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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
lordmandeep
Banned
after Guelph the line either goes to Cambridge or KW...
RedRocket191
Senior Member
I don't think the curves are suitable for passenger train operation once it gets past Preston. I'm thinking the best idea is to have a Georgetown-Guelph-Kitchener line and a Milton-Puslinch-Cambridge line with the Waterloo rapid transit project linking them together.
lordmandeep
Banned
Also going from Guelph to KW is a dead straight track, easily reaching 100km/hr or more.
waterloowarrior
Senior Member
not quite lol.. it's painfully slow for a good part of it
RedRocket191
Senior Member
Dan416
Senior Member
I agree with you on this. The Milton line should serve Cambridge and the Georgetown line should serve Acton, Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo.
LNahid2000
Senior Member
Yep, this is true. I took my GPS with me on a trip from Toronto to Kitchener last week, and once we were a few kilometres out of Guelph, we were going 120km/h the whole way to Kitchener!
waterloowarrior
Senior Member
GO wants trains to Kitchener by 2011
KEVIN SWAYZE
RECORD STAFF
WATERLOO REGION
GO Transit wants to bring four passenger trains a day to Kitchener by 2011.
GO officials expect a study now underway will bolster the case for the commuter-rail link with Toronto. The recommendations should be ready by March, Bruce Sevier, GO's senior projects officer, said yesterday.
Design of a preferred route could start later in 2009 and, if financing comes through, construction of stations would start in 2010, he said. Trains could be running the next year.
It depends on money, however. Sevier estimated the expansion would cost $40 million to $50 million, since GO would have to upgrade tracks and buy trains.
"We don't know where the pot of gold might come from," he said in an interview, adding that this question hasn't been asked yet. But when GO extended rail service to Barrie last year, the capital cost was evenly shared by Queen's Park, the federal government and the City of Barrie. This could be the way financing is arranged for the Kitchener expansion, he said.
An environmental assessment now underway is looking at a route west from Georgetown along the former Canadian National tracks.
The GO train proposal for Kitchener is up for public comment tonight during an information session at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 54 Queen St. N. Doors will be open from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Ken Seiling, the Waterloo Region chair, cautioned yesterday that local residents shouldn't get excited about boarding GO trains anytime soon.
"It's not a given that it's going to happen," said Seiling, who has been lukewarm to the idea of expansion. "What GO is saying is they would like it to happen. It's in the very early stages."
In the past, Seiling has expressed concerns that GO train service would turn Waterloo Region into a bedroom community of the Toronto area.
The 2006 census found 10,665 people commute daily between Waterloo Region and the Toronto area. Another 12,480 region residents head to Wellington County to work, and 9,465 Wellington County residents head to the region to work daily.
Go officials are talking about adding bus service to Waterloo Region as early as next year.
The area under study for GO trains follows the Goderich and Exeter railway -- formerly Canadian National -- as far west as Baden. There is no suggestion passengers could board trains in Baden, however. Downtown Kitchener would be the station farthest west. The tracks to the west of the city are included because they might be needed for parking trains overnight, Sevier said.
GO service to downtown Kitchener would also link to the rapid transit system proposed for Waterloo Region. The Kitchener station is one of the likely stops on the rapid transit route, Sevier said.
Today, Via Rail offers the only passenger train service to the region -- three trains a day into Kitchener. Via is studying upgrading the tracks it uses between Kitchener and Georgetown, along with modernizing the "archaic" signal system, Sevier said. It is also looking at boosting the number of trains it runs through Kitchener, he said.
GO is talking to Via about the upgrades, which would allow more trains to travel faster, he said. Some stretches of track have speed limits of 16 kilometres an hour. By comparison, trains using GO's Lakeshore and Barrie tracks top 100 km/h.
While Kitchener's GO train expansion appears on the fast track, a long-proposed westward extension from Milton to Cambridge is less certain, Seiling said. Regional council has approved a business case study of using the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks to run passenger trains into south Cambridge. The cost and ridership study is expected to be done next year.
Today, there's a bottleneck to expanding GO service west from Milton, Seiling said. The tracks between Milton and Toronto need to be upgraded to deal with today's demands. GO says Milton trains are running at 140 per cent capacity now; there's no way to handle more passengers without a huge capital investment.
The region's Cambridge-Milton study would lay the groundwork for such an expansion whenever the Milton crunch is resolved, Seiling said.
kswayze@therecord.com
KEVIN SWAYZE
RECORD STAFF
WATERLOO REGION
GO Transit wants to bring four passenger trains a day to Kitchener by 2011.
GO officials expect a study now underway will bolster the case for the commuter-rail link with Toronto. The recommendations should be ready by March, Bruce Sevier, GO's senior projects officer, said yesterday.
Design of a preferred route could start later in 2009 and, if financing comes through, construction of stations would start in 2010, he said. Trains could be running the next year.
It depends on money, however. Sevier estimated the expansion would cost $40 million to $50 million, since GO would have to upgrade tracks and buy trains.
"We don't know where the pot of gold might come from," he said in an interview, adding that this question hasn't been asked yet. But when GO extended rail service to Barrie last year, the capital cost was evenly shared by Queen's Park, the federal government and the City of Barrie. This could be the way financing is arranged for the Kitchener expansion, he said.
An environmental assessment now underway is looking at a route west from Georgetown along the former Canadian National tracks.
The GO train proposal for Kitchener is up for public comment tonight during an information session at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 54 Queen St. N. Doors will be open from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Ken Seiling, the Waterloo Region chair, cautioned yesterday that local residents shouldn't get excited about boarding GO trains anytime soon.
"It's not a given that it's going to happen," said Seiling, who has been lukewarm to the idea of expansion. "What GO is saying is they would like it to happen. It's in the very early stages."
In the past, Seiling has expressed concerns that GO train service would turn Waterloo Region into a bedroom community of the Toronto area.
The 2006 census found 10,665 people commute daily between Waterloo Region and the Toronto area. Another 12,480 region residents head to Wellington County to work, and 9,465 Wellington County residents head to the region to work daily.
Go officials are talking about adding bus service to Waterloo Region as early as next year.
The area under study for GO trains follows the Goderich and Exeter railway -- formerly Canadian National -- as far west as Baden. There is no suggestion passengers could board trains in Baden, however. Downtown Kitchener would be the station farthest west. The tracks to the west of the city are included because they might be needed for parking trains overnight, Sevier said.
GO service to downtown Kitchener would also link to the rapid transit system proposed for Waterloo Region. The Kitchener station is one of the likely stops on the rapid transit route, Sevier said.
Today, Via Rail offers the only passenger train service to the region -- three trains a day into Kitchener. Via is studying upgrading the tracks it uses between Kitchener and Georgetown, along with modernizing the "archaic" signal system, Sevier said. It is also looking at boosting the number of trains it runs through Kitchener, he said.
GO is talking to Via about the upgrades, which would allow more trains to travel faster, he said. Some stretches of track have speed limits of 16 kilometres an hour. By comparison, trains using GO's Lakeshore and Barrie tracks top 100 km/h.
While Kitchener's GO train expansion appears on the fast track, a long-proposed westward extension from Milton to Cambridge is less certain, Seiling said. Regional council has approved a business case study of using the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks to run passenger trains into south Cambridge. The cost and ridership study is expected to be done next year.
Today, there's a bottleneck to expanding GO service west from Milton, Seiling said. The tracks between Milton and Toronto need to be upgraded to deal with today's demands. GO says Milton trains are running at 140 per cent capacity now; there's no way to handle more passengers without a huge capital investment.
The region's Cambridge-Milton study would lay the groundwork for such an expansion whenever the Milton crunch is resolved, Seiling said.
kswayze@therecord.com
waterloowarrior
Senior Member
from gokw.org
also
cdlu's blog has a detailed post about Guelph
Good evening, here is my brief report from the Guelph PIC:
Some details
I’ll post more, and edit this once I recieve electronic copies of the report.
Thanks to the fine folks at GO Transit and RJ Burnside for hosting this, a job well done.
- Reported 75 people attended, including many Guelph city councillors
- This is the first fast tracked EA under province’s new guidelines
- Service start date is expected to be 2011
- All of what has been proposed is just that — subject to change
Some details
- One of the major bottlenecks, the Credit River Bridge on CN, is going to be double tracked starting next year, in advance of Kitchener/Guelph expansion
- Baden was not listed as a layover location at the PIC, Petersburg, “IRA Needles” (between Petersburg and Kitchener) and Breslau were proposed alternatively
- Three kitchener stations were proposed (IRA Needles, Downtown (by VIA station) and Breslau)
- Three Guelph station locations were proposed (Lafarge, Downtown, Watson Road (Guelph East)
- Acton is on the map, with two proposed stations (west, and east (hide house))
I’ll post more, and edit this once I recieve electronic copies of the report.
Thanks to the fine folks at GO Transit and RJ Burnside for hosting this, a job well done.
also
cdlu's blog has a detailed post about Guelph
Dan416
Senior Member
At that price it's a steal, compared to the $50 billion price tag on Metrolinx's plan, which really doesn't do anything not already announced.
RedRocket191
Senior Member
Should Rockwood get a stop?
TOareaFan
Superstar
I have nothing against Rockwood, Acton Guelph or K-W. With the exception of K-W, they all used to have GO Train service in the past (do the stations still exist?).
I just wonder if GO (or any other transit agency) making expansion plans that may or may not be in line with the Big Move makes sense......does it not undermine Metrolinx' role if agencies continue to plan new/revamped services outside of the joint planning process?
Just a thought.
I just wonder if GO (or any other transit agency) making expansion plans that may or may not be in line with the Big Move makes sense......does it not undermine Metrolinx' role if agencies continue to plan new/revamped services outside of the joint planning process?
Just a thought.
RedRocket191
Senior Member
The plan does recognize the need for connections to waterloo region and other places beyond Metrolinx's jurasdiction. The only concern is to make sure the riders who board west of Georgetown can be accommodated given the fact that most of the Georgetown trains are above capacity.
CDL.TO
Moderator
I would hope that Guelph gets a station in the core (current station location). A second one would be useful, but there really needs to be one downtown.
That's going to be an impressive project. Photo of current original stone bridge. I always wondered if they were going to double it or just deal with it.
Though, if it were up to me, they would go straight from 1 track to 4 tracks (this is part of CN's freight mainline).
No. It's just a village (pop. 2,823) and likely has almost no Toronto-bound commuters. Acton is very close; Google estimates the driving time as 7 minutes.
Rockwood never had GO service.
That's going to be an impressive project. Photo of current original stone bridge. I always wondered if they were going to double it or just deal with it.
Though, if it were up to me, they would go straight from 1 track to 4 tracks (this is part of CN's freight mainline).
No. It's just a village (pop. 2,823) and likely has almost no Toronto-bound commuters. Acton is very close; Google estimates the driving time as 7 minutes.
Rockwood never had GO service.