High Speed Rail: London - Kitchener-Waterloo - Pearson Airport - Toronto

[Woodbridge_Heights]

PC's critizing the previous government as being Toronto-centric is such a bad joke if it wasn't for the fact that they are serious.

No transit improvements just highway construction/expansion

 

[innsertnamehere]

PC's critizing the previous government as being Toronto-centric is such a bad joke if it wasn't for the fact that they are serious.

No transit improvements just highway construction/expansion

The only "new money" funding actually identified here that we didn't already know about is funding for improved regional bus connections and the investigation of improvements for VIA. All the highway stuff is re-hashed announcements that in some cases have been public for a very long time. Which frankly, is all is really needed in Southern Ontario. The road infrastructure is largely sufficient, it's public transit options which are sorely lacking.

What is interesting is how they stated that they will be releasing transportation plans for each sub-region of the province. I'm interested to see what comes of those.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

To the gentleman who asked about GO service between London and Toronto. London to Toronto is just under 200 Km. In order to make that an even marginally serviceable commuter service we would need a service that averages 200 Km/Hr. How do you do this without High Speed Rail?

 

[crs1026]

The announcement is now on youtube here

The Minister committed to

"exploring a range of options to improve the speed and frequency of passenger rail service in Southern Ontario"

She went on to say

"We introduced 2WAD GO service between Toronto and Niagara, yeas ahead of schedule"

Yeah - she actually said that. What an utter mistruth. (Okay, they got the Bayview-Hamilton track work restarted, which Wynne had deferred)

(Edit) She also said "We will see what we can do to target GO service in this region (ie SWOnt)

I grabbed a screen print of their poster board, it's a bit fuzzy but one can see that it's mostly improving roads. And studies.

- Paul

 

[Northern Light]

The announcement is now on youtube here

The Minister committed to

"exploring a range of options to improve the speed and frequency of passenger rail service in Southern Ontario"

She went on to say

"We introduced 2WAD GO service between Toronto and Niagara, yeas ahead of schedule"

Yeah - she actually said that. What an utter mistruth. (Okay, they got the Bayview-Hamilton track work restarted, which Wynne had deferred)

(Edit) She also said "We will see what we can do to target GO service in this region (ie SWOnt)

I grabbed a screen print of their poster board, it's a bit fuzzy but one can see that it's mostly improving roads. And studies.

- Paul

View attachment 225963

This is an announcement about the Draft Transportation Plan for Southwestern Ontario.

Link here: https://www.ontario.ca/page/connecting-southwest-draft-transportation-plan-southwestern-ontario

There are 43 items (many of which are twaddle, some of which are good), I will not copy/paste them all here.

A couple of 'highlights' though:

7 .Explore opportunities to increase passenger rail service to southwestern Ontario, working with freight partners on track access and with VIA Rail on the potential for integrated service offerings with GO Transit. These services could increase options and convenience for passengers travelling between London and Toronto.

8. Identify opportunities to enhance train speeds and service by conducting a technical review of existing rail corridors in southwestern Ontario. Preliminary analysis of three railway corridors between Union Station (Toronto) and London has identified constraints and opportunities for improving passenger rail services. The province is undertaking technical analysis and will engage corridor owners as required on more detailed analysis of specific service scenarios.

There's a survey on the draft plan up as well. Do provide input!

Survey: Connecting southwestern Ontario

We’re looking for your feedback on the southwestern Ontario transportation plan. This will help us build an integrated transportation system for the future. This survey should take around 15 minutes to complete. We will report back on what we heard in May 2020. Closing date: March 17, 2020

www.ontario.ca

 

[Allandale25]

^ Re 8, maybe they should read @Urban Sky's thesis.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

I suggest every one complete the survey and make comments that HSR, GO electrification and GO RER are your priorities.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

^ Re 8, maybe they should read @Urban Sky's thesis.

But when has this government ever consulted with you know people with you know actual knowledge in the subject? They probably think he's just a latte sipping downtown elitest.

 

[tmlittle]

This is an announcement about the Draft Transportation Plan for Southwestern Ontario.

Link here: https://www.ontario.ca/page/connecting-southwest-draft-transportation-plan-southwestern-ontario

There are 43 items (many of which are twaddle, some of which are good), I will not copy/paste them all here.

A couple of 'highlights' though:

7 .Explore opportunities to increase passenger rail service to southwestern Ontario, working with freight partners on track access and with VIA Rail on the potential for integrated service offerings with GO Transit. These services could increase options and convenience for passengers travelling between London and Toronto.

8. Identify opportunities to enhance train speeds and service by conducting a technical review of existing rail corridors in southwestern Ontario. Preliminary analysis of three railway corridors between Union Station (Toronto) and London has identified constraints and opportunities for improving passenger rail services. The province is undertaking technical analysis and will engage corridor owners as required on more detailed analysis of specific service scenarios.

There's a survey on the draft plan up as well. Do provide input!

Survey: Connecting southwestern Ontario

We’re looking for your feedback on the southwestern Ontario transportation plan. This will help us build an integrated transportation system for the future. This survey should take around 15 minutes to complete. We will report back on what we heard in May 2020. Closing date: March 17, 2020

www.ontario.ca

This looks interesting, they put stuff on the table like more funding for intercommunity buses, which I think is by far the most important initiative here. Perhaps the province is concerned that the current rounds of PTIF money going to rural counties is making them look bad?

 

[rbt]

This looks interesting, they put stuff on the table like more funding for intercommunity buses, which I think is by far the most important initiative here. Perhaps the province is concerned that the current rounds of PTIF money going to rural counties is making them look bad?

Simcoe County's LINX system has had much higher ridership than expected. Still only talking about 100 passengers per day per route but it's quite affordable to operate and many passengers are making trips that were nearly impossible previously.

Expanding that style of service province wide is reasonable; particularly if you hope the rapidly aging boomer will stop driving but still vote for you.

 

[Haljackey]

The high speed rail project died as soon as Douggie won a majority.

This announcement should surprise no one.

 

[holographic plastic]

Public transport in Ontario is generally a joke, and with such a consistent lack of action from both municipal and provincial leaders for decades now, combined with the fact that every time a new party is elected progress essentially goes back to square one, and it's looking like a lost cause at this point. The dependancy on the car will only grow greater if action is not taken soon, making it increasingly difficult to convince people, especially those living in less urban areas, that something other than their car is a viable option for travelling.

 

[ssiguy2]

This could be great news for Londoners and all people in SWO or a useless political exercise just depending on whether the decision makers are in London or Toronto. Hopefully it's the prior but it will probably be the latter.

London due to having no urban freeways is hell to get around yet is a hub of railway connections which are useless for commuters especially St.Thomas, Ingersol, and Strathroy. A GO network of small DMU serving these commuter towns would be far better utilized than a GO London-Toronto route. Downtown London to Union is, unlike the 401, a very direct route of 180km but takes over 2.5 hours and that's assuming it is running on time. That will not change with GO and in fact could be even slower if it is made to act as a commuter route with so many stations along the way. It will need vast improvements to the corridor and if that happens I don't exactly see what the difference would be between GO and VIA.

Better and faster rail to Toronto certainly but the emphasis must be on connecting the people of SWO to each other and not just a new service funneling people to downtown Toronto. As horrifying as Torontonians may think, except for the occasional business trip and the better entertainment scene, Toronto could fall off the planet and most people in SWO wouldn't notice the difference. There are 800,000 living within a half hour of London and hence London provides the health/education/social/shopping/employment/entertainment/nightlife services that 99& of the people need on a daily basis.Even Pearson has less of a draw as London airport is seeing the number of passengers, airlines, and frequencies soar in recent years. Any new money and priorities should reflect this reality.

 

[Urban Sky]

Better and faster rail to Toronto certainly but the emphasis must be on connecting the people of SWO to each other and not just a new service funneling people to downtown Toronto.

Did someone hack your account or is this really coming from the guy who normally insists that a service between London and Toronto must under absolutely no circumstances also serve rural bird nests like Kitchener, Guelph or Brantford...?

 

[ssiguy2]

No, it's still me.

Right now GO is a rather long trek to Toronto from KW and extending GO to London would make the trip over 3 hours. Why would anyone take that over the current VIA service? London and all of SWO would be far better served by building the Brantford bypass, twinning some tracks, working with CN/CP, and running Union to London express/semi-express trains. The southern Aldershot route is significantly more direct than the KW route and shorter by 25km.

As I stated though, the priority must not be just to funnel people to Toronto but rather connecting outer areas to London and not just the London commuter shed but also Chatham and Sarnia that also need London as their regional centre. Let VIA improve the current long distance trips and have a London GO service and not a Metrolinx one.