I'm getting really sick of these slick-yet-empty videos from Metrolinx. We did "lots of work"...Uhh, great: what was the total scope, and how much did you accomplish in that given time period? It's a construction project so you are tracking that stuff, why can't you share it in any more detail than an effing TikTok. It's absurd and embarrassing when you get that, yet there are trees growing out of untamped / unbalasted track at a new / "soon to be open" station.
Yeah it's pretty difficult to swallow these self-congratulatory posts about completing infrastructure while the infrastructure in question is still completely unusable.
Kennedy has a second platform but it is unreachable because they haven't built a crossover south of the station.
Milliken has a second platform but it is unreachable because they haven't built the second track at the Highland Creek bridge.
Agincourt has a second platform but it is unreachable for the same reason.
Unionville has a third platform and it can theoretically be used, but it doesn't currently accomplish anything given that the aforementioned bridge restricts the number of trains that could reach Unionville.
Mount Dennis has a 4th platform but it is unreachable because there is no crossover south of the station.
Weston has a 4th platform and it can theoretically be used but it doesn't seem to line up correctly with the other passing locations to form a useful passing track.
There are two completed tunnels under Hwy 401 to add a fourth track and eliminate the current speed restriction but tracks cannot be installed in them until Etobicoke North station is demolished, and that's not planned to happen until 2030 when Woodbine Racetrack station opens. We will be paying for maintenance of these tunnels for a decade before a single train passes through.
https://woodbinecommunityplan.com/#timeline
Guelph has a 2nd platform and it can theoretically be reached but it would involve driving through the station on the other track and backing in, since construction hasn't even started on the western half of the second track that will connect it to the mainline.
Breslau has a completed second track but until the Acton or Guelph tracks are completed it doesn't enable any increase in service. In the meantime the nonsensical switch configuration in Breslau means that every train needs to slow from 110 km/h to 70 km/h to switch tracks in Breslau regardless of whether it's meeting a train in the other direction (and none of them are). And even with the planned track reconfiguration in a later contract, the trains that need to slow to switch tracks will be the ones that are NOT stopping at the station, rather than the ones who need to slow down anyway to stop.
And even once the Guelph and Acton passing tracks are completed, there will be very limited potential for all-day service through to Toronto because the second platform at Georgetown hasn't been tendered yet.
And even once the second platform at Georgetown is complete - finally making hourly service to Kitchener physically possible - CN will likely limit the number of slots given to GO until the Credit River grade separation is complete.
Rutherford has a second platform but it is unreachable because the work at Maple isn't done yet. And even once Maple's work is done I'm guessing it will be unreachable for a long time before they issue a contract to connect the second track at those stations to each other and to the existing double track on both ends.
Some of these are due to unforeseen construction delays (Highland Creek bridge), but some of them seem like bizarre infrastructure planning. Why did they choose to build those tunnels under the 401 a decade before they could be used, rather than the countless other projects on their list that could have actually provided usable infrastructure immediately? And why did nobody create a contract for an interim track arrangement that would allow the second platform at Kennedy to be used during the many many years between its completion and the completion of double track through the new grade separation under Danforth Road? Why was there such a delay in issuing the contract for the western half of the second track in Guelph? If it were complete we could have hourly service between Kitchener and Guelph by now.
