08-01-2021, 12:28 PM
(08-01-2021, 12:05 PM)taylortbb Wrote:(08-01-2021, 11:26 AM)bgb_ca Wrote: 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.
It wouldn't be at all unusual to have the line branch, with half (or a quarter, or a handful) of trains going west to London instead of South to Hamilton/Niagara.
The benefits of going Mainline to London instead of through KW is that you save an unknown number of millions improving the tracks (the KW tracks are garbage), you also service much more population that you aren't servicing already (I realize that you service Stratford and St. Marys using the KW line, but Woodstock and Brantford are much bigger than Stratford and St. Marys.
Ultimately, I don't know what the plan is, but I don't think it's a logical direction at the moment, we need a real, wholistic rethink of our transportation network. Whether GO should become more than just a regional service, or whether Via should be that service, or there should be a merger or some form of co-operation. We need a larger rethink than just "hey, we can service London with trains".