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Prometheus The Supremo

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GO studies Bolton rail service

Saturday April 19 2008
By Adam Martin-Robbins, Staff Writer

The plan to bring GO train service to Bolton is chugging along, says the Town's key transportation staffer.
"According to what I've heard, an RFP (request for proposals) for the feasibility study will be issued next week," said Haiqing Xu, Caledon's senior transportation planner. "GO has already set aside $80 million for this project over the next ten years, this is very encouraging."

The feasibility study, which is expected to be completed by October, will look at a number of short-term and long-term rail service scenarios, a Town staff report says.

Those scenarios include a train shuttle between Bolton and the Weston GO train station in northwest Etobicoke and 'direct rail service' between Bolton and Union Station in downtown Toronto through York Region.

The study will also look at the level of service required for Bolton, including how many trains are needed and at what time of day.

The three scenarios to be considered include limited service consisting of one to six trains heading south during the morning rush and north during the evening rush hours; limited service with trains running in both directions in off-peak times every hour; and full service including six or more trains running every 15 minutes, during the morning and evening rush, express trains during peak times, off-peak trains running both directions every 30 to 60 minutes and 'counter peak revenue service,' which means trains running north to Bolton during the morning rush hour and south to Toronto during the evening rush.

Bolton commuters are currently served by GO buses travelling south during the morning rush hour and north in the evening.

"It's nice to see GO has set aside $80 million because it's long overdue," said Regional Councillor Annette Groves. "I know the community of Bolton has been quite interested."

According to Xu, that money will cover the cost of building a train station and a parking lot in Bolton, but not adding another set of tracks, which might be necessary if the number of cargo trains using the existing tracks is too high.

"Everything is covered except the twinning of tracks," he said. "If twinning is necessary, additional funding will be required."

Councillor Nick deBoer said it's unlikely GO trains will be able to roll into town unless a second set of tracks are installed since the railway line is likely at full capacity now with freight trains.

"If you're going to say you can run trains there without twinning the tracks, you might as well say you're going to run them up Highway 50."

http://www.caledonenterprise.com/news/article/47202


it's good news. i wonder where the stations will be?
 
Islington and the 407...


covers North Toronto and Woodbridge.


Near Kleinberg and Highway 27...


and King Street in Bolton...
 
Stations:
*Union (North Toronto & Spadina if the rumours that Union will be full are true)
*Bloor (If by Union)
*Mount Dennis (connection with Eglinton-Crosstown)
*Weston
*Emery (connection with Finch-Etobicoke)
*Woodbridge
*Kleinburg/Nashville (will probably be named Kleinburg, but likely will be in historic village of Nashville)
*Bolton
Possible Extensions:
*Palgrave
*Tottenham
*Beeton (via South Simcoe Railway)
*Alliston

You guys truly have no idea how important this story is.

Five years ago, Caledon and the concept of transit was like soap and water.

People up here are afraid that transit will cause people to build illegal basement apartments and will result in "homeless people running around." (That quote is from a councillor based on a conversation i had with them - their identity is protected).

Hopefully train service will result in people saying "hey.... I live too far from the train station to walk and the parking lot is full every day... Why can't there be a local bus to get me to the station?"
 
I agree with your station locations, Red Rocket. That's a pretty hilarious quotation from the councillor, too! Just like all the homeless people running around in other GO-served cities...Richmond Hill? Oakville?

If they're actually starting to claim that Union Station is full, they're nuts. European, let alone Japanese, stations with comparable numbers of tracks put through ten times as many trains. If they really are short of tracks, they should just poach some from VIA, which often lets empty trains sit in the station for hours.
 
If they're actually starting to claim that Union Station is full, they're nuts. European, let alone Japanese, stations with comparable numbers of tracks put through ten times as many trains. If they really are short of tracks, they should just poach some from VIA, which often lets empty trains sit in the station for hours.

SeanTrans made a really good suggestion at Metronauts a few weeks ago. One of the reasons why union is congested is because trains enter the station then back out. Once we get all day service and REX, we can keep the trains moving and it will free up some capacity. The advanced signaling should help too.

And let me clear... The councilor said that residents were afraid of homeless people running around. He didn't say that he was afraid... so I guess that makes it a slightly less offensive comment. Slightly.
 
The study will also look at the level of service required for Bolton, including how many trains are needed and at what time of day.

The three scenarios to be considered include limited service consisting of one to six trains heading south during the morning rush and north during the evening rush hours; limited service with trains running in both directions in off-peak times every hour; and full service including six or more trains running every 15 minutes, during the morning and evening rush, express trains during peak times, off-peak trains running both directions every 30 to 60 minutes and 'counter peak revenue service,' which means trains running north to Bolton during the morning rush hour and south to Toronto during the evening rush.

Bolton commuters are currently served by GO buses travelling south during the morning rush hour and north in the evening.

I find it amusing they have to commission a study to determine what level of service is needed for Bolton. I could tell you right now that Bolton doesn't qualify for "limited service", never mind "full service". Even Milton doesn't have the above definition of "limited service" (trains every hour? I wish!)

That said, where you need 3 or 4 trains a day, you might have to study that, and the exact times, and whether you need to twin the tracks as they mentioned.

Stations:
*Union (North Toronto & Spadina if the rumours that Union will be full are true)
*Mount Dennis (connection with Eglinton-Crosstown)
*Weston
*Emery (connection with Finch-Etobicoke)
*Woodbridge
*Kleinburg/Nashville (will probably be named Kleinburg, but likely will be in historic village of Nashville)
*Bolton
Possible Extensions:
*Palgrave
*Tottenham
*Beeton (via South Simcoe Railway)
*Alliston

A little optimistic Red Rocket? 6/10 stations? You gotta be kidding! Pray for one stop in Toronto and maybe 1 or 2 before Bolton if you're lucky.

That said, I support the expansion of GO to Bolton, but let's be realistic about stop spacing. This is a GO train, not a subway or S-bahn.
 
Well why don't we push for it to be the regional rail pilot project?

The beauty of a GO Train is that you don't have to build all the stops in one shot
 
RedRocket's list is standard GO stop spacing, if not longer. It's very logical and realistic. The only stop that is unlikely is Mount Dennis. But for that matter, he forgot the existing station at Bloor.
 
RedRocket's list is standard GO stop spacing, if not longer. It's very logical and realistic. The only stop that is unlikely is Mount Dennis. But for that matter, he forgot the existing station at Bloor.

:p I'm usually asleep by then so bloor doesn't count.
 
RedRocket's list is standard GO stop spacing, if not longer. It's very logical and realistic. The only stop that is unlikely is Mount Dennis. But for that matter, he forgot the existing station at Bloor.

Ah but don't forget now, the Milton line also bypasses the Bloor stop even though it'd be relatively simple to accomodate it ;)!

The only way I could foresee a permanent GO station at Black Creek/Eglinton is to shut down the existing stop in Weston. It's simply too close (roughly 1 km) otherwise.
 
Ah but don't forget now, the Milton line also bypasses the Bloor stop even though it'd be relatively simple to accomodate it ;)!

Sure, but that's not relevant because the Bolton service will be using the same tracks as Georgetown where the existing Bloor platforms are.
 
Stations:
*Union (North Toronto & Spadina if the rumours that Union will be full are true)
*Bloor (If by Union)
*Mount Dennis (connection with Eglinton-Crosstown)
*Weston
*Emery (connection with Finch-Etobicoke)
*Woodbridge
*Kleinburg/Nashville (will probably be named Kleinburg, but likely will be in historic village of Nashville)
*Bolton
Possible Extensions:
*Palgrave
*Tottenham
*Beeton (via South Simcoe Railway)
*Alliston

it makes sense to extend it to Alliston in maybe 15 year, with the expansion of the Honda Plant, tons of houses are going up in that area
 
The only way I could foresee a permanent GO station at Black Creek/Eglinton is to shut down the existing stop in Weston. It's simply too close (roughly 1 km) otherwise.

I disagree.

It's actually more than 2.5 KM away, which is longer than the distance from Centennial GO to Markham GO.

I ride that train daily, so it could be done with only adding three minutes to the travel time, which is the standard time added when you put in a new stop on any GO line.
 
Sure, but that's not relevant because the Bolton service will be using the same tracks as Georgetown where the existing Bloor platforms are.

Would it? The Bolton line runs on CP tracks, so wouldn't it connect to the Galt Sub rather than the Weston? As I mentioned in another thread, I'd like to see GO buy that whole line south of the Junction anyway, and make it into a real four-track main. The tracks are already there. It's just a matter of signalling and crossovers.
 
This map should help explain.

- Running North-South across the junction is the CN Weston Sub (Toronto to Brampton outskirts)
- Curving from south to west is the CP Galt subdivision (Toronto to London)
- Running East-West across the junction is the CP North Toronto subdivision (Agincourt Yard to the yard just west of the junction).
- Curving from east to north is the CP Mactier subdivision (Osler Ave to northern Ontario)
- Curving from west to north is the connecting track between the Mactier and the Galt

Bolton is on the Mactier Sub, so the only was to get there from Union is to use the Weston Sub to cross the diamond. To use the connecting track, the train would have to enter West Toronto Yard then back down the connection.

The other option would be to stay on the Mactier, switch onto the North Toronto and head towards Summerhill.

The current setup is more than adequate to handle Bolton trains. The choke-point is the capacity of the Toronto Terminals Railway
 

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