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A nice lead to this news article would have been to report that Ontario's Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca rode the GO train from Toronto out to Milton and Meadowvale one morning this week: except you can't get to either by train in the morning—yet. Nevertheless, this week, the minister commuted out to each of the two GO stations to deliver news that the Government of Ontario and Metrolinx are significantly improving them.
Redeveloping both stations is a stepping stone towards introducing regional express rail service (or RER) along GO's Milton corridor. With RER, Metrolinx would introduce frequent train service along the line during rush hours by 2025.
The Honourable Indira Naidoo-Harris, member of the provincial parliament for Halton and Milton Mayor Gordon Krantz joined the minister in Milton. (Naidoo-Harris is also the Minister for the Status of Women and Minister Responsible for Early Years and Child Care). Bob Delaney, MPP for Mississauga-Streetsville and Mississauga City Councillor Pat Saito spoke at the Meadowvale event. Mike Wolczyk, vice president for corridor infrastructure in the Metrolinx Capital Projects Group, attended both events.
At Milton, Metrolinx intends to:
- build a new station structure;
- reconfigure parking lots, the bus loop and the passenger pick-up and drop-off facility (better and more romantically known as the "kiss and ride");
- install accessible connections to train and bus platforms;
- upgrade the platform and infrastructure to support future layover of trains;
- upgrade the parking lot and add 850 more parking spaces—bringing the total capacity to 2,300; and
- improve pedestrian connections and bicycle storage facilities.
At Meadowvale, it intends to:
- build a new station structure;
- reconfigure parking lots, the bus loop and the "kiss and ride";
- install accessible connections to train and bus platforms;
- repair and replace catch basins and storm-sewers;
- upgrade the parking lot; and
- improve pedestrian connections and bicycle storage facilities.
As part of this project, Metrolinx is renovating a warehouse on Argentia Road near Meadowvale station to accommodate future office, warehouse and parking needs for GO operations and a secured parking lot for its fleet of vehicles.
Metrolinx is working with Infrastructure Ontario (IO) and the two provincial agencies have together issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) for interested parties to design, build and finance the Milton Corridor project.
The RFQ is the first step in the process to select a team to deliver the project. IO and Metrolinx will evaluate submissions to pre-qualify project teams with appropriate design and construction experience. Afterwards, they'll invite teams that qualify to respond to a request for proposals in 2018.
According to Infrastructure Ontario, the "AFP model is an innovative way of financing and procuring large public infrastructure projects". AFP uses private-sector resources and expertise, and transfers project risks to those private-sector teams, which are accountable for delivering the project on time and on budget.
Metrolinx establishes the scope and performance requirements for the project and retains ownership of it. But, since the vendor invests some of its own equity in the project, it will have strong incentive and accountability to make sure it performs its tasks cost-effectively and efficiently.
According to the Milton Canadian Champion, "The process is expected to take about six months, with construction to begin shortly thereafter."
We will continue to update you as the project progresses. You can join in the discussion by visiting our Forum thread or leaving your comments in the space provided at the bottom this page.
