by

MoveOntario 2020 : GO Transit Section

With the growth in the comment string on the original post, it’s getting rather unwieldy.  Therefore, I am setting up new subsections to continue the threads on separate major topics.

This one is for GO Transit.  Any comments related to GO that are left on the other thread will be copied into this item.  In a few days, I will close off comments in the old thread on the assumption that everyone will have relocated to this one.

I have not yet decided whether to have a thread just for Swan Boats since Dalton didn’t announce any funding for them.

44 thoughts on “MoveOntario 2020 : GO Transit Section”

  1. If they build a midtown cross GO line, I don’t understand why they don’t run the line down to Long Branch station. The track is in place – The CANPA sub is just to the east of Longbranch, and passes right south of the Kipling station before joining up with the Galt sub (Milton line). That way people coming in from the west and heading uptown could transfer at Longbranch, and then the line could intersect with the Bloor-subway line and the Milton GO line at Kipling.

    Like

  2. Responding to Greg – regarding the west end of the GO Crosstown line (if they build it, that is) being extended west to Long Branch – I think it’s an issue of interlining two or more commuter rail routes on the same stretches of track. In other words, there would be some technical issues in having Crosstown trains share track with Milton trains, even if only between Kipling and the afforementioned junction.

    I was surprised that in the 2020 initiative, the west terminus would be at Weston Road (more specifically, and likely, somewhere near the West Toronto junction).
    If at Kipling, It would be an excellent express service as an alternative to travelling from Kipling to Yonge-Bloor on the subway, but I suppose the initial idea calls for a Milton-Crosstown connection at the junction, in order to keep things simple to begin with. If the Libs are voted in again, it will be interesting to see the GTTA’s refinements on the entire 2020 plan.

    Like

  3. Electrification of GO Transit is good news and just might happen, unless they give in to the great Canadian tradition of re-inventing the wheel. As far as extending GO service to Niagara, the big impediment is the canal crossing. If service to Niagara Falls could be expected to be on-time and relatively frequent, a fixed, high-level bridge must be built. Since the current jackknife span is already fairly high (compared with other bridges further south) over the canal a fixed bridge would not require extremely long, steep approaches, although for freight trains the existing span could be maintained. The Townline Tunnel also exists for trains, but is too far out of the way to be practicable for anything other than service from Hamilton to Welland and Fort Erie.

    Like

  4. As far as the Nay-sayers go regarding the electrification of the GO Transit Lines, I live over here in Tokyo Japan. They HAVE both diesel and electric trains running on the same track … that’s why there’s the high articulating “contact rod” to reach the wires over the tracks. Stow the comments about “how will they reach them?” or how can the deisel and electric trains work together … they just will. End of story.

    Steve: Diesel and electric operations co-exist all over the place. The main problem in the GTA is that certain locations require additional clearance to make room for the overhead. One of these is Union Station where the planned reconstruction of the trainshed will adjust the roof structure.

    Like

Comments are closed.