If Metrolinx pays for the bypass, do they get Bramalea to Georgetown for free from CN?
Metrolinx certainly won't be 'paying'. Neither will the Province...albeit the Province would *fully participate* with some monies and with granting parcels of land on the Hydro One RoW (...proviso...before Hydro One is privatized, albeit *access* to the land is written into the Ont Electricity Act). It's the Feds who would bankroll the most, but even that won't be w/o provisos, and rightly so. To best answer your question, the "$5B" figure bandied by some (and mentioned in the Municipality Report linked back one page) doesn't detail *trades and offsets*, which will ameliorate a lot of the dollar figure.
Here's one of the most important factors behind CN suddenly 'finding God and caring':
(Apologies, don't have latest Cdn figures, but they're just as bad if not worse, indications of this drop have been made for last six months)
US rail traffic
Every Wednesday morning, the AAR (Association of American Railroads) releases the weekly rail traffic data for the previous week. The latest report is for the week ended June 4, 2016.
During this week, the total number of US railcars fell to just above 224,000 units, reflecting a fall of 16.6% from 269,000 units in the week ended June 6, 2015.
http://marketrealist.com/2016/06/us...t-fall-in-north-america-in-week-ended-june-4/
CN and CP are laying off staff, Canada has been hit even harder than the US for rail oil shipments and coal. CN's being at that "announcement" in Kitchener (which remains unreported in any of the major media) is as genuine and caring as an alligator. We can only conjecture what the back-room conversations are, but CP might be assembling a case to present too, just didn't want an announcement to fizzle the way this one has.
And it has. If anyone thinks otherwise, then by all means link and quote it here. I'm getting tired of Googling this and coming up empty. No shortage of communities affected running the "two extra trains a day" spiel....with hardly, if any, mention of the freight bypass.
Look at it this way: If this was a really substantial development, the news media, desperate for any sort of news that sells, would be all over this. They're not. I was checking the Guelph press. Guelph Mercury (the shell that still exists) is running the K/W Record copy, and Guelph Today, now the most virile news source in Guelph, doesn't even mention the two trains a day, let alone a freight bypass.
Edit to Add: I stand corrected on Guelph Today. They must have run it yesterday, albeit I checked and couldn't see this story. It's not up today.
It might not mean all-day GO train service for Guelph just yet, but Tuesday’s announcement in Kitchener was a step in the right direction.
Premier Kathleen Wynne announced a number of improvements to GO service along the Kitchener to Toronto corridor Tuesday, including four new GO train runs for Guelph: two in the morning and two in the evening.
She also announced an agreement has been reached with CN Rail to build a new line that would take the freight traffic off the current line, helping clear the way for possible all-day commuter service along the Kitchener to Toronto corridor.
The new GO train runs in Guelph will bring the total to four morning and four evening trains. They start in September.
“This is great news for Guelph. It’s all about connectivity,” said Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie.
“It’s not just for people. This will make for a lot better access for the university and businesses as well.”
Guthrie joined mayors from municipalities all along the corridor in welcoming Tuesday’s announcement in Kitchener. All-day commuter service remains the ultimate goal.
“To make all-day, two-way commuter trains work we need to have a corridor specifically for GO service,” Guthrie said, adding that this removes one of the hurdles to that goal.
The exact times of the new Guelph runs won’t be announced until later this summer.
“I think it's a great leap forward,” said Guelph’s Steve Petric, who commutes to Toronto daily for work.
“The two additional trains in the short term will give commuters more flexibility and options to when they start and stop work or travel to the GTA as the current schedules can make it a tad difficult,” said Petric, who hopes the increased service will cut down on the 90 minute commute from Guelph.
“Many of us ‘Day 1’ Guelph GO riders have been waiting a long time for these additional two trains.”
Guelph MPP Liz Sandals said in 2014 the government said within 10 years there would be “two-way, all-day regional express rail.”
“The problem has always been that with the existing pecking order on the track, it’s freight, then VIA, then GO,” she said. “You can not have two-way, all-day service if your primary customer on the track is great big, long, slow freight trains. Regional express rail and great big, long, slow freight trains don’t go together.”
Sandals said there is a stretch of the track that is controlled by CN, and there is a lot of freight traffic over that particular stretch.
“So what we have agreed on in principle with CN – and it’s just a matter of working out the details, but the details are substantial – is we’re going to build a new line from Brampton to Milton which will allow the freight to bypass that Brampton to Georgetown section of track. And the freight will be able to avoid our section. And that means since most of the freight will be off this section of track, that means we can now go ahead with regional express rail.”
It means two-way, all-day will be possible, she said. And it also means the entire section from Union Station to Kitchener can be electrified. (It was previously announced that Union Station to Bramalea would be electrified because it was owned by the province).
“Now that we’re going to get most freight off Bramalea west, that means we will be able to complete electrification all the way to Kitchener,” she said. “Bottom-line, we can do what we said we would do, which is all-day, two-way regional express rail, and it will ultimately be electric, which means not only will we have better commuter service and get people off the roads, so we cut down on pollution that way, but because we will be able to electrify the strip, we will also get the diesel trains off the strip, so we will cut down on pollution that way.”
She said it’s a great commuter story, and a great climate change story.
https://www.guelphtoday.com/local-n...ional-go-train-runs-starting-this-fall-317199
"(Sandals) said it’s a great commuter story, and a great climate change story."
Liz, I like you, but that's pretty desperate. Spin it for all it's worth.
“The two additional trains in the short term will give commuters more flexibility and options to when they start and stop work or travel to the GTA as the current schedules can make it a tad difficult,” said Petric, who hopes the increased service will cut down on the 90 minute commute from Guelph.
Petric is often quoted in the local press on GO matters. He's been drinking the Kool-Aid. It will still take 90 minutes (or more, depending if you go into Union or not). Mayor Guthrie, who I've jammed with (he's a drummer) and had dealings with, a great guy on a personal level, states:
“It’s not just for people. This will make for a lot better access for the university and businesses as well.”
What business is going to realize an advantage through this? There might be an odd one, but by and large, two-way all day municipal bus service between Guelph and K/W would do a lot more. Of course, Guelph's bus service has actually been strangled under the latest City Hall regime. Georgetown, btw, has *absolutely no local bus service!*
"Connectivity" begins at home...
Here's a bet, folks: *Total numbers* of passengers carried with the two new trains added will be barely changed, and they run at maybe 10% if that capacity from Georgetown west as it is. I'd get on the later morning train, and have my choice of seating on the entire upper deck of the car I'd board many times.
I'm by no means against running these routes, it has to be done, but I have trouble accepting that running virtually empty 10 and 12 car trains is the way to do it.
