Trains could run as often as every 20 minutes during rush hour, GO Transit says
May 13, 2008 09:04 AM
Magda Konieczna
Guelph Mercury
GUELPH-GO rail service could be coming to Guelph.
GO Transit decided last week to start a study of what it would take and how big the customer base would be.
There could eventually be a train every 20 minutes during rush hour - heading to Toronto in the morning and back to Guelph and beyond in the evening - and every hour outside of rush times.
But it would take years to get to that point. For now, GO Transit has hired engineering consultant R.J. Burnside to do an environmental assessment, which could take until early 2009.
GO Transit could initially add two trains from Guelph to Georgetown, where passengers could transfer into the existing GO service, said Greg Ashbee, GO Transit's manager of rail expansion programs.
"It would be very significant" if Guelph got GO service, said Rajan Philips, a transportation planner with the city.
When GO Transit launched rail service to Barrie in December, the service was packed almost right away.
But Guelph is a bit different, Philips said, because we don't have the same proportion of people leaving for work. The bigger trend here is the double-income family with one person working outside Guelph, often heading down Highway 401 to get there, he said.
GO Transit offered rail service to Guelph from 1990 to 1993. It didn't do too well because it didn't offer commuters the option of staying at work later if they needed to, Ashbee said.
"When there were cutbacks, you lop off the ends of the lines, especially in corridors that don't have significant ridership."
It's unclear whether the city would have to pitch in for the service. None of the municipalities serviced by GO Transit pay operating costs, but they help pay for expansions to service. When GO came to Barrie, the city paid a third of the cost for the new station and for track improvements, Ashbee said.
In the meantime, all stripes of politicians seem supportive of the potential for new service.
"There's a huge pent-up demand for commuter rail service to Toronto," said Mayor Karen Farbridge.
"We're playing catch-up on work that didn't happen when it should have," Guelph MPP Liz Sandals said.
"It's something the provincial government should give serious consideration to given our population growth and the increasing number of people making the commute to Toronto," said Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott, who said it can take up to three hours for him to get to the legislature from his home in Fergus.