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Peterborough Commuter Rail

Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
I would like to see rail service to Niagara Falls. Does anyone know if there's any rail location near downtown NF that a GO train continuing on from Hamilton could reach?
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There are two trains a day to Niagara Falls. One is set up for commuter runs, the other is a joint VIA/Amtrak train to New York City. The Toronto-bound evening train is bad for delays because of the border crossing and lost time through New York State.

That line should be beefed up to 6 trains a day minimum, with stops in Oakville, Aldershot, Hamilton, Grimsby, St. Catharines and Niagara Falls (Hamilton would be new), and I'd be open to Port Credit and Stoney Creek as well, at least for some runs. My dream would be to have several trains a day to Buffalo, with US and Canadian customs at the Buffalo stop (this means non-stop between Niagara Falls Ontario and downtown Buffalo, only Niagara Falls, NY would be skipped) at a revamped Exchange Street Station.

It'd be great for trips to Darwin Martin House, Albright-Knox, Elmwood Street, Buffalo Airport, and MRI excursions and especially Sabres games. Buffaloans would use it to see the Jays, Leafs (yeah, right), theatre, day trips. It would be a big deal for integrating Buffalo into the Golden Horseshoe and spread the wealth a bit.
 
Like Bar1967 said, VIA Rail already goes to Niagara Falls. It's only two trains a day and the run takes almost two hours, but it exists.
 
I took the Maple Leaf to and from St. Catharines a few years back.

It was 60 minutes behind schedule arriving at St. Catharines for the trip home, but the station agent was very kind, very helpful and made it one of the most relaxing delays I had ever experienced. Besides, 60 minutes behind on a 12 hour trip isn't much in the scheme of things.

One thing I like about the Amfleet coaches are the endless legroom. If Amtrak is ever broken up like the republicans have suggested, I hope VIA Rail can seize the chance to buy good railcars on the cheap.
 
The potential of the Niagara line thanks to both the combined population of Niagara Region and tourism is immense.

My never-gonna-happen dream would involve relaying track and building a new connection to the CN line so trains could run straight to the top of Clifton Hill and Casino Niagara.

Adding to Sean's proposal, I would include a station in Beamsville to better serve the 21,000 people of Lincoln.
 
I should have clarified I was thinking more along the lines of GO Trains to Niagara Falls. Or is that out of GO's (usual) jurisdiction.
 
Niagara Falls is out of GO's jurisdiction, and I also think it again is too far to ride the relatively uncomfortable, and very high capacity, bi-level monster trains. Smaller VIA trains are more suited to these distances, and also have the advantage of better acceleration due to their smaller size with similar engines.
 
Why should it be out of GO's jurisdiction? Shouldn't go be about transporting everyone in the Golden Horseshoe? GO should no longer be thinking about only transporting people to Union Station and instead focusing on getting people around the Golden Horseshoe with the greatest of ease and speed. I think GO would be perfect for anyone who might need to travel between St Catherines and Hamilton or Grimsby to Burlington. The current thinking of just going to single destinations has got to stop and we need to thinking bigger than that.
 
Jayomatic said:
Why should it be out of GO's jurisdiction? Shouldn't go be about transporting everyone in the Golden Horseshoe? GO should no longer be thinking about only transporting people to Union Station and instead focusing on getting people around the Golden Horseshoe with the greatest of ease and speed. I think GO would be perfect for anyone who might need to travel between St Catherines and Hamilton or Grimsby to Burlington. The current thinking of just going to single destinations has got to stop and we need to thinking bigger than that.
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Niagara Falls/St. Catharines - Hamilton - Toronto really is an intercity service, especially if we throw in Buffalo as the logical end point of a Golden Horseshoe corridor service. GO has yet to adapt the mentality of operating a service not centred on getting people to Union Station in the morning and suburban parking lots in the evening. GO operates only large commuter trains that might not be suited to longer trips where comfort is important.

This is where a regional VIA service, like Amtrak California, or the Northeast Corridor, or various systems in Europe makes sense.

Of course, we want to facilitate trips between points that will not necessarily include Union Station, and a limited-stop regional/intercity service can do that. The NEC does a good job of getting people to places that aren't Washington, Philly or New York as well as express services geared to those end-to-end trips.
 
GO's operating area is defined by the minister of transportation. It can be changed at any time if the minister wants. This is also the same with Metrolinx. Its operating area can be changed by the premier's office without passing a new law.
 
However, the logistics of one transit agency covering the entire Greater Golden Hoseshoe will very quickly become unwieldy since Fort Erie could see decent bus service at the expense of improved headways on the Bathurst Bus. It also intrudes into the territory of intercity transportation, which should be the realm of a regional Via service.
 
urbanfan89 said:
However, the logistics of one transit agency covering the entire Greater Golden Hoseshoe will very quickly become unwieldy since Fort Erie could see decent bus service at the expense of improved headways on the Bathurst Bus. It also intrudes into the territory of intercity transportation, which should be the realm of a regional Via service.
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I think that anyone who, like me, wants to see a single transit agency across the GTA would not support it if the cost is a loss of service in Toronto.

Fort Erie deserves better bus service, just like Halton, Peel, York & Durham does, and the need to improve service in Toronto goes without saying. No one in their right mind could argue that Toronto is overserved by transit.

VIA Rail does serve the regional market, but who says that the federal government must run VIA? I'm not saying the VIA corridor should be downloaded, but I believe that the government of Ontario might be better suited to run service in the province of Ontario, just as the City of Toronto is better suited to collect trash in the City of Toronto.
 
hope for Niagara could come from having Jim Bradley as the Minister of Transportation. More trains to the region would be great, and there is a market, as the trains and greayhound/CC buses are typically full.

One problem is that the Ontario Ministry of Tourism isn't pushing for a stronger rail link. Instead it prefers to promote "road trips" and create catchy TV jingles because the rest of the province's tourism destinations don't like to see Niagara favouritism.
 
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