As for potential GO train service, the two rail lines through Caledon present different problems.
The CP Rail line through Bolton currently carries high volumes of freight, and most of it is single-track. Accordingly, the most that could be hoped for initially would be one or two trains morning and evening until such time as the CP line is double-tracked between Bolton and Weston.
No such problem exists for the former CP line between Orangeville and Brampton, which currently has only a few freight trains and perhaps one or two Credit Valley Explorer tour trains a week.
However, the trains currently are held to a maximum speed of 30 miles an hour, and upgrades of the rails and roadbeds would be needed to permit the speeds found on the line of up to 70 m.p.h. when CP Dayliners ran between Owen Sound and Toronto in just three hours.
Were an Orangeville/Caledon delegation to approach Metrolinx, they might also inquire as to the agency’s long-term equipment plans.
For reasons we’ve never seen explained, all GO Transit trains are the double-decker variety, with each of up to 12 coaches being capable of carrying about 200 passengers.
This clearly is needed during rush hours, but far more than what is required for off-peak hours or for new services to places like Orangeville, Alliston and Peterborough, not to mention for the Smart Track service Toronto Mayor John Tory is proposing for the Toronto-area GO lines.
As we see it, an ideal conveyance for low-demand periods on GO lines would be a self-powered, natural gas/electric hybrid similar to Toronto’s new low-slung streetcars or perhaps the type of vehicles now being used for the UP Express service between Union Station and Pearson Airport.