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MoveOntario 2020: GO Transit Electrification

On another note, but still on the topic of GO, I found it interesting that service to Peterborough was not mentioned at all in this announcement. That is one service I have always thought would make a lot of sense and it would be interesting to find out why they have opted not to consider it at the moment.

Edit: There is also no mention of service Guelph or Kitchener-Waterloo which has been an idea discussed a bit lately. It is not totally surprising since both those places are far enough from Toronto that they may not be priorities within GO's mandate. Perhaps VIA will be given the task of providing commuter services to these cities, in which case, we could see more projects yet in a few short years.
Kitchener is closer to Toronto than Peterborough - 107 km compared to 136. Barrie is 96 km. Plus the K-W metro is closing in on half a million people while Peterborough is only 120,000. I'm more surprised that Kitchener hasn't been mentioned - it would have more potential riders than Barrie, IMO. The Havelock sub doesn't touch the cities of Durham (where most Peterborough commuters work), so I think Peterborough would be better served by an intercity service than a commuter service.
 
Kitchener is closer to Toronto than Peterborough - 107 km compared to 136. Barrie is 96 km. Plus the K-W metro is closing in on half a million people while Peterborough is only 120,000. I'm more surprised that Kitchener hasn't been mentioned - it would have more potential riders than Barrie, IMO. The Havelock sub doesn't touch the cities of Durham (where most Peterborough commuters work), so I think Peterborough would be better served by an intercity service than a commuter service.

After posting that I thought about that too. There really is not enough between Peterborough and the edge of the GTA to make it attractive too GO.

Kitchener-Waterloo I was a little surprised by, but at the same time, I can also see reasons why it wasn't included. Most of the projects that are part of this plan are either rather simple to do or have been in various stages of planning for 5 or 10 years (Lakeshore electrification being the only real departure). And though a Pearson-Union rail link will likely be under construction in a years time, it will basically be a rather limited stub, not really serving any purpose in the network as a whole. Fully integrating Pearson into a comprehensive network is something that is just starting to be discussed seriously and part of that would include connections with Kitchener-Waterloo (and then out to the rest of Southwestern Ontario) and Union of course. For that reason I can understand not including it at this time and instead building that connection as part of a Pearson rail integration program (which might sound a little out there right now but in a few years will be talked about much more).
 
I remember asking about this a while ago, but is there an authoritative list of which lines GO actually owns?

I have a PDF document from the RAC (Railway Association of Canada) dated 2004 that shows the lines. I can't find the document on their website, though. (http://www.railcan.ca/)

I do believe what I have is an electronic version of their " Atlas,(http://www.railcan.ca/site_atlas/sec_atlas/en_atl_contents.asp), though I can't remember where I got it from.

Anyway, it shows GO owning the Union Station rail corridor (from Bathurst to Cherry), the Uxbridge sub from Scarborough to Stoufville (which is owned by York-Durham heritage railway after), the Newmarket sub to Bradford north of the CN line at Steeles (south is owned by CN), and the GO sub (running parallel to the Kingston sub from Liverpool to Oshawa).

Greg
 
Wow! That's incredibly helpful. I was sure I had heard that their ownership of the Newmarket Sub was a myth. No wonder they're planning to double-track it. Their ownership of the Uxbridge sub is also very positive. Interesting that it doesn't include the Galt Sub south of the Junction, the one line that I was sure was owned by GO.
 
Here is a question. If or when GO starts building addtional tracks in a corridor that is owned by another operator, such as CN or CP, will, or can, GO take ownership of the tracks it builds or will they technically be owned by the owner of the corridor, or does it depend on the agreement that is reached between the two parties?
 
In all of GO's past improvements, the additional tracks immediately become property of the freight railway that owns the corridor. That's the standard right across North America. It can be extremely frustrating when you're delayed in a commuter train as a freight is stopped on the new track that the transit authority paid millions to build. The exception is the GO Sub between Pickering and Oshawa which is a completely separate line built by GO on the right-of-way they acquired for the GO ALRT project.
 
Here are a set of maps that show the difference between the GO Train network now, and in 2020 according to all the projects listed. The station placement is somewhat arbitrary since there is not much information too go on at the moment but it still gives a reasonable idea of how it will change. I also couldnt be bothered to add names to the stations either. I really dont like GO's schematic map very much but I needed to do something quick so I just went with that for the moment. A map based on real distances would be interesting to see.

Current

GOMapFinalCurrent.jpg


2020

GOMapFinal2020.jpg
 
I have managed to find out more information about SuperGO. The acronym did not come out of GO, but rather the Premiers Office as a catchy way of branding the electrification of the Lakeshore line. GO seems to have had no idea that this project was going to be funded so right now details on the specifics of the project are minimal. The only interesting thing I have found out is that this may affect other projects (such as the Georgetown line) and depending on how quickly a plan for electrification (and all the other work that will be done to modernize Lakeshore) is developed it could be something that is done too other lines too.

In other words details are going to take some time to be released just because GO has not time to prepare for this and once the details are released, I would expect some changes in comparison to what was released last week. Though those changes could be very interesting.
 
GO seems to have had no idea that this project was going to be funded so right now details on the specifics of the project are minimal.

We still don't know if the project will be funded. The electorate of Ontario needs to give the new Provincial Government a mandate which includes this. The act of electing a Liberal government means they will have issued the order to fund the projects.

You don't just go out and blow $17B without asking the electorate if they think it is a good idea.
 
Here are a set of maps that show the difference between the GO Train network now, and in 2020 according to all the projects listed. The station placement is somewhat arbitrary since there is not much information too go on at the moment but it still gives a reasonable idea of how it will change. I also couldnt be bothered to add names to the stations either. I really dont like GO's schematic map very much but I needed to do something quick so I just went with that for the moment. A map based on real distances would be interesting to see.

Current

GOMapFinalCurrent.jpg


2020

GOMapFinal2020.jpg


A little nitpick: you left out Lisgar GO which is opening up later this year (between Meadowvale and Milton, but much closer to Meadowvale)
 
I notice that there are 3 stations past Oshawa, what would those be? I thought Bowmanville was the only one being added on Lakeshore East.
 
A little nitpick: you left out Lisgar GO which is opening up later this year (between Meadowvale and Milton, but much closer to Meadowvale)

It was drawn up rather quickly so I didn't have time to check and see if there might have been new stations that had been added too those lines (or are going to be). But your nitpick has been noted for next time.

I notice that there are 3 stations past Oshawa, what would those be? I thought Bowmanville was the only one being added on Lakeshore East.

All that is actually known (or actually announced is more accurate) is that the line will be extended to Bowmanville. Whether it will just be one station at Bownmanville or others is not known. For the map I did though I made the assumption that the two GO Bus stops between Bowmanville, Courtice and Oshawa Terminal, could become likely candidates for new GO Train stations. You can debate whether that would be likely to happen or not but just one first glance it seemed fair to add those two stops to a possible extension.

As I said when I first posted the maps, station placement is largely arbitrary and not based on what will actually be done (since no details are known right now) but just on what seem like reasonable possibilities.
 

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