ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit

[EdM]

Is it true that Kitchener only asked once for Go train service?

GO service to Kitchener has been a long time in the making, and there were (and are) challenges with trains to Cambridge that don't apply to Kitchener. There's a reasonable-looking history at Transit Toronto:

In June 2006, the provincial government of Dalton McGuinty established Metrolinx, a crown agency whose task was to look at ways to expand public transportation infrastructure in the GTA. In the summer of 2007, based on Metrolinx's recommendations, the McGuinty government launched MoveOntario 2020, which proposed 52 transit expansion projects over the next thirteen years. Included in these proposals were two projects located within Waterloo Region outside the GTA: the Waterloo Regional LRT, and an extension of the Georgetown GO train to Kitchener to meet it.

There were already proposals to take GO Train service to Waterloo Region by extending the Milton line to Cambridge. However, while Metrolinx and GO Transit (which were later merged) were committed to expanding service on the Milton line, extending service past Milton proved costly. The line the Milton train operates on is a major freight route for Canadian Pacific and, west of Milton, the right-of-way narrows to a single track. Laying down additional track and adding stations gave the Cambridge extension higher start-up costs than service to Kitchener.