04-02-2017, 01:10 AM
(03-31-2017, 08:05 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(03-31-2017, 07:53 PM)darts Wrote: Why bypass Guelph? They could say the same thing about the downtown Kitchener stop
I'm guessing it has to do with the walking pace crawl down Kent St. GO maintains far higher average speeds through KW than it does through Guelph. Still, doesn't make it a good idea, a Guelph stop is a big population base added to the line, and a downtown station is going to spur the right type of development. It might be expensive to fix Kent St., but it's worth it IMO.
I could be very wrong ... but believe I read something quite a long time ago, where Guelph has local ordinances that require any train to travel below 20 kph because of the downtown location of the station and the effect that faster trains could have on the many businesses/neighbourhoods that back onto the main line.
As others have noted Guelph has not been able (or willing?) to build grade separation as these are built with a majority of federally funded $$$ based on a formula involving the amount of train traffic and vehicle traffic. The permits are not given out by the Feds even if cities/towns want to build them.