Will they though? Later in the report (
page 21) they also say that in addition to the peak service from Kitchener, that "
The morning Georgetown service will be improved by adding a morning late-rush hour shoulder train". And if you look at the
estimated 2011 GO demand in the EA, there's only 575 to 1000 additional passengers at Georgetown; extending these trains from 10 cars to 12 cars will add about 600 seats. Sounds like they are adding more capacity between Georgetown and Union than they going to use up.
Sometimes the wording they use is/can be confusing. So that bolded part could lead to two (that I can see) possible conclusions:
1. The one you seem to make that in addition to/conjunction with the extension to Kitchener there will be one new train added as a late rush hour train.
2. The train that currently leaves Bramalea at 9:20 may very well be one of the trains extended to K-W. If that is the case you have added a late rush train to "Georgetown" without actually adding any new trains at all (in a funny sort of way).
Even if that train itself is not one of the ones extended......extending two others frees up space in Georgetown that would allow that train to start in GTown....no? So, extend two trains so that they start in K-W, extend the 9:20 so that it starts in GTown and, I guess, that page 21 reference is satisfied without adding a train.
While we are on page 21.....this is an interesting bit (I think someone touched on above):
Increased service (including pilot service on limited service corridors) to special events, including the Indy Auto Race,
Caribana, CNE, and the Santa Claus Parade, will respond to demand for travel to these activities.
As a passenger/customer on one of those limited service corridors, it always is/was frustrating to listen/read promotions for going to events via GO knowing that they were not really serving me. In particular, the events that cause road closures like Caribana and the Indy. It just grates a bit when you think "sure I could sit on a bus not moving on the gardiner because of the Lakeshore closure to allow the event that I am trying to get to happen" I know it is a bit irrational but it always had that effect on me.
So, great to hear that they are looking at running trains on those lines (I have also never understood nor had anyone give me any good reason why all the limited service lines don't just run the same trains on the weekend as they do during the week......there is no capacity issue on the tracks.....they have the equipment and, surely, if there is enough demand on the Lakeshore to support hourly service on the weekends there must be some demand on the other lines for some service...but that is another gripe for another time).
What would really help weekend utilization on the Milton and GT lines (assuming they are considering/testing weekend trains) would be a shared station in/around Liberty Village. I have been on this for years and it just does not seem to rise up on anyone's priority list. A station near West Elm/Mildred Pearce would serve the Exhibition area very well. The Ex grounds have seen a very large amount of growth and the combination of BMO/the QE theatre/the convention centre/Ricoh have meant that more and more of the large scale "avoid traffic take the train" sort of events in the city take place here......giving two additional high traffic rail corridors the ability to serve that area is the sort of traffic driver that could make weekend/off-peak service more financially viable........asking those customers to take the train past the event they are going to and taking the streetcar back might just make the thing unpalitable to some and drive usage down and make people think "see, we did not need to give them trains".
Pretty sure it would not have to be an overly fancy station either....and could be utilized as just a "special events stop" (ie. the weekday core service would not have to be slowed down by stopping there - well, perhaps during the ex they should).
