[Bordercollie]

Moving the VIA station from Aldershot to West Harbour makes enormous sense now. Let's hope that happens @Chris R.

I think that Aldershot and Oakville are too close. The only issue is that only the maple leaf would serve west harbour.

What they r

Opening a Hamilton station might make sense, but does closing Aldershot make sense? It's primary function for VIA is for the London-Toronto trains, not the far less frequent Amtrak train to New York City.

It's not difficult to get from Aldershot to West Harbour. If VIA was to add a stop, I wonder if Centennial would make more sense.

But they also use Oakville. Do you need Aldershot and Oakville?

 

[Sunnyside]

I think that Aldershot and Oakville are too close. The only issue is that only the maple leaf would serve west harbour.

What they r

But they also use Oakville. Do you need Aldershot and Oakville?

Aldershot is functionally Hamilton’s station. Oakville is functionally the ‘just-out-of-Toronto’ and generally the Western GTA Station. You can’t close either without pissing off a large cohort. Though I’d say neither serve their newfound roles very well.

I would agree that if you can’t get through service for a station in Hamilton, it won’t be worth it. Amtrak should really stop at West Harbour, though.

 

[nfitz]

But they also use Oakville. Do you need Aldershot and Oakville?

Yes.

They explictly chose to add service at Aldershot. It's 21 km between the stations - and a lot more convenient for anyone in Hamilton. Where would people in Hamilton catch trains to London and beyond? I also found the direct trains from Aldershot to Montreal useful when I used to live that way.

21 km is longer than the 16 km between Guildwood and Union, 11 km between Cobourg and Port Hope, or the 16 km between Dorval and Central station.

It's only 22.5 between Kitchener and Guelph - perhaps VIA should leave Guelph station after the new expressway opens.

 

[just east of the creek]

At least they don't need to make that backup move to the station. Any chance Amtrak/via will use this stop?

Via used to have track slots to Niagara and with the new equipment it would be nice to have. Even though GO has plans for all day train service to Niagara, express trains would nice to compete with car travel times. I did hear that sometimes the QEW is so bad it can take 3-4 hours to travel from Niagara to Toronto

Re QEW and the answer is “sometimes”??? Stop and Go traffic, most often including the HOV lanes, is a regular occurrence, both eastbound and westbound, from anywhere in Oakville through the QEW to the area of the Red Hill or through the 403 Hamilton, up the mountain and approaching HWY 52.

So yes to express, and increased service, and start thinking about reaching Branford. Express speed connections, and not always ending in Toronto. I have a couple of friends catching the train from West Hamilton to Burlington and Oakville stations re work situations.

 

[Chris R.]

Moving the VIA station from Aldershot to West Harbour makes enormous sense now. Let's hope that happens @Chris R.

I would be a big fan of this. I've never actually used VIA, but as service has changed, and my interest in driving to Montreal has waned, I've started debating it more and stopping at West Harbour could likely push us over the edge to doing it.

 

[drum118]

Considering the old CN Station is next door that once service Hamilton, having a VIA Station at WH would open the door for more riders regardless there is only an Amtrak train once a day going both direction. Still need Aldershot for the Windsor/London/Sarnia train as it will still service a different market than WH. There is a lot of parking spots at WH with a fair amount block off due to lack of need.

It would have been nice to see the old CN station brought back in place as a GO/VIA station than the current WH one.