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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

APTA-2048 said:
What’s the future for that crossing? Is it staying? Looks like it’d be hard to elevate the road or elevate the tracks.
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Nothing, to the best of my knowledge. There aren't even any immediate plans to double-track this section.

Towered said:
This is exactly what I mean - I'm not advocating for regular commuter service to the historic station, only a weekend tourist train (perhaps even relegated only to weekends from May to September). No need for parking. That defeats the purpose. I really don't understand why this isn't something that's been proposed. Seems obvious to me. Unionville is a charming old village right here in the GTA (which is rare), so you don't have to travel far outside the city to get that fix. It should be much easier to get there via transit considering it's sitting right on an active GO line. Wasted opportunity. I was really struggling to explain to my train obsessed 5 year old son why the train doesn't stop there.
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Well, part of the problem is its proximity to the current Unionville Station - a shade over 1km. And if you do have GO trains stop there, how do you prevent people from parking there? And there's the fact that the trains would likely have to hang over both ends of the platform, and block two different streets while doing so.

So yeah, all-in-all - it's not really well suited for GO service anymore.

If a heritage railway were to ever operate out of Uxbridge again however, it may be a good place for them to stop (although that will be dependent on GO's schedules through there).

Dan
 
Let's focus on the issue and not one extreme outcome.

There are lots of parallels - coastal and cross Channel ferries, bus parking in Manhattan, taxi depots. All are situations where a needed service is competing for space.

The ferries often have "Reserved for lorry driver" lounges . Manhattan has one or more bus garages for out of town charters, not necessarily on Manhattan itself. Taxi companies ditto.

ML needs to provide some rationed bike capacity on trains, but with limits and rules that set boundaries for the negative impacts. And somebody (not necessarily ML, although they can help get the ball rolling) needs to offer a depot downtown, not necessarily right at Union. I am sure there is a commercial or public parking garage somewhere that would provide some amount of space. Maybe it's an opportunity for someone to organize a co-op.

Just letting the bikes clog up the trains is really not an option.

- Paul
 
smallspy said:
If a heritage railway were to ever operate out of Uxbridge again however, it may be a good place for them to stop (although that will be dependent on GO's schedules through there).

Dan
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Imagine the size and number of signs you’d have to put there though, and even then people complaining on Facebook that they “stood on the platform at Unionville station and watched GO zoom by without picking me up #Metrostinx”
 
smallspy said:
Nothing, to the best of my knowledge. There aren't even any immediate plans to double-track this section.


Well, part of the problem is its proximity to the current Unionville Station - a shade over 1km. And if you do have GO trains stop there, how do you prevent people from parking there? And there's the fact that the trains would likely have to hang over both ends of the platform, and block two different streets while doing so.

So yeah, all-in-all - it's not really well suited for GO service anymore.

If a heritage railway were to ever operate out of Uxbridge again however, it may be a good place for them to stop (although that will be dependent on GO's schedules through there).

Dan
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1 km is too far to expect people to walk from the current station when the historic station is directly in the village. As for parking - it's prevented by not increasing any capacity beyond what's there now. And if train length is an issue in that area, can not an infrequent weekend tourist train simply be run with shorter train sets? The whole point of such a service would be to drop off tourists directly in the heart of the town, who then leisurely stroll the main strip, shop, eat, and then easily and conveniently walk back to the station to hop back on and go home. I see a lot of potential in that.
 
Towered said:
1 km is too far to expect people to walk from the current station when the historic station is directly in the village. As for parking - it's prevented by not increasing any capacity beyond what's there now. And if train length is an issue in that area, can not an infrequent weekend tourist train simply be run with shorter train sets? The whole point of such a service would be to drop off tourists directly in the heart of the town, who then leisurely stroll the main strip, shop, eat, and then easily and conveniently walk back to the station to hop back on and go home. I see a lot of potential in that.
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There used to be a charter bus/sightseeing company that offered a shuttle between downtown Toronto and downtown Unionville. I don’t know if it was sponsored by the Town, but it ran for a few years before ceasing operation.

It would seem a train would be much more expensive to operate. If the bus service couldn’t be sustained, it might be hard to convince someone to invest in a train.

The easiest solution would probably just be improved YRT service from Unionville GO Station. Right now there’s no direct route. Even a private shuttle could work like at the Brickworks.
 
I feel like any new stops on GO lines really need to connect to new transit lines to be justified. I'm fine with East Harbour and it's multiple connections and Finch-Kennedy will likely get connected to an extended LRT at some point (and connects to an existing busy bus route now), but GO doesn't need to become a milk run.
 

Screenshot_2024-01-10_124638.jpg
 
ShonTron said:
No, not at all. There are two branches of the Lakeshore West Line into Hamilton. The Lakeshore East extension to Bowmanville will divert from the existing corridor west of Oshawa Station.
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Did they revert that? I thought the plan was still to have a massive sharp turn after Oshawa and use the GM spur to reach the CP corridor.
 
AFAIK the GM spur is being used again (by GM) so they have to build another parallel to it (but still east of Oshawa GO). Took this from the Jun 2023 meeting presentation:
EDIT: legend got cut off...Purple line is what we're looking at if it wasn't obvious....with added rendering below
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1704912609123.png
 
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An observant member of WaterlooRegionConnected noticed a document where Metrolinx confirmed some rail inforrmation for a condo development.


Highlights include:
  • Metrolinx confirming that the Kitchener Expansion Project will be completed in 2025 (page 12)
  • Metrolinx anticipating that, on a typical weekday, 99 GO Transit trains (both revenue and equipment trains) will run on the Guelph Subdivision adjacent to the Proposed Development once the Metrolinx Kitchener expansion project is operational (page 12)
 
kalis0490 said:
An observant member of WaterlooRegionConnected noticed a document where Metrolinx confirmed some rail inforrmation for a condo development.


Highlights include:
  • Metrolinx confirming that the Kitchener Expansion Project will be completed in 2025 (page 12)
  • Metrolinx anticipating that, on a typical weekday, 99 GO Transit trains (both revenue and equipment trains) will run on the Guelph Subdivision adjacent to the Proposed Development once the Metrolinx Kitchener expansion project is operational (page 12)
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The passing tracks currently under construction will increase capacity to 2 trains per hour. 2tph x 2 directions x 24h/day is only 96 trains so this implies that they are protecting for full double track.

They are presumably being incredibly optimistic to err on the safe side relative to the future residents.
 
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