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Barrie Collingwood Railway (BCRY)

I was involved with some Ryerson students looking at passenger service here around 2011... High level study, but in short the numbers are not completely awful, but unlikely to get anyone excited (as in private investment wasn't going to happen). Possibly worth doing in absolute terms, but very hard to justify when provincial funds will be needed and the rest of Metrolinx's projects are still up in the air. My recollection is that the increased cost of GO through running is pretty much negligible in context with the rest of the upgrades you'd want for reasonable running times, though at the time DMUs still looked interesting if used in some version of running a weekday shuttle, tourist oriented evening/weekend through service while slightly reducing station cost (bear in mind this was pre-RER (actually pre-Allandale extension as well), so all day 2 way, let alone evening/weekend just wasn't a thing for the Barrie line).

Long story short railbanking seems the right solution if we can't get freight customers for the moment, passenger service is possible, but in no way a major priority.
 
Bureaucromancer said:
I was involved with some Ryerson students looking at passenger service here around 2011... High level study, but in short the numbers are not completely awful, but unlikely to get anyone excited (as in private investment wasn't going to happen). Possibly worth doing in absolute terms, but very hard to justify when provincial funds will be needed and the rest of Metrolinx's projects are still up in the air. My recollection is that the increased cost of GO through running is pretty much negligible in context with the rest of the upgrades you'd want for reasonable running times, though at the time DMUs still looked interesting if used in some version of running a weekday shuttle, tourist oriented evening/weekend through service while slightly reducing station cost (bear in mind this was pre-RER (actually pre-Allandale extension as well), so all day 2 way, let alone evening/weekend just wasn't a thing for the Barrie line).

Long story short railbanking seems the right solution if we can't get freight customers for the moment, passenger service is possible, but in no way a major priority.
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Almost 10 years ago though, I wonder what the numbers would look like today, or a projection for 2030.

Also Blue Mountain is now owned by Alterra Mountain Company and they have cash to throw around.
 
robmausser said:
Also Blue Mountain is now owned by Alterra Mountain Company and they have cash to throw around.
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It'll be really hard to grow revenues at Blue Mountain. It's a tiny hill and already the 3rd most visited resort in Canada; meaning pretty damn congested compared to most of their locations.

Growth will be increasing revenue per visit, not the head-count.
 
robmausser said:
I am wondering if Blue Mountain Resort could invest in a station and help cover costs just like Woodbine did for the Woodbine station coming up. A morning and night GO train to and from the area especially on weekends would see a lot of skiiers from Toronto area.
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I would think they would have to run a shuttle. The ROW is several kilometers from either Blue or Wasaga and land costs alone would make an extension prohibitive (I suspect whatever isn't already built on is owned by developers). It might be easier for a large, deep-pocketed corporation like Blue; Wasaga is a municipality.
 
rbt said:
It'll be really hard to grow revenues at Blue Mountain. It's a tiny hill and already the 3rd most visited resort in Canada; meaning pretty damn congested compared to most of their locations.

Growth will be increasing revenue per visit, not the head-count.
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Their solution to this is to transform it into a "winter destination" complex. Theyve installed massive skating rinks both at the top and bottom of the hills, a rollercoaster type ride that goes down the hill even in the winter, an outdoor heated pool complex, etc etc.

They are doing everything they can to increase guests that arent skiiers, as well as installing as many summer activities as well to make it a year round destination.
 
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Shuttles to a new station somewhere just south of Collingwood were the solution back then, and the numbers were such that I think a solution along the lines of Innisfil Transit for resort guests is probably more workable than anything else now it exists, especially given that Wasaga and Collingwood transit do connect (which they didn't ten eyars ago).
 
Bureaucromancer said:
Shuttles to a new station somewhere just south of Collingwood were the solution back then, and the numbers were such that I think a solution along the lines of Innisfil Transit for resort guests is probably more workable than anything else now it exists, especially given that Wasaga and Collingwood transit do connect (which they didn't ten eyars ago).
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Yes, make local transit tourist friendly like they have in Niagara Falls.
 
Posted Oct 28

212344
 
rbt said:
It'll be really hard to grow revenues at Blue Mountain. It's a tiny hill and already the 3rd most visited resort in Canada; meaning pretty damn congested compared to most of their locations.

Growth will be increasing revenue per visit, not the head-count.
Click to expand...

Even changing mode share of how people get to Blue Mountain could/would be seen as a "green initiative". I haven't been up there in peak season for a while but I can't imagine all the cars in those parking lots don't cause congestion on those 2 lane seldom plowed roads.
 
Woodbridge_Heights said:
Even changing mode share of how people get to Blue Mountain could/would be seen as a "green initiative". I haven't been up there in peak season for a while but I can't imagine all the cars in those parking lots don't cause congestion on those 2 lane seldom plowed roads.
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I agree, it's for the good of the environment and society. I still think re-building the rail link from Barrie to Collingwood is worthy in the long term. I'm sure there are many who would rather take a stress free train ride instead of dealing with the insanity that is the 400.
 
I've gradually come around to railbanking given the state of a lot of branch lines close to their demise (i.e. not suitable for passenger service). Hopefully the BCRY will see DMUs or something similar within the next 10-15 years if projects like the Simcoe County LINX route are successful. It really only takes one or two successful implementations to create a precedent for rural DMUs in Canada similar to the way they operate in Europe.
 
Woodbridge_Heights said:
Even changing mode share of how people get to Blue Mountain could/would be seen as a "green initiative". I haven't been up there in peak season for a while but I can't imagine all the cars in those parking lots don't cause congestion on those 2 lane seldom plowed roads.
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The roads are ploughed to the same standard as any other similarly-classed provincial highway. It is a snowbelt after all, with sometimes severe lake effect squalls. The quality of drivers; however . . .

I'm not convinced a seasonally-based regular-service rail connection founded on tourism is viable, at least not in the near term. Whistler no longer has it; Mont St. Anne/Le Massif no longer has it; none of the other major western ski resorts ever had it. If the deep pockets of the resort owner thinks it's a good idea, they can fund its renewal, which would include improving the remaining portion of the line to Barrie from its current 10mph condition. Public money is not limitless. GO tried a train to Casino Rama - I'm not sure it lasted a year. I would think it would be more feasible for them to do a shuttle service to the proposed expanded Barrie GO service. As it stands, they'd have to run a shuttle from railhead to the resort anyway. I would also think there would have to be some accommodation in the consist for ski equipment.
 
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