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Barrie Collingwood Railway (BCRY)

I am not trying to go down fantasy land territory, just tryng to find out what is in the way if they ever decided to expand GO rail beyond Barrie.
But the CP line is away from the main population and would be hard to access unless you build transit around it.
 
The County has retained public ownership of the corridor. Even if some future rail use comes to pass, the existing infrastructure is in no condition to be part of it.

Meanwhile,it could be used by residents. That isn't horrible.
 
As much as I want GO service extended down BCRY, I think the funds just aren't there right now to get started on it. More important for the Barrie line is adding passing tracks, building stations at Innisfil/Mulock/Concord/Lansdowne, and the Bradford layover facility.

I'm glad it's not being turned over to development. I just hope that this truly is a stopgap measure.

On another note, if rail service is ever reactivated west of Utopia, how would freight and passenger traffic share the right-of-way between Allandale Waterfront and the CPKC mainline? And would a Barrie West station be feasible?
 
As much as I want GO service extended down BCRY, I think the funds just aren't there right now to get started on it. More important for the Barrie line is adding passing tracks, building stations at Innisfil/Mulock/Concord/Lansdowne, and the Bradford layover facility.

I'm glad it's not being turned over to development. I just hope that this truly is a stopgap measure.

On another note, if rail service is ever reactivated west of Utopia, how would freight and passenger traffic share the right-of-way between Allandale Waterfront and the CPKC mainline? And would a Barrie West station be feasible?
As far as I know, Simcoe County bought the abandoned ROW. It really couldn't be built over anyway since a large pipeline supplying water for New Tecumseth is buried on the ROW from Collingwood to Angus.

As for a freight/passenger mix, it happens all the time across most of the GO network.
 
Rail removal through Angus and Stayner is about to begin.


Part of it has been lifted and has been a rail trail for some time. And since I took this in August in Stayner, the track across the road has been removed:

Abandoned_BCRY_Stayner.jpg
 
I live in Barrie— I think maybe one day a Barrie West station could be feasible, they’re planning a massive development by Essa/400 interchange, but I think that’s too close to Allandale Waterfront.

However, this idea makes more sense to me… with the “rail trail” they’re making on the old BCRW line— it’s only supposed to go up to 5th Line, and I think that’s by design, technically if Angus gets big enough, they could theoretically put a station off of 5th line and build a transit community around that!

With the whole “housing targets” thing, this makes total sense. Not only could people commute from Angus to Toronto, they could also commute from Angus to Barrie without a car. It’s a win win for everyone involved!

Essa Township is forecasted to hit 31.000 people by 2041, for context, Bradford WG township had a mere 28,000 in 2011.

(Though, I think New Tecumseths needs are more important as they’re supposed to hit 70,000 by 2041, but the BCRW line doesn’t help unless you’re going onto the main line through Baxter— but you’re just backtracking and making the trip longer at that point)
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