GO Transit

[white_brian]

Sometime around the next election unless business leaders and local politicians start hammering Ms.Wynn and her colleagues!

[Spokes]

Sometime around the next election unless business leaders and local politicians start hammering Ms.Wynn and her colleagues!

Which they should

[Spokes]

Sounds like Carl Zehr is going to be appointed to the Metrolinx board.   Maybe he'll help push for all day service sooner.

[DHLawrence]

A new rail bypass could lead to a huge increase in GO trains to both Kitchener and Cambridge. Let's star building!

Milton GO service could get a boost from a "missing link" freight rail route



Mississauga has joined Toronto, Milton and Cambridge in taking what could be the first step toward providing all-day, two-way GO service on the Milton line — and potentially diverting hazardous freight movements away from heavily populated areas.

The four municipalities have commissioned an $84,000 study for a new freight line dubbed "the Missing Link.""the Missing Link."

It would divert all freight to a new connection between the Milton GO line west of Trafalgar Rd. and the CN line at Bramalea, to travel along a track adjacent to Highway 407.

[DHLawrence]

Following up on the above...

Case for Cambridge GO train service heads to Queen's Park

QUEEN'S PARK – Alleviating pressure on the railway network in the western Greater Toronto Area will likely be an important step to facilitate expanded GO train service in the future.

It will be a major part of a delegation headed to Queen’s Park to meet with Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca on July 28, including the mayors of Cambridge, Milton, Mississauga and, possibly, Toronto.

Because passenger trains and heavy freight trains share the same rail network, creating a new line for freight is seen as a solution to free up capacity, making expanded GO train service much more viable.

A 2014 business case study funded by the Region of Waterloo that says extending GO train service to Cambridge is feasible now. But according to a city staff report, discussion has recently expanded to “package” a series of infrastructure improvements that would benefit the “continental gateway” encompassing Milton, Mississauga and Toronto...

[DHLawrence]

The Kitchener GO line is to receive hourly off-peak service as far as Mount Pleasant. It's a start!

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/transpor...lines.html

[KevinL]

As long as each of those trains get a connecting bus, I'm happy.

[Canard]

I really wish we could have at least one weekend in/out train to Toronto. Like leave Saturday morning at 9am, comeback at 7pm. I'm sure there are a ton of families and people who would love to use that, instead of fighting on 401 and the Gardener and so on to get to Downtown Toronto.

[Pheidippides]

I really wish we could have at least one weekend in/out train to Toronto.  Like leave Saturday morning at 9am, comeback at 7pm.  I'm sure there are a ton of families and people who would love to use that, instead of fighting on 401 and the Gardener and so on to get to Downtown Toronto.

I would excited to have weekend service too, but I am willing to have some more patience.

The roll out of GO service to this region seems to be tracking a similar course to other rollouts and extensions, but on an already extremely accelerated pace.

For example, the Lakeshore east line started with trains to Pickering then you had to bus to Oshawa before trains were extended to Ajax, then Whitby, then Oshawa, etc. This was accompanied with service first at rush hour only, then hourly, then weekend, and now more frequent service, but it took a long time relative to what Kitchener is seeing. Oshawa first got GO train service in 1990, hourly all-day service in 2000, and didn't get weekend service until 2007 I think; almost 2 decades.

[Canard]

Yeah - I think they base it on filling 13-car trains. If they aren't full by the time they hit Union, it doesn't make sense. It's the same way Southwest plans their routes in the US.

[kps]

Like leave Saturday morning at 9am, comeback at 7pm.

I know there are folks who would prefer something like: Leave Friday evening at 7pm, come back at 2am.

[DHLawrence]

Is it going to be quicker to drive to Mount Pleasant and take the train from there than to drive to Aldershot and do the same on the Lakeshore line?

[Canard]

Google says Aldershot is still closer. By the time you drive all the way to the Mount Pleasant GO Station, you might as well go the rest of the way and just drive downtown... or save yourself $17, and go park at Kipling and take the subway in.

[SammyOES]

I'd also like to see weekend service. Even if it started with occasional 'special event' service during times when there be higher demand. I think it would be a great way for people to see how convenient and easy it is.

[MidTowner]

Even if it started with occasional 'special event' service during times when there be higher demand. I think it would be a great way for people to see how convenient and easy it is.

I think there could be a very good shot at this. In Hamilton, their 'Super Crawl' event on James Street seems to have been a part of their ultimately getting a new downtown Go station- for a few years, event organizers advocated for special runs for the event, and from what I hear they were quite popular. That might be a good way to validate potential demand for weekend service.

The Oktoberfest would probably be the best bet. I wonder if organizers would be willing to request it of Go transit or pitch the idea. It's the only event I can think of in the Region that is truly unique (nothing like it in the GTA at anything close to the scale), and is downtown. Maybe it would be possible to convince Go to run trains here and back for the parade- we don't need more auto traffic that day near the cores, and the parade might well be an event that would draw day visitors from Toronto. It would be more promotional opportunity for Oktoberfest, and a way for Go to demonstrate to riders the benefits.

Only problem, it's travel in the wrong way from the perspective of the regular service we already have. Maybe there are a few Toronto events for which service could be run- pride week? Carabana?