Orangeville-Brampton Railway (OBRY)

[UrbanJon]

In all honesty, the trail is going to be a pretty great outcome of all of this. Even if the station lands can't be redeveloped, a trail will be of great benefit to the communities it passes through.

All of the customers will still have rail access through transloading sites within an hour's drive of their location. Orangeville saves a lot of money. Active transport and cycling infrastructure is improved. It's a win-win-win.

 

[ShonTron]

^ It would be interesting to see if it does become a multiuse trail how they would deal with some major roads, like Bovaird. A bridge similar to the one on Hurontario/old Highway 10* in Caledon would be neat. I realize it wouldn't be cheap, but if there is development one day in the surplus lands in downtown Brampton where the CP station was/yard tracks, maybe some of the property tax uplift revenues could go to these kind of active transportation bridges for the corridor.

* Is this still King's Highway 10? I can't remember and this MTO map isn't really clear: http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/publications/official-road-map/pdfs/map-3.pdf

Yes, it’s Highway 10 from the end of Highway 410 through Caledon and all the way up to Owen Sound.

 

[OntarioOnTheMove]

This video shows some of the track removal occuring now at the north end of Orangeville:

 

[allengeorge]

Jeez - they didn’t waste any time.

 

[ShonTron]

Jeez - they didn’t waste any time.

It does not affect the remaining customers - this is on the north side of Broadway, near the end of track (to the point where CP removed track to Owen Sound in 1998), but it seems quite clear that the Town of Orangeville is moving as quickly as it can to be rid of whatever it can.

 

[Bordercollie]

It does not affect the remaining customers - this is on the north side of Broadway, near the end of track (to the point where CP removed track to Owen Sound in 1998), but it seems quite clear that the Town of Orangeville is moving as quickly as it can to be rid of whatever it can.

Lack of vision for sure.

 

[UrbanJon]

I am not sure what kind of vision or foresight Orangeville would be lacking here. They ran the railway for 20 years and it didn't work out. The shippers have now realized they can be better served by trucks.

In return we get an awesome new trail and I think that is a pretty good upside, especially in the urban areas of Missisauga and Brampton where it will encourage active transport.

If the line had any value at all, Metrolinx would be interested in purchasing it, but they aren't. Any transit value this corridor has is negated by the Hurontario LRT.

 

[DirectionNorth]

I am not sure what kind of vision or foresight Orangeville would be lacking here. They ran the railway for 20 years and it didn't work out. The shippers have now realized they can be better served by trucks.

In return we get an awesome new trail and I think that is a pretty good upside, especially in the urban areas of Missisauga and Brampton where it will encourage active transport.

If the line had any value at all, Metrolinx would be interested in purchasing it, but they aren't. Any transit value this corridor has is negated by the Hurontario LRT.

If you say so.

 

[kamira51]

No foresight. Or, intentional blindness borne of a car-oriented culture.

No wonder transit project prices keep skyrocketing. If you don't protect ROWs, you've to expropriate - and that's expensive with today's land values, so you end up building underground if you have to (because we're allergic to elevated) Poof! Billions!

It's a shame.

Whats silly is that there is already a trail quite close in the area that parallels the ORBY. And its in a nice ravine, the ORBY in that area goes through an Industrial complex.

View attachment 330163

Brampton is such a poorly designed city, what an abomination.

This video shows some of the track removal occuring now at the north end of Orangeville:

Disgusting, here we're trying to reduce our dependance on cars in the north, but it seems orangeville wants to remain car dependant.

 

[crs1026]

I am not sure what kind of vision or foresight Orangeville would be lacking here. They ran the railway for 20 years and it didn't work out. The shippers have now realized they can be better served by trucks.

In return we get an awesome new trail and I think that is a pretty good upside, especially in the urban areas of Missisauga and Brampton where it will encourage active transport.

If the line had any value at all, Metrolinx would be interested in purchasing it, but they aren't. Any transit value this corridor has is negated by the Hurontario LRT.

As an earlier poster commented, it sure sounds like you are shilling for someone.

The point is not having a railway for the sake of having a railway. It's as if Orangeville detests industrial activity, period. Getting rid of the railway is just one lever to disincent industrial development. Employment lands? Jobs? Not our concern. Tax base? We can just build more subdivisions and tax the residents. They all like the commute to south Peel anyways.

I can't think of another community in southern Ontario that is as eager to get rid of anything industrial than Orangeville. Just so happens that there are developers poised to convert all those employment lands to subdivisions. Dare I connect the dots?

- Paul

 

[Nomad_87]

As an earlier poster commented, it sure sounds like you are shilling for someone.

The point is not having a railway for the sake of having a railway. It's as if Orangeville detests industrial activity, period. Getting rid of the railway is just one lever to disincent industrial development. Employment lands? Jobs? Not our concern. Tax base? We can just build more subdivisions and tax the residents. They all like the commute to south Peel anyways.

I can't think of another community in southern Ontario that is as eager to get rid of anything industrial than Orangeville. Just so happens that there are developers poised to convert all those employment lands to subdivisions. Dare I connect the dots?

- Paul

Not surprising they’re wanting to rid themselves of all industry and build subdivisions since their mayor is a realtor

 

[robmausser]

Not surprising they’re wanting to rid themselves of all industry and build subdivisions since their mayor is a realtor

10 years later when the population explodes = WE WANT A GO TRAIN LINE WE WANT A GO TRAIN LINE

Real forward thinking.

 

[lenaitch]

As an earlier poster commented, it sure sounds like you are shilling for someone.

The point is not having a railway for the sake of having a railway. It's as if Orangeville detests industrial activity, period. Getting rid of the railway is just one lever to disincent industrial development. Employment lands? Jobs? Not our concern. Tax base? We can just build more subdivisions and tax the residents. They all like the commute to south Peel anyways.

I can't think of another community in southern Ontario that is as eager to get rid of anything industrial than Orangeville. Just so happens that there are developers poised to convert all those employment lands to subdivisions. Dare I connect the dots?

- Paul

Collingwood comes to mind, and possibly Toronto. "Getting rid of" can take many forms.

 

[Nomad_87]

10 years later when the population explodes = WE WANT A GO TRAIN LINE WE WANT A GO TRAIN LINE

Real forward thinking.

Reminds me of how GO service to Orillia back in the 90s was a long goal for GO. Nowadays that’s impossible because the rails between Barrie and Orillia are long gone. Now the best they can hope for is some better bus service from Linx. Good work guys

 

[UrbanJon]

Service is ending on the line for freight. We know that and there isn't any way to really avert that. The manufacturers that use the line have made their decision.

The real question is what value does the corridor have remaining for rail-based uses? For transit, we already have Hurontario LRT filling this role. What would GO be able to do with it?

I don't think we will see any excersise in corridor preservation here simply because there aren't any takers. Perhaps if anyone thinks it is they could contact Metrolinx with their concerns but all indications show that they aren't interested.

Now I am focusing on the positive. Mississauga and Brampton are going to get a really good trail out of this and I certainly will use it quite often.