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VIA Rail

Eglinton has value certainly, but between it and something around Sheppard I'm not convinced either way.

As far as Durham, Highway 12 seems about the right location, although I definitely see a good case for a Markham station around Reesor/Hwy 7 with connection to 407 GO and VIVA.

I agree entirely about Oshawa, and there's actually an even worse iteration. The first morning train to Ottawa at the moment doesn't do Guildwood and is too early to count on a connection from the first eastbound Lakeshore GO train. Probably says more that GO needs an earlier train than VIA's doing something wrong, but this sort of problem really is what ends up with people driving to stations, if not giving up altogether.
 
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Bureaucromancer said:
Eglinton has value certainly, but between it and something around Sheppard I'm not convinced either way.
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I've not seen anything on a Sheppard station. Last I saw was that Eglinton was the station for eastern Toronto, possibly the whole eastern GTA.

Bureaucromancer said:
As far as Durham, Highway 12 seems about the right location, although I definitely see a good case for a Markham station around Reesor/Hwy 7.
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It's a challenge to place a station here to be sure. Has to serve York and Durham and northeastern Scarborough at the same time. Would probably have a much higher proportion of riders accessing the station by car, compared to Eglinton. So highway access becomes important too.
 
Should be noted too that the proposed Eglinton stop is going to turn Kennedy station into a superhub. Bloor-Danforth line, Eglinton LRT, GO Stouffville and VIA HFR.
 
kEiThZ said:
Should be noted too that the proposed Eglinton stop is going to turn Kennedy station into a superhub. Bloor-Danforth line, Eglinton LRT, GO Stouffville and VIA HFR.
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Aren't they pretty clear about going up the Don Valley? Kennedy is a no brainer, but I've always taken Eglinton to mean an attempt to squeeze something in around Leslie/Eglinton/Don Mills.
 
kEiThZ said:
Should be noted too that the proposed Eglinton stop is going to turn Kennedy station into a superhub. Bloor-Danforth line, Eglinton LRT, GO Stouffville and VIA HFR.
Click to expand...
Bureaucromancer said:
Aren't they pretty clear about going up the Don Valley? Kennedy is a no brainer, but I've always taken Eglinton to mean an attempt to squeeze something in around Leslie/Eglinton/Don Mills.
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Have they even stated which route through Toronto they will take?
 
Bureaucromancer said:
Aren't they pretty clear about going up the Don Valley? Kennedy is a no brainer, but I've always taken Eglinton to mean an attempt to squeeze something in around Leslie/Eglinton/Don Mills.
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Guess we'll see how they route it. Is going up the valley firm? I was under the impression they were going to share with Stouffville line. Hence my assumption they were going to setup at Kennedy. If they are going up the Valley then yes a station at Leslie/Don Mills and Eglinton is likely. Not optimal for eastern Toronto. But passing up an Eglinton LRT connection is a bad idea.
 
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kEiThZ said:
Should be noted too that the proposed Eglinton stop is going to turn Kennedy station into a superhub. Bloor-Danforth line, Eglinton LRT, GO Stouffville and VIA HFR.
Click to expand...
Bureaucromancer said:
Aren't they pretty clear about going up the Don Valley? Kennedy is a no brainer, but I've always taken Eglinton to mean an attempt to squeeze something in around Leslie/Eglinton/Don Mills.
Click to expand...

Have they even stated which route through Toronto they will take?
 
The Don Valley route was assumed by many, and the maps VIA produced showing the Eglinton stop certainly hinted at that.
Various observers have formed their own views that the route might be via Kennedy, on the strength of the old GO Peterboro study which leaed towards that route. There is some logic to that, in the sense that adding trackage to the CP Leaside line seems inevitable if VIA goes that way, and that would be a huge expense given the Don Valley bridges needed.
ML then further muddied the waters by initiating an EA that appears to show the Don line converted to a storage yard.
Bottom line - we don’t know.

- Paul
 
Using the Stouffville line makes a lot of sense. They'd have to build about 7 km of brand new railway to connect the Stouffville Line to the CP line just north of Major Mackenzie, but that would probably be a lot simpler than trying to work around rail yards and bridges over the Don. The new route would be parallel to existing farm property lines and doesn't seem overly complicated to build. Plus it would piggyback on the major upgrades that Metrolinx is already doing.
 
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MisterF said:
Using the Stouffville line makes a lot of sense. They'd have to build about 7 km of brand new railway to connect the Stouffville Line to the CP line just north of Major Mackenzie, but that would probably be a lot simpler than trying to work around rail yards and bridges over the Don. The new route would be parallel to existing farm property lines and doesn't seem overly complicated to build. Plus it would piggyback on the major upgrades that Metrolinx is already doing.
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Does that corridor have enough capacity for RER and HFR? And/or room to add tracks if necessary?
 
kEiThZ said:
Does that corridor have enough capacity for RER and HFR? And/or room to add tracks if necessary?
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There are segments that could go to three tracks, but there are zones that are problemmatic. For instance, the tunnel under Highway 401 is two track, and it would not be cheap to change that. If RER goes to 15 minute service, two tracks won't cut it. HFR would inevitably catch up with stopping RER trains and be delayed.

Also, that route is not that fast. That was not a drawback when ML was studying adding Peterboro GO service, but it would definitely impede HFR's desire to lower trip times.

Five miles' new construction, with land costs, and whatever is needed to add a third track south of the new connection, might look a lot more in 2020 dollars than the original study which is now ten years old. That Don Valley bridge might not look so expensive.

There is a TPAP looming for a flyover/under at Scarborough Jct, which would be on the HFR route if the Uxbridge line were chosen. The documentation for that project might tip ML's hand as to whether they anticipate VIA to proceed with that option. It might also reveal how many trains ML expects VIA to run on the Kingston Sub post HFR.

- Paul
 
MisterF said:
Using the Stouffville line makes a lot of sense. They'd have to build about 7 km of brand new railway to connect the Stouffville Line to the CP line just north of Major Mackenzie, but that would probably be a lot simpler than trying to work around rail yards and bridges over the Don. The new route would be parallel to existing farm property lines and doesn't seem overly complicated to build. Plus it would piggyback on the major upgrades that Metrolinx is already doing.
Click to expand...

Transport Canada owns the majority of the land required to connect the GO Uxbridge Sub with CP Havelock Sub, anyway for the aborted Pickering Airport project.

If it were me, I'd only have stations at Kennedy/Eglinton, Pontypool (for only a few commuter-based trains with a bus connection to Lindsay), Peterborough, Perth and/or Smiths Falls, Fallowfield and Ottawa.
 
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