I would think the land costs alone to get rail to the foot of the hills would be pretty steep (likewise to the Beach) but I am only speculating (as, no doubt, would others
). Much of the land to the southwest of town is zoned residential, and I will guess already in the hands of developers.
I'm not going to attempt that estimate today, I actually have work on my desk; which i mostly set aside for posting here this morning! LOL Maybe later.
Part of me wonders why GO, whose primary mandate is to deliver a GTHA commuter network, is involved in what is essentially a tourist train to Niagara Falls in the first place. Perhaps it is filling a vacuum, but the argument is similar to proponents who wish to see GO expand to London, Brantford, etc. I'm not even sure how these services fit into its legislated mandate (he said without looking it up).
GO, I would argue is, at its core, a commuter rail service to Toronto, and would, as-of-right (in terms of intent, if not statute) run as far as the GTA commutershed reaches.
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That said, I have argued for GO Hubs in multiple locations throughout Ontario.
Its not a matter of expanding Toronto's commutershed per se, but acknowledging that there are Woodstock-London, St. Thomas-London, and even K-W-London commuters. Similar profiles existing in other areas,
where commuting goes well beyond traditional municipal or even regional boundaries.
There's a place for a provider similar to GO (both rail and bus) which is not Toronto-centric.
Saves reinventing the wheel and creating new carriers here, there and everywhere.
ONTC is already something like GO in the north, albeit with very limited passenger rail, a small ridership/scale, and a freight rail business that GO lacks.
I don't know that one requires ONTC to be absorbed by or branded as 'GO'.......its a similar idea at any rate.
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As to legislative mandates, I would tend to suggest that these can and should evolve.
In the same way that VIA should evolve and others. Not merely in transportation either.
The world is not static and neither should its institutions be such.