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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

Tiny bit of information on the Bowmanville extension:

“The business case for the Bowmanville GO expansion is nearing completion. Our government is committed to delivering more rail service, beyond Oshawa, as quickly as possible,” Durham MPP Lindsey Park said in an end-of-year update.
...
At a Clarington council meeting, Durham regional chair John Henry said reconsideration of the route of the extension was disruptive. The Region has been championing the rail route north of Highway 401, which has the potential to create 21,000 jobs and 7.8 million square feet of commercial space in Durham. Henry added it seems Metrolinx is now considering the importance of transit-oriented development.

“A route south of (Highway) 401 simply does not compare in terms of job creation, campus connectivity, downtown revitalization or walkable stations” said Henry. “So it’s positive that Metrolinx is once again focused on CP rail corridor … We must continue to reinforce to the Province the critical importance of the northern route for Durham.”
Click to expand...

www.durhamregion.com

Preferred route for Durham’s GO train expansion coming down the tracks

Metrolinx is near completing the technical work for the business case to compare one of four route options for bringing the GO train east through Oshawa into Courtice and Bowmanville.
www.durhamregion.com www.durhamregion.com
 
rbt said:
Tiny bit of information on the Bowmanville extension:



www.durhamregion.com

Preferred route for Durham’s GO train expansion coming down the tracks

Metrolinx is near completing the technical work for the business case to compare one of four route options for bringing the GO train east through Oshawa into Courtice and Bowmanville.
www.durhamregion.com www.durhamregion.com
Click to expand...

Option 2, if it is possible like they say it is, makes the most sense to me.

You don't oddly bypass the existing Oshawa station and have to build an expensive bridge and a different station but you get the benefits of being in-town closer to density. Option 1 creates a spur line with differing frequencies.

There will be a slow order on the GM bridge but its right before/after Oshawa station, the trains wont have picked up much speed anyways or will be already slowing down for Oshawa GO.
 
rbt said:
Tiny bit of information on the Bowmanville extension:



www.durhamregion.com

Preferred route for Durham’s GO train expansion coming down the tracks

Metrolinx is near completing the technical work for the business case to compare one of four route options for bringing the GO train east through Oshawa into Courtice and Bowmanville.
www.durhamregion.com www.durhamregion.com
Click to expand...

So who actually wants the southern route other than Metrolinx? It seems from the article that local consensus is for a downtown station that will promote TOD rather than a southern station that, based on looking at the map, would probably be of the desolate park n ride variety, unless extensive development happened around it.
 
^ Maybe at first there was concern at the Ministry/Finance/Treasury - not Metrolinx - at the rising cost of the northern route? After all, a concern over the Hurontario LRT budget resulted in the Square One loop being cut. So it's likely a Queen Park driven concern. The MPP even hints at this when she references "taxpayers".

Part of the budget jump could have been CP insisting on a grade separation for Thorton Road South here (even though this wasn't directly on the GO spur but would have seen a car volume increase because of the Thorton Station).

By using the GM spur and the existing bridge over the 401, they'll just use the existing Oshawa Station, not build the Thornton one and therefore decrease the need for the grade separation. So by using option two there are cost savings: usage of an existing bridge, no new Thornton Station, and no Thornton grade separation.
 
^ Yes, some expropriation would be needed, but it's light industrial uses or surface parking. The cost of expropriation is way lower than building a completely new and much longer bridge over the Oshawa Station parking lot and 401, and new a new bridge under the CP GM spur (track plan available if you haven't seen it). Also, I think with option 2 fewer hydro towers have to be required to be moved.

As noted above, trains would already have to slow for the Oshawa Station so it shouldn't be a big time penalty.
 
robmausser said:
Option 2, if it is possible like they say it is, makes the most sense to me.

You don't oddly bypass the existing Oshawa station and have to build an expensive bridge and a different station but you get the benefits of being in-town closer to density. Option 1 creates a spur line with differing frequencies.

There will be a slow order on the GM bridge but its right before/after Oshawa station, the trains wont have picked up much speed anyways or will be already slowing down for Oshawa GO.
Click to expand...

At a recent town hall, didn’t Phil Verster say that they’ve made progress with CP on getting access to the GM bridge, and that they’re gonna use that route?
 
Allandale25 said:
^ Maybe at first there was concern at the Ministry/Finance/Treasury - not Metrolinx - at the rising cost of the northern route? After all, a concern over the Hurontario LRT budget resulted in the Square One loop being cut. So it's likely a Queen Park driven concern. The MPP even hints at this when she references "taxpayers".

Part of the budget jump could have been CP insisting on a grade separation for Thorton Road South here (even though this wasn't directly on the GO spur but would have seen a car volume increase because of the Thorton Station).

By using the GM spur and the existing bridge over the 401, they'll just use the existing Oshawa Station, not build the Thornton one and therefore decrease the need for the grade separation. So by using option two there are cost savings: usage of an existing bridge, no new Thornton Station, and no Thornton grade separation.
Click to expand...

A pity since the current Oshawa one also seems pretty poorly placed. The surface parking around it is a bit of a punch in the face, but then again so is looking at Oshawa in satellite photos in general. The Belleville Sub seems much closer to the core, and is on the right side of the 401.
 
alexanderglista said:
At a recent town hall, didn’t Phil Verster say that they’ve made progress with CP on getting access to the GM bridge, and that they’re gonna use that route?
Click to expand...

And yet some local media haven't seem to have noticed.

www.durhamregion.com

Tent cities, transit and more: 5 Oshawa stories we’ll be following in the new year

The dawn of a new decade will bring fresh stories to the forefront in Oshawa but there’s still plenty of unfinished business from 2019 that will continue to impact residents in 2020.
www.durhamregion.com www.durhamregion.com

4) GO TRAIN EXTENSION VIA DOWNTOWN OSHAWA
Click to expand...
Oshawa officials were gobsmacked in 2019 when Metrolinx announced they were going back to the drawing board with plans for a GO train extension to Bowmanville.

The original plan called for extending the train via central Oshawa, where Metrolinx owns the vast former Knob Hill Farms property, but the provincial agency is now considering routes that run south, bypassing that site.

That would mean significantly diminishing the economic benefits of extending the train through Oshawa. In the new year, Oshawa mayor Dan Carter will be fighting to keep Metrolinx on track with the original plan.
Click to expand...
 
Allandale25 said:
^ Yes, some expropriation would be needed, but it's light industrial uses or surface parking. The cost of expropriation is way lower than building a completely new and much longer bridge over the Oshawa Station parking lot and 401, and new a new bridge under the CP GM spur (track plan available if you haven't seen it). Also, I think with option 2 fewer hydro towers have to be required to be moved.

As noted above, trains would already have to slow for the Oshawa Station so it shouldn't be a big time penalty.
Click to expand...

Not to mention Option 2 has the advantage of being purely an extension of the existing line. Option 1 would essentially leave the existing Oshawa Station as a one-station spur, much like Hamilton Centre (albeit Oshawa will have much higher levels of service). At least that option can avoid the "does this train go to Hamilton Centre or West Harbour?" scenario.
 
^ I also wonder if it helps their benefit cost ratio because they can utilize a station they just renovated as opposed to the cost of a new station on Thornton?
 
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