As of right now, I can't see something like that being financially sound. What would probably work is too start trains in the north of the GTA so that you have stops at say Richmond Hill, Markham, or wherever turned out to be the best location that would then go to Union and continue on their regular trips. This is what happens in Ottawa with trains to Montreal. A number of the trains start in Barrhaven and then pull into the main station. It has worked well in the case of Ottawa and I could see it working well in the GTA, if it was implemented right.
To take it a bit farther you could make 3 different starting points for VIA trains heading to Montreal. One starting in Niagara Falls/Hamilton, another in Kitchener-Waterloo, another in the northern GTA. Each city/region would basically see one in three Montreal (or Ottawa) trains departing from it. This way you can still offer service to the edges of the GTA, but not lose Union which in terms of filling up the trains with customers, is too important too lose.
It just seems to me that our entire transit system is a bit too "Union Centric"....I understand that it is a big trip generator but if all inter-city travel has to go through Union I wonder how many potential users get turned away by the additional time they have to spend getting to Union.
I happen to live in Brampton....we actually have a nice little Via station....every time, however, I have looked into the train to go to either Ottawa or Montreal the connection through Union is a time issue.
I was thinking of going to Montreal recently so I checked, the schedules. On top of the 35 minute or so VIA trip from Brampton to Union, the minimum connection time was another 45 minutes (it was often longer). When you add those together, that is an hour and 20 minutes before you even set off for Montreal...........how far east could a train have gotten in that time if it just went across the top?
The hour and 20 also has to factor into the consumer's decision when they compare flying/driving/training.......by car, in that time I could easily be past Coburg and facing clear sailing to Montreal....before the train from Union has even left.
By plane, well allowing 15 minutes to drive to the airport....and arriving 45 minutes before flight.....I could be 20 minutes into a 50 minute flight.
So, while Union is a great trip generator, I imagine a "North Union" (perhaps in Vaughan where the subway is going {note: not even sure how close there are rail tracks to that}) could be an equally strong generator for people who don't live close enough to Union for it to make sense.
Like I said, just a thought that I had and I thought I would throw it out there to people who seem to have thought this stuff through better than me.
The right of way for the loop will be built as part of the Highway 20/Dorval interchange rebuild project. So when you see that construction starting (and I am not sure what the timeline is on it right now), then you know that a line in to Trudeau is not far off.
Great, thanks. I look forward to knocking that off of my list of "things that don't make sense".
