serve York are now going to be:

TTC ...at Pioneer village south side in their own bus station
York ...at Pioneer village on their north side in their own bus station
BT: ....at Vaughan Corporate and some still on campus (likely only temporarily)
GO:....on campus but only temprorarily and the hot money is on them moving to the 407 station.

So (and I don't really know how often this used to happen anyway) any concept of people switiching from bus system to bus system is severely limited

 

[raptor]

Metrolinx and Niagara Region continue to work together to bring regular GO train service to the region

TORONTO: August 16, 2018 – Metrolinx has hired the design consultant to support the expansion of GO Transit rail service into Niagara Region.

Wood Canada Ltd. will provide engineering services for the detailed design of the three stations, including a new station in Grimsby, retrofitting the existing VIA stations in St. Catharines and Niagara Falls, and enhancements to the existing Lewis Road Layover in Winona.

“Today’s announcement is another exciting step to getting all year round GO train service for the people in Niagara Region,” said Metrolinx President and CEO Phil Verster. “We, along with all of our partners in the Region, are eager to deliver this service to our customers in Grimsby, St. Catharines and Niagara Falls as soon as possible.”

Metrolinx and Niagara Region continue to work with municipalities and local stakeholders to prioritize extending regular train service to Niagara Falls and build on the success of seasonal weekend service into the area.

“We are excited about reaching this major milestone in our goal to deliver daily GO trains to Niagara. We know that daily GO trains will have a transformative effect on our economy and that’s why it remained Council’s highest priority during this term. We continue to work closely with our partners at Metrolinx and the Province of Ontario to accelerate the project and remain committed to ensuring daily GO trains arrive in Niagara as soon as they possibly can.” – Niagara Regional Chair Alan Caslin.

Currently regular GO train service is scheduled to be expanded to Grimsby by 2021 and to St. Catharines and Niagara Falls by 2023.

More information on the Niagara service extension is available at Metrolinx.com/niagara or www.niagararegion.ca/projects/moving-transit-forward.

Media Contacts:
Metrolinx Media Relations
416-202-5859
mediarelations@metrolinx.com

Matt Robinson, Director
GO Implementation Office
Niagara Region
905-980-6000 ext. 3198
matt.robinson@niagararegion.ca

 

[mdrejhon]

My biggest interest is trackwork between West Harbour and Confederation GO, including through-station ability, as well as overpasses, such as the planned Birch Street overpass expansion (in Hamilton), etc. There is much to do in the corridor.

Also, the page contains the good old 2011 Hamilton Junction study.
http://www.metrolinx.com/en/regionalplanning/rer/Niagara Rail Expansion ESR Appendix E.pdf

With some of my favourite pages of evidence that West Harbour GO has been seriously considered as an allday extension of Aldershot -- at least until they realized freight complications.

Both Hunter and West Harbour is complicated, but it will be easier to extend allday Lakeshore West to West Harbour than Hunter, and would be congruent with Ford's desire for Niagara service.

Metrolinx is currently executing many elements of Option C -- the new bridge at the junction

But a lot more work is still needed between Confederation and West Harbour.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

My biggest interest is trackwork between West Harbour and Confederation GO, including through-station ability, as well as overpasses, such as the planned Birch Street overpass expansion (in Hamilton), etc. There is much to do in the corridor.

A lot just to get West Harbour up and running.

I would like to see action on Kitchener and Barrie now, and a announcement of something on Milton and Richmond Hill.

 

[mdrejhon]

(Edited my post to add slides)

 

[Allandale25]

Quote from this column. Mostly focused on LRT but does mention GO and CN Rail.

"Skelly also made a point of showing Ford the "tumbleweeds" at the $45-million West Harbour GO station. The station opened in 2015 but only offers two outgoing trains to Toronto each morning. Negotiations continue with rail line owner CN for more access to commuter trains.

"My point was we got the GO station with great fanfare but we don't have the service. It's now on his radar and knowing the premier it will get attention.""

 

[mdrejhon]

Quote from this column. Mostly focused on LRT but does mention GO and CN Rail.

"Skelly also made a point of showing Ford the "tumbleweeds" at the $45-million West Harbour GO station. The station opened in 2015 but only offers two outgoing trains to Toronto each morning. Negotiations continue with rail line owner CN for more access to commuter trains.

"My point was we got the GO station with great fanfare but we don't have the service. It's now on his radar and knowing the premier it will get attention.""

Good catch!

Skelly is anti-LRT, so I don't like the idea of them scheming.

But, let's say, we get allday service through West Harbour 2-way to Stoney Creek, then we should be getting a Gage GO infill station. City already owns land (former Lloyd glassworks). Hamilton deserves infill stations, too.

 

[dowlingm]

@mdrejhon how much of a catchment would Gage GO deliver though? Unless the industrial lands were going to undergo massive development wouldn't that just slow travel to-from Niagara down more? Ticats would probably like it though.

 

[mdrejhon]

@mdrejhon how much of a catchment would Gage GO deliver though? Unless the industrial lands were going to undergo massive development wouldn't that just slow travel to-from Niagara down more? Ticats would probably like it though.

At first, could be a stadium-events-only platform, no parking garage.
Like what Exhibition platform used to be.

Begin with one-sided platform, south edge, $1M, no underpass (there's a crossing already)
Then when gradual densification comes to Barton/Main/King - expand the station.

Don't forget the long term potential of CPL - the new national pro soccer league - begins 2019.
(Hamilton gains a professional soccer team next year! #ForgeFC). Starts small but could quickly snowball over the years, knowing soccer (football) worldly appeal.

That means potentially more than one-tenth of the year will have stadium days - and averaging more than one per week in good season by 2025 when also including all events including ones similiar to this year's massive sellout Arkells concert they want to replicate on an annual basis.

Also, expansion of stadium-crowd-league Gage Park events has been occuring for a few years, including Festival of Friends. Potentially, this comes into play too.

Worth a cheap "events-only" platform to start with, at least.
Didn't Exhibition GO used to cost only ~$300,000 at the start?
I recall trains only stopped during events at first.

 

[ShonTron]

@mdrejhon how much of a catchment would Gage GO deliver though? Unless the industrial lands were going to undergo massive development wouldn't that just slow travel to-from Niagara down more? Ticats would probably like it though.

The train already crawls through Hamilton, all the way to Woodward. In theory, the Gage Station wouldn't be a bad idea; it wouldn't be inconsistent with GO Station spacing in Markham or Burlington. But there would be a need for major rail speed improvements through Hamilton. I'm not sure if it would require some grade separations (there are only two between Ferguson Avenue and the Red Hill Creek Parkway), or just improved track conditions, fencing and crossing gates.