The Willowbrook Maintenance Facility in Etobicoke is GO Transit's main servicing centre for the Lakeshore West line. It lies north of the main Windsor-Montreal Corridor and just across the tracks from from Via Rail's Toronto Maintenance Centre. Together, the two make up one of the largest passenger rail servicing facilities in North America.
The detailed schematic below was captured through the window of an on-site construction office and does not appear to be available online. It illustrates the project at a level of detail not provided by publicly-available maps (futher below) which are far more elementary.
Willowbrook's expansion is split into four main parts: an extension of Preventitive Maintenance (PM) Bay 2, a new wheel shop, an upgrade to the fuel-delivery system and, most notably, the expansion and relocation of PM bays 3 and 4 into a newly-constructed ancillary building. These two bays will house and service the 18 Nippon Sharyo / Sumitomo Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) used on the AirRail Link connecting Pearson Airport and Union Station.
Let's examine each of these elements individually to get the best sense of how the facility will operate.
Extension of PM Bay 2
PM Bay 2 is being constructed by Topside Contracting and will cost just over $3.9 million, according to Metrolinx. Unfortunately, because of its trackside location, it was not possible to obtain an image of the construction progress on the PM Bay 2 expansion project.
The New Wheel Shop
The expanded wheel shop will be constructed by Unimac-Unlimited Management Corp. and will cost just over $3.6 million. (Metrolinx).
Expansion and relocation of PM bays 3 and 4 into a newly-constructed ancillary building.
The largest element of GO Transit's Willowbrook expansion is the relocation of PM bays 3 and 4 into a newly-constructed ancillary building. The facility, which will also contain offices on its street-facing side, is being constructed by Pommerleau at a cost of $51 million (Metrolinx). The AirRail Link trains which will be housed and maintained here are planned to be running before the 2015 Pan Am Games arrive in Toronto.
Upgraded fuel-delivery system
This portion of the Willowbrook expansion is still out for public tender so we will have to wait to see who will construct it and at what cost. The posting indicates that candidates will have to have experience in:
"[the] disposal of contaminated soil, supply and installation of DEF dispensers for fueling islands, connections to the existing systems, disconnection, draining, capping and filling with grout the existing neutralized engine oil pipes."
While other GO Transit expansion projects such as the Georgetown South capacity expansion and the revitalization of Union Station are far more public and thus receive a far greater deal of media attention, it is important to remember that running a regional commuter rail service is a complex endeavour and investments must be made at all levels. GO Transit and Metrolinx' investment of over $60 million in the Willowbrook Maintenance Facility will allow the carrier to service more GO trains while adding space for new projects such as the AirRail Link. Though often overlooked by the media, projects like Willowbrook are an important part of GO Transit's strategy of improving service and expanding access to a greater number of Ontarians.