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Hamilton All Day GO Service

denfromoakvillemilton

denfromoakvillemilton

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Three Hamilton-area sites are being eyed for new GO train stations if the service's expansion to Niagara ever hits the rails.

GO Transit, after a public information meeting in January on the proposed expansion, is recommending new stations on the CN line at James Street North, Fruitland Road and Fifty Road. The latter site was being pushed by Councillor Dave Mitchell.

James Street would become the terminus of all-day service -- 20 trains a day -- that now runs between Aldershot and Union Station in Toronto.
Click to expand...

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http://www.thespec.com/article/768553
 
It sounds like "if the expansion to St.Catherines every hits the rails" since they have ruled out a Niagara commuter train for the foreseeable future due to the $1B costs of a seaway tunnel. I wouldn't end the line at St.Catherines VIA station though... it would make sense to put a station in the east too. Ideally there would be better zoning north of The Pen Centre so a GO station could be put there but since it is a little too residential probably the best location is on Wedsworth.
 
Fifty road is in the middle of nowhere, and fruitland road is on the furthest edge of the city. I know GO has some opposition to more 'urban' stations but a stop in east Hamilton could be useful. There is 14km between the James North station and Fruitland road. I would suggest James North, Centennial Pkwy, then either Fifty Road, or Fruitland Rd. Ideally a stop at Centennial parkway could be the terminus for the Main St./King St. LRT.
 
There are property acquisition issues at Centennial Parkway. You can interpret that as "owners won't sell".

If the new station is built on the east mountain it may give the decision makers the will to change the owners mind through other means...
 
Why'd they reject the Grimsby VIA station? You'd think a VIA station would be a good location for a GO station.
 
There are significant space restraints at Grimsby station for the cheap pour a concrete sidewalk and pave a parking lot station they are looking for building a new route. Extending the platform east they have an issue that the can't build a platform through Ontario St without closing it or creating a new grade separation, if they chose to extend the platform west they would have to extend the platform over Elizabeth St with a new pedestrian bridge, and after that expense there are hardly any places to park. It is the right place to put the station for being able to walk to the town centre and from a 100% transit perspective, but for the park-and-ride commuter and an extension which is a bit of a pilot project it probably doesn't make sense to spend the money on either Ontario St or Elizabeth St to make it work.
 
I think VIA rail to Niagara should be handle the amount of passengers from Niagara Fall and St. Catharines. Go should concentrate on investing in as far as Hamilton's downtown Station (which apparently is going to have a future LRT link) and maybe as far as Stoney Creek. Having all day two way service to downtown Hamilton is absolutely needed. I think if this type of service were available a lot of automobile traffic would be taken off the congested QEW and Gardiner highways allowing truck traffic faster more efficient transit time which will help our economy. The GTAH has one of the worst commute times in North America and investing in ourt commuter rail will help improve this fact.
 
My understanding was that the Rail to Rail grade separation of Hamilton Junction was a prerequisite for full-day service; if that is the case we could be waiting a while.

Though funding for the above was announced in May 2009, I haven't even heard of an E.A. going forward yet.
 
Hamilton's future all day GO service, James Street North Station
JamesStNStation.jpg
 
This seems like nobody really thought about the future here. This is going to be a station with all day GO service, likely some VIA service, and continued use by freight trains. All in a major city. Shouldn't there by at least 4 tracks here to allow freight to bypass the platforms and allow GO to store some trains here? This looks more like Lincolnville Station than Hamilton.

Also, I'm not happy with the location of the bus station. It needs to be close to James to avoid a lengthy detour for those bypassing the station, but do the bays need to be the furthest point on the property from the platforms? And the connection to Bay St. (an alternative route to downtown, and the future Pan Am stadium site hopefully) is either not shown or not planned.
 
jwill said:
This seems like nobody really thought about the future here. This is going to be a station with all day GO service, likely some VIA service, and continued use by freight trains. All in a major city. Shouldn't there by at least 4 tracks here to allow freight to bypass the platforms and allow GO to store some trains here? This looks more like Lincolnville Station than Hamilton.
Also, I'm not happy with the location of the bus station. It needs to be close to James to avoid a lengthy detour for those bypassing the station, but do the bays need to be the furthest point on the property from the platforms? And the connection to Bay St. (an alternative route to downtown, and the future Pan Am stadium site hopefully) is either not shown or not planned.
Click to expand...

I believe the intention is for non-rush hour service here only. Rush hour trains will continue to leave from the Hunter street station, where storage is available.

As for the bus bays, I don't understand what you mean.... I think bus and rail traffic will be pretty segregated and I can't think of any routes that would pass through here and go somewhere else. Does anyone know if they plan to have any bus service here at all? Those bays might just be for potential HSR use. There's no facilities here for storage or layover of buses, which they presently use quite a bit of at the current station. Although, if they ever want to use double decker buses, they would have to be routed here.
 
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Sorry about the confusion regarding the bus platforms. I assumed some were for use of HSR, particularly the 4 and probably more service once the station is operational, but maybe the HSR buses will just load at a sidewalk stop. But in any case why are the bus platforms as far away from the train platforms as possible? It surprised me after GO has taken some effort in the last few years to make bus-train transfers faster and easier.
 
EnviroTO said:
It sounds like "if the expansion to St.Catherines every hits the rails" since they have ruled out a Niagara commuter train for the foreseeable future due to the $1B costs of a seaway tunnel.
Click to expand...

Where is this seaway tunnel proposed for exactly? And is this tunnel something that is being more formally discussed....or is just something that has come up casually among GO planners?
 
It's in the EA document. The priority for the Welland Canal crossing is ships, which is an unpredictable 45 minute delay for an unlucky train. In addition, the bridge over the canal is reaching the end of its useful lifespan. A bridge over or tunnel under the canal is the only way to deliver reliable service.
 
Ah yes...I remember that now. All the hot weather this summer seems to have to slowed my brain to a crawl. Thanks for jogging my memory.
 
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