GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

[generalcanada]

There is 1 thing you can give Dofo credit for. its being authoritarian when building transit. whether it be the ontario line, the train yard in the don valley or yonge north.
This is probably the best chance to see the missing link completed for a long time.

 

[APTA-2048]

I don't think that I'm the only one that thinks that the Ford government is getting ahead of itself, making plans and promises that it likely will not be able to implement, and anytime soon at that. I really think that they are politically capitalizing on people not knowing how drawn out things would be, how much money this would cost and when these lines would be open to riders.

These are all projects that I firmly do believe are needed, but the amounts of capital that would be needed to pull this off is just ludicrous. Further, negotiating with the freight railroads to build a Missing Link (that both CPKC and CN will use/share) will already cost so much, and take tons of environmental review, red tape, MONEY and assessment.

That being said, I'm curious to see what the estimates are of the government, if these promises are even kept (looking at you, GO in London), what the negotiations are like with CPKC and CN, and if we can see any results in the next two decades lol. Would absolutely love having the Halton unlocked for effective infinite GO service in Brampton and beyond, seeing the Milton Line truly flourish and seeing what can be done with Midtown, but I think having doubts is reasonable.

We still haven't seen the big wins from the meat and potatoes of GO expansion, ie. electrification, expanded service to places like Kitchener, proper double tracking, GO to Bowmanville, true 15 minute service.

What do you guys think?

I pretty much agree. Especially the last paragraph.

Hell, get the Eglinton line open finally before you start promising three more rail lines!

 

[Mihairokov]

Hell, get the Eglinton line open finally before you start promising three more rail lines!

This is where i'm at. I can't buy a campaign promise for more rail lines when the one that began construction ten years ago still isn't open.

 

[Coolibop]

Edit to add, here's an enlarged version of the GO 2.0 Map:

View attachment 629986

Ha! The above shows no Bomanville extension!

I noted the same in the midtown thread... It's been a blue riding since the second world war except a brief liberal flip in 2014 (to 2018)...so I imagine a correction of the above image is in order. I don't think they are cancelling this extension.

 

[Northern Light]

There is 1 thing you can give Dofo credit for. its being authoritarian when building transit; badly and slowly

There, fixed that for you.

Crosstown: Not open, years late.

Finch: Not open, late.

Hurontario: 2 years behind schedule.

GO 1.O, late, not delivered. LSE 15M and express service was to be restored more than a year ago.......

Ontario Line: Inferior design choices that have severely hobbled east end GO service, are a future hindrence to GO/VIA expansion and HSR and deliver less capacity, years behind the original delivery schedule.

Yonge North - Inferior route, at increased, rather than decreased cost to service developers/donors to party. No decision on Cummer Station, which would peform better than most other stations set to be built.

****

Meanwhile, like the Liberals before, his propensity for P3s and the bungling of Infrastructure Ontario has dramatically inflated costs, delaying other much needed projects.

****

No credit for DoFo on the transit file.

 

[ARG1]

Yonge North - Inferior route, at increased, rather than decreased cost to service developers/donors to party. No decision on Cummer Station, which would peform better than most other stations set to be built.

Inferior route? The only thing that is inferior is the lack of Cummer Station. The new routing through actual developments and the relocated bus terminal that will better serve Highway 7 busses is significantly preferable to the old plan where we had a Langstaff Station that only served Parking Lots (akin to Highway 407 Station). And I don't want to hear about "the developers". Better serving TOD with better walk in access from where the majority of people will live is a good thing no matter which way you slice it.

 

[nfitz]

I'm surprised that they are cancelling the Bowmanville extension (or at least deferring again it far, far into the future - GO 3.0 maybe?)

 

[Bojaxs]

I'm surprised that they are cancelling the Bowmanville extension (or at least deferring again it far, far into the future - GO 3.0 maybe?)

I'm guessing the proposed routing of the track directly east of Oshawa GO was problematic.

 

[Northern Light]

Inferior route? The only thing that is inferior is the lack of Cummer Station.

Disagree.

The new routing through actual developments and the relocated bus terminal

The developments well to the east of Yonge shouldn't be permitted at all.

The bus terminal should not be relocated as proposed.

The development should be concentrated along Yonge, and immediately adjacent, contiguous lands.

As proposed:

1) The communities will not be built as proposed. They're absurd, so using them as a justification for an expensive re-route makes no sense.

2) The communities represent bad design, and as conceptualized will promote driving, not walking. The Yonge extension here will only be useful as a downtown commuter line, rather than a go everwhere you might might to go line, which it would better achieve under Yonge.

****

Last note. The Line isn't under construction and can't go ahead yet.....there's nowhere to store the trains..... no MSF has been sited or funded by the province for this extension to date.

Too bad about routing the the line beside CN Tracks,where there might have been storage space, along with badly sited development lands to the east.

The MZO should have rezoned the land rail storage.

 

[ARG1]

I'm surprised that they are cancelling the Bowmanville extension (or at least deferring again it far, far into the future - GO 3.0 maybe?)

I think whoever made this graphic didn't think it through, or simply forgot. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a last minute rush job that they through together yesterday. I personally haven't heard anything regarding delaying Bowmanville - quite the opposite in fact.

 

[bpbpbpbp]

I'm surprised that they are cancelling the Bowmanville extension (or at least deferring again it far, far into the future - GO 3.0 maybe?)

I don't think that the Bowmanville extension is off the books right now. The image produced by the PC party is probably mostly just an election thing, as @Willybru21 said in the Midtown thread.

There's been tons of studies, collaboration with CPKC and work already done to prepare for a Bowmanville extension, and I don't think the government would entirely just abandon it.

 

[WB62]

I'm surprised that they are cancelling the Bowmanville extension (or at least deferring again it far, far into the future - GO 3.0 maybe?)

Please don’t take the map at face value, there are multiple errors present in it. Here are some of the ones I’ve noticed:

No Bowmanville Extension
No King-Liberty GO
No St. Clair-Old Weston GO
Etobicoke North GO and Woodbine GO both listed
No Park Lawn GO
No Finch-Kennedy GO
No Trafalgar-Milton GO
UP Express omitted

Lakeview GO is present, so there’s that I guess

 

[ARG1]

Disagree.



The developments well to the east of Yonge shouldn't be permitted at all.

The bus terminal should not be relocated as proposed.

The development should be concentrated along Yonge, and immediately adjacent, contiguous lands.

As proposed:

1) The communities will not be built as proposed. They're absurd, so using them as a justification for an expensive re-route makes no sense.

2) The communities represent bad design, and as conceptualized will promote driving, not walking. The Yonge extension here will only be useful as a downtown commuter line, rather than a go everwhere you might might to go line, which it would better achieve under Yonge.

****

Last note. The Line isn't under construction and can't go ahead yet.....there's nowhere to store the trains..... no MSF has been sited or funded by the province for this extension to date.

Too bad about routing the the line beside CN Tracks,where there might have been storage space, along with badly sited development lands to the east.

The MZO should have rezoned the land rail storage.

You say all this, yet you also seemed to have not mentioned what your preferred alternative will be.

Markham Gateway is mostly abandoned Brownbelt that's begging to be redeveloped into something. Areas like Oneida already have condos that are open and built, ready to see walk on passengers - not to mention the numerous parking lots in the area all conveniently flanking the railway corridor begging for redevelopment.

Yonge Street doesn't have a direct connection to Highway 7, which makes interfacing with Highway 7 busses difficult. That's the benefit of the new Bus Terminal location - it is so much faster and more convenient for Highway 7 and viva busses to access, whilst its barely much of an increase for Yonge busses if at all (especially when you consider that most busses will be terminating there due to the subway - particularly Viva Blue). If anything, the Yonge Street alignment was more of an alignment that solely favoured subway commutes rather than any other modes. Even the old plan for the 407 Transitway had the line awkwardly vere to the side to serve RHC. This is before mentioning that I doubt that a tunneled or elevated extension along Yonge towards Major Mac will be happening any time soon like you seem to be implying.

As for train storage, didn't they already announce that they'll be storing it in a makeshift storage area around 16th Avenue? I thought the question of train storage has long been settled.

 

[generalcanada]

There, fixed that for you.

Crosstown: Not open, years late.

Finch: Not open, late.

Hurontario: 2 years behind schedule.

GO 1.O, late, not delivered. LSE 15M and express service was to be restored more than a year ago.......

Ontario Line: Inferior design choice that have severely hobbled east end GO service, are a future hindrence to GO/VIA expansion and HSR and deliver less capacity, years behind the original delivery schedule.

Yonge North - Inferior route, at increased, rather than decreased cost to service developers/donors to party. No decision on Cummer Station, which would peform better than most other stations set to be built.

****

Meanwhile, like the Liberals before, his propensity for P3s and the bungling of Infrastructure Ontario has dramatically inflated costs, delaying other much needed projects.

****

No credit for DoFo on the transit file.

Yes sure the delays on the current projects like finch, crosstown and hurontario isnt good thats not what i said though.

His desire to push through projects that people dont immediately want is what im talking about. The outcry from riverside residents when dealing with the ontario line was enough to make the news multiple times. Was it a good plan strategically over the next 50 years? we will see. but the project is going ahead like it or not

 

[Sauga89]

Please don’t take the map at face value, there are multiple errors present in it. Here are some of the ones I’ve noticed:

No Bowmanville Extension
No King-Liberty GO
No St. Clair-Old Weston GO
Etobicoke North GO and Woodbine GO both listed
No Park Lawn GO
No Finch-Kennedy GO
No Trafalgar-Milton GO
UP Express omitted

Lakeview GO is present, so there’s that I guess

There are other things I'm not seeing on this map, which I'd hoped would be part of any 407 freight bypass package.
No Orangeville Line
No Seaton Line
No indication of Lakeshore West trains switching onto the Midtown Line at Long Branch
No GO train line along the 407 as part of the freight bypass (perhaps there isn't room for GO tracks?)