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Starting this fall, GO Transit commuters between Kitchener-Waterloo and Toronto will have more trains and buses to choose from, a promised agreement with CN should bring two way, all-day GO train service to the line by 2024, and a new transit hub will be built in Kitchener.
Premier Kathleen Wynne announced on the morning of June 14 that an agreement had been reached in principle between Metrolinx and CN which will move freight traffic off rails between Georgetown and Bramalea onto a new route and should enable faster, all-day, two-way service promised as part of Metrolinx's ongoing GO RER plans. According to the spokesman for the transit minister, Steven Del Duca, the route from Kitchener to Toronto will be electrified end to end and the improvements should be in place by 2024. Metrolinx said electrification could speed journey times by 20 percent because trains can accelerate and decelerate faster.
The premier also revealed the province is paying the $43m cost of a planned transit hub in Kitchener. While this and the rail works are underway she was also able to announce some shorter-term improvements. Starting in September, GO will extend two morning and two afternoon peak train trips currently running between Georgetown and Union Station to also serve Kitchener, Guelph and Acton, doubling the number of weekday services from Kitchener to Toronto. At the same time, a new express bus service will be added all day between Kitchener and the Bramalea GO Station in Brampton timed to connect to trains to Union station.
The precise details and cost of the freight corridor are to be determined, but are expected to use existing Parkway Belt lands by Highways 407 and 401.
The GO RER roadmap calls for:
- 30-minute peak-period service from Kitchener to Union in the morning and from Union to Kitchener in the afternoon
- 15-minute, two-way, all-day electrified service between Bramalea and Union, seven days a week
- 15-minute service from Mount Pleasant to Union in the morning rush hour and from Union to Mount Pleasant in the afternoon rush hour from Monday to Friday
- Express service on some morning trips from Kitchener between Bramalea and Union Station, and some afternoon trips between Union Station and Bramalea
In February, Toronto Mayor John Tory and Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic met and stressed the importance of all-day service and/or high speed rail between their two cities to enable an 'innovation corridor'.
What are your thoughts on this news? You can leave a comment in the space provided on this page, or check out the ongoing conversation in some of our Transportation Forum threads: 407 Freight Rail ByPass, and the GO Transit Service Thread.
