Kitchener to Toronto train service & the tech sector

[TOareaFan]

That would be Q9 networks at 1895 Williams Parkway. They actually don't employ many people at all. It's just a giant warehouse with servers/communication equipment and techs maintaining them. Their head office is downtown Toronto. The light industrial logistics and shipping warehouses that surround it each employ far more people.

I thought it might have been referring to the million square feet of space that Rogers occupy in Brampton...but, whatever, a very basic cursory editing job would have caught the difference between "countries" and country's.....I am not that bright and it jumped out at me on first read.

 

[reaperexpress]

and i did not want to pile on them but including the Nortel logo and the Avro Arrow are pretty questionable too

As far as justification, I think that still beats Waterloo's "probably going to have an aerospace sector soon due to space-man professor" though.

 

[Memph]

Also shouldn't the 401 station be before Pearson? And what happened to Weston station?

 

[drum118]

Also shouldn't the 401 station be before Pearson? And what happened to Weston station?

What about Weston Station??

Its in the Georgetown thread where it should be

 

[mdrejhon]

It has to be 2-way including morning peak!

I had a contract in late 2012-early 2013 in Waterloo for six months, and I was living in the Riverdale area. I really wanted to commute from Toronto to Kitchener on Monday morning on the GO and commute home on Friday evening. But the GO train only has Toronto as the morning peak destination. There is potential for reverse commuters so that needs to be accomodated long-term. So, instead, I commuted by car.

This is certainly Canada's most valuable corridor, also being a future HSR route. Even before the HSR, I think they could (fairly inexpensively, compared to full HSR) introduce 200kph+ electricified "High Performance Rail" as an interim step on the existing corridor -- after a second "Kitchener Corridor Megaproject" to remove the remainder of level crossings all the way to Kitchener, and double track all the way, with triple track/passing track where possible etc -- and make possible 1-hour GO service instead of 2-hour (through the dual combination of faster trains and express trains), even before the 40-minute HSR 300kph new corridor is ready. Several sections are straight enough that upgraded/optimized rail could easily handle a good stretch of 200kph+ operation.

 

[ehlow]

It has to be 2-way including morning peak!

I had a contract in late 2012-early 2013 in Waterloo for six months, and I was living in the Riverdale area. I really wanted to commute from Toronto to Kitchener on Monday morning on the GO and commute home on Friday evening. But the GO train only has Toronto as the morning peak destination. There is potential for reverse commuters so that needs to be accomodated long-term. So, instead, I commuted by car.

This is certainly Canada's most valuable corridor, also being a future HSR route. Even before the HSR, I think they could (fairly inexpensively, compared to full HSR) introduce 200kph+ electricified "High Performance Rail" as an interim step on the existing corridor -- after a second "Kitchener Corridor Megaproject" to remove the remainder of level crossings all the way to Kitchener, and double track all the way, with triple track/passing track where possible etc -- and make possible 1-hour GO service instead of 2-hour (through the dual combination of faster trains and express trains), even before the 40-minute HSR 300kph new corridor is ready. Several sections are straight enough that upgraded/optimized rail could easily handle a good stretch of 200kph+ operation.

Exactly. There are already probably more people commuting Toronto to Kitchener than the opposite. I've heard some tech companies run a bus, and many drive.

It doesn't seem extremely difficult to do. Can't they just add passing tracks half way between, which might be in farmer's fields?

 

[Platform 27]

It has to be 2-way including morning peak!

I had a contract in late 2012-early 2013 in Waterloo for six months, and I was living in the Riverdale area. I really wanted to commute from Toronto to Kitchener on Monday morning on the GO and commute home on Friday evening. But the GO train only has Toronto as the morning peak destination. There is potential for reverse commuters so that needs to be accomodated long-term. So, instead, I commuted by car.

^"I personally commuted between these city-pairs for a brief period once upon a time and transit wasn't competitive with the car, ergo spend public money to the order of 9 digits"

 

[BMO]

^"I personally commuted between these city-pairs for a brief period once upon a time and transit wasn't competitive with the car, ergo spend public money to the order of 9 digits"

I think it's more the fact the line is already there and running, but only one direction. Although I'm sure the good people at GO have looked at all the possibilities for this, I'm guessing the trains are stored in Kitchener over night and then stay in Toronto until the evening commute back?

 

[TOareaFan]

I think it's more the fact the line is already there and running, but only one direction. Although I'm sure the good people at GO have looked at all the possibilities for this, I'm guessing the trains are stored in Kitchener over night and then stay in Toronto until the evening commute back?

Others would know better but I think 2 of the trains are stored overnight in Kitchener (to match the two inbound runs in the morning)....some are parked in Georgetown....others that start their runs at Bramalea deadhead out in the morning (I think that is a +/- explanation of where the trains are overnight).

 

[rbt]

I think it's more the fact the line is already there and running, but only one direction. Although I'm sure the good people at GO have looked at all the possibilities for this, I'm guessing the trains are stored in Kitchener over night and then stay in Toronto until the evening commute back?

That'll get you to the city area but it isn't going to get him to the specific office building he needed to be at. Employment within walking distance of the downtown Kitchener might be enough for a draw of what? 15 people per train?

I can think of a few dozen places I'd like to see Metrolinx spend operations/capital money (anything on Milton line inbound for example) before reverse commute trains to Kitchener leaving Union at 6am.


Counter-peak service will happen but it'll mostly be driven by peak requirements.

 

[TOareaFan]

That'll get you to the city area but it isn't going to get him to the specific office building he needed to be at. Employment within walking distance of downtown Kitchener might be enough for a draw of what? 15 people per train?

That must be low, surely, because we have research that shows:

Exactly. There are already probably more people commuting Toronto to Kitchener than the opposite.

 

[BMO]

That'll get you to the city area but it isn't going to get him to the specific office building he needed to be at. Employment within walking distance of downtown Kitchener might be enough for a draw of what? 15 people per train?

I can think of a few dozen places I'd like to see Metrolinx spend money before reverse commute trains to Kitchener leaving Union at 6am.

I don't know, the iExpress and the future LRT hit some pretty hefty employment areas like the North Waterloo Research park (BlackBerry, OpenText, etc), uptown waterloo (Sun-Life/ Manulife head offices, etc), downtown Kitchener (Microsoft, Google, Communitech Hub, Thalmic, etc).

There's a suprisingly good connection between the major areas in Waterloo, it's just the connections to residential areas that are lacking. But if you're easily able to commute by GO to Kitchener it's surprisingly well-served for these companies. And I'd wager a guess that anybody commuting to the city would be doing so for these bigger companies and not for smaller ones.

I think it's a question of if there's demand for a Toronto-Kitchener trip, as opposed to worrying those customers would get stuck at the Kitchener end.

 

[ehlow]

That'll get you to the city area but it isn't going to get him to the specific office building he needed to be at. Employment within walking distance of the downtown Kitchener might be enough for a draw of what? 15 people per train?

I can think of a few dozen places I'd like to see Metrolinx spend operations/capital money (anything on Milton line inbound for example) before reverse commute trains to Kitchener leaving Union at 6am.


Counter-peak service will happen but it'll mostly be driven by peak requirements.

There is a growing cluster of companies within walking distance of Kitchener station. In addition the LRT will connect with the GO station.

That must be low, surely, because we have research that shows:

You're right, my anecdotal observations aren't research (I never claimed it was), and many posts on this forum don't necessarily cite research. However I don't think the idea that there are more people commuting Toronto to Kitchener than the opposite is really that ridiculous for anyone familiar with the Waterloo tech scene. I think earlier in the post there was a business case with backing research.

 

[mdrejhon]

That'll get you to the city area but it isn't going to get him to the specific office building he needed to be at. Employment within walking distance of the downtown Kitchener might be enough for a draw of what? 15 people per train?

There are far more commuting students than that. There is the new high frequency ION LRT already under construction which interlines with Kitchener GO. It directly runs on the underused existing rails on the edge of University of Waterloo campus (my alma mater), mere meters from campus buildings. The Toronto intercity buses have a very brisk student business.

There is a good number of large office parks are within walking distance of the LRT, including big name companies hiring thousands.

Kitchener trains are among the most crowded trains on the GO network.

It will be far, far more than 15 but it may not be 2000 people since not as many will be picked up at interim stations to go to Kitchener. But having every-two-hour all day service would be quite practical, and have more people per train than an offpeak Lakeshore West train. I think the business case is aready there, once ION is built.

And I am a Hamiltonian who wants all day service to come to JamesNorth....first. That is saying something about what I know about Kitchener-Waterloo.

 

[TOareaFan]

There is a growing cluster of companies within walking distance of Kitchener station. In addition the LRT will connect with the GO station.



You're right, my anecdotal observations aren't research (I never claimed it was), and many posts on this forum don't necessarily cite research. However I don't think the idea that there are more people commuting Toronto to Kitchener than the opposite is really that ridiculous for anyone familiar with the Waterloo tech scene. I think earlier in the post there was a business case with backing research.

Well...I was joking but I disagree with the observation that there are more westward commuters than eastward commuters in the morning. Sorry if you took offense to the joke.