08-01-2021, 12:05 PM
(08-01-2021, 11:26 AM)bgb_ca Wrote:(07-31-2021, 07:34 PM)panamaniac Wrote: GO for Toronto-Kitchener-London and (eventually) VIA HFR on the main line?
would it be plausible to extend the Milton line to there?
Theoretically possible, but not plausible. CP is very difficult to work with, and overall I think would prefer to not have any passenger trains on their tracks. VIA also seems to avoid CP tracks wherever possible, so it's not just a GO issue.
https://rac.jmaponline.net/canadianrailatlas/ is great for seeing the different lines and their ownership. Serving London with GO trains could be via the Kitchener, Milton, or Lakeshore West lines.
The problem with Lakeshore West is that it's planned to go to Hamilton, which precludes running via Brantford and Woodstock to London.
Even if you could extend the Milton line, via Cambridge and Woodstock to London, you need a lot more kilometres of extension (Milton is much farther from London than KW) without a ton of population to justify it (Cambridge and Woodstock aren't big cities).
The Kitchener line can serve London via Stratford and St Mary's, without it being as long of an extension. It also has the upside of being the least busy of the three, west of its current end, because most freight takes either CP or the CN south mainlines. That also likely makes it cheaper for GO to purchase the track.
The downside of course is that via Kitchener is long, the CP route is probably the fastest way to downtown Toronto from London. But the Kitchener line would be useful for people heading from London to KW, or to Pearson.