[waterloowarrior]

May 17, 2011 2:00 PM
http://www.news.ontario.ca/mto/en/2011/05/making-it-easier-for-commuters-to-get-on-the-go.html

McGuinty Government Building Better Public Transit, Creating More Than 3,500 Jobs

Ontario is building more GO stations, expanding service, and providing more parking for commuters — adding to 17,800 spaces already created since 2003.

New improvements to GO transit service are expected to create more than 3,500 jobs, and include:

· Expanding the Richmond Hill GO line north to Gormley by late 2013 to make room for more commuters, as well as the construction of a new layover facility at Bethesda Road.

· Extending GO rail service to the Kitchener-Waterloo area by the end of 2011, including three new stops at Acton, Guelph and Kitchener as well as the construction of a new layover facility in Kitchener.

· Transforming the GO terminal at Toronto's historic Union Station by 2015 to make it modern, bright and less congested for commuters.

· Adding more than 2,300 new parking spots this year and another 3,500 next year.

· Building a new GO bus maintenance facility and storage garage in Oshawa by fall 2012.

· Rolling out PRESTO to all GO stations by late spring 2011 which will mean more convenient and seamless travel for commuters.

GO Transit improvements are making it easier for commuters to take public transit and helping them get to where they need to be. Last year, GO commuters arrived on-time at their destinations 94 per cent of the time.

Investing in Ontario's roads, highways, transit, hospitals and schools is part of the government's plan to create jobs, grow local economies and ensure the province remains strong and competitive for years to come.

 

[waterloowarrior]

Niagara Peninsula Rail Service Expansion ESR
http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/improve/ea_niagara.aspx


http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3131817

Grimsby could be first to get GO rail service
St. Catharines a "likely option" for short-term end point
By Matthew Van Dongen, Standard Staff
Updated 2 hours ago
The province would "miss a huge opportunity" by only extending the first phase of Niagara commuter rail service to Grimsby, said the mayor of St. Catharines Thursday.

GO Transit released a much-anticipated consultant's report Thursday on the feasibility of extending subsidized GO Train service into the peninsula.

The Environmental Study Report doesn't make a recommendation on whether Ontario should green-light the prospective rail expansion, which could cost more than $1 billion if service extends all the way to Niagara Falls.

But consultant Burnside and Associates suggests a first-phase, $187-million rail expansion to Casablanca Blvd. in Grimsby "has a great deal of merit," while noting full service to Niagara Falls "can be considered, at this time, as a long-term future option."

Extending service to St. Catharines right away, by contrast, would cost about $204 million in grade separations, station and track upgrades, including a doubling of track from Nelles Rd. over the 20 Mile Creek bridge to 15th St.

That pricier option "still makes more sense" than stopping the first phase of expansion in Grimsby, argues St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan — especially given the city's participation in the 2015 Pan Am Games as an event host for rowing.

"I believe the province still has time to make a decision and have service in place for the games … They would miss a huge opportunity by not extending here in the first phase," he said, adding he supports stops in both Grimsby and Niagara Falls. "If they're going to make that kind of investment, they should at the least continue on to St. Catharines."

The report suggests a limited, peak-period commuter service transporting more than 3,800 people a day could be in place as early as 2015 — if the province decides to pay up.

No matter where the train stops in Niagara, the rail corridor will need at least $100 million in improvements and track doubling.

Provincial officials recognize there are a lot of "physical roadblocks" on the route to Niagara Falls, said St. Catharines Liberal MPP Jim Bradley.

The government will have to take into account those obstacles, passenger volumes and "availability of infrastructure funds" in deciding whether to go forward with the expansion, he said.

But Bradley, who was transportation minister when the study began in 2009, said he's "optimistic … we are moving in the direction of extending a service."

He couldn't say, however, when that might realistically happen.

McMullan hopes to see a decision before the provincial election in October.

"It's an election year, and I'm going to be reaching out to our representatives from all political parties to make that argument," he said. "I truly believe this is an initiative all parties can get behind."

The consultants did say St. Catharines is a more likely short-term candidate for a "terminal rail commuter station" than Niagara Falls, given the ongoing challenge of finding a train route over or under the Welland Canal.

The report estimates it would cost at least $750 million to build a bridge or tunnel to bypass the industrial canal's ship traffic, which has right of way over the northern peninsula trains that cross via lift-bridges.

It suggests, in the short term, shuttling passengers by bus the rest of the way to Niagara Falls from either St. Catharines or Grimsby.

Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati plans to derail that proposal.

"Our goal, without a doubt, is full-time year-round commuter service to Niagara Falls by 2015," he said after seeing the report Thursday. "I think it is ridiculous that anyone would say we need to spend a billion dollars to solve this (canal) problem."

Diodati said city officials have met several times with the St. Lawrence Seaway authorities and GO Transit executives to try and "reach an accommodation" on scheduling trains across the Welland Canal.

"What I can say is, I think we're very close to making it workable for all parties," Diodati said. "We're on it; we're going to make it work."

Grimsby Mayor Bob Bentley said he was happy to see his municipality singled out as a likely rail hub.

"We have a lot of commuters," he said. "And in terms of our future growth, a lot of it is going to happen on (the western) side of town."

Bentley added a new rail hub might provide the impetus his town needs to explore limited in-town transit.

The report author doesn't give an opinion on whether 3,800 riders a day — nearly 6,000 by 2031 — are worth a spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new train cars, track and station upgrades.

A ridership forecast provided by Paradigm Transportation Solutions, however, noted ridership levels "tend to be somewhat lower" than those on GO routes closer to the GTA.

That's partly due to the longer distances between Niagara's urban areas, the report notes, and the "attractiveness of the QEW highway corridor" for commuters who already drive to the Burlington GO Station.

McMullan called the ridership predictions "conservative," but argued they still back up the claims of Niagara municipalities that GO is a "necessity" to deal with growing congestion and increasingly dense population centres in the peninsula.

The public has 45 days to comment on the environmental study report, said GO Transit spokesman Malon Edwards.

If there are no objections, the report goes to the provincial environment minister for approval.

That doesn't guarantee cash for an expansion, however.

Edwards said GO Transit will still have to "prioritize" the expansion among the many pending commuter rail projects on the books. Ultimately, the province will have to decide whether to pay for the service or not.

To see or comment on the report, visit your local municipal clerk's office or check out www.gotransit.com.

mvandongen@stcatharinesstandard.ca

Potential expansion phases:

Option 1: Extend to Confederation station in Stoney Creek — $178 million;

Option 2: Extend to Casablanca station in Grimsby — $188 million;

Option 3: Extend to St. Catharines VIA station — $204 million;

Option 4: Extend to Niagara Falls VIA station (over or under canal) — $988 million.

 

[vegeta_skyline]

Niagara Falls Train service starts this weekend

Its just for the holiday weekend then it won't start again until July 24th.

 

[vegeta_skyline]

Niagara Peninsula Rail Service Expansion ESR
Extending service to St. Catharines right away, by contrast, would cost about $204 million in grade separations, station and track upgrades, including a doubling of track from Nelles Rd. over the 20 Mile Creek bridge to 15th St.

Funny thing is, that section actually was double tracked until 2001! (http://www.niagararails.com/grimsby.phtml)
It was one of CN's brilliant strategies to remove the rails to save on maintenance costs and thus help to increase they're ever so precious operating ratio to impress the share holders. Problem ended up being that the volumes kept increasing faster than expected leading to some serve congestion on the Grimsby sub. Ahh, just another one of those brilliant CNR managerial decisions. But now they got a made in GO solution! You want to add more service? Cool (since the additional track will greatly benefit us), you pay for it and by pay we mean everything.

Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati plans to derail that proposal.

"Our goal, without a doubt, is full-time year-round commuter service to Niagara Falls by 2015," he said after seeing the report Thursday. "I think it is ridiculous that anyone would say we need to spend a billion dollars to solve this (canal) problem."

Diodati said city officials have met several times with the St. Lawrence Seaway authorities and GO Transit executives to try and "reach an accommodation" on scheduling trains across the Welland Canal.

"What I can say is, I think we're very close to making it workable for all parties," Diodati said. "We're on it; we're going to make it work."

The man is a bit diluted, like most politicians. Keeping the trains on schedule was never the biggest problem(although it is a problem too, though the upgrades should help a lot with that), its the boats that come and go when they please.

 

[anddan]

Went by the Leslie St. & Gormley Rd location and snapped a few pictures

 

[unimaginative2]

lol, keep 'em coming.
Actually the costs of increasing service on the Georgetown & Milton lines are likely very similar. Similar in overall length, similar number of tracks 2-3 mainlines (in the sections where GO trains are sharing the tracks with mainline freights), similar methods of train control (exact same system of control - CTC, slightly different operating procedures). CP just seems to be more stubborn when it comes to these things then CN. Considering that the Georgetown line runs on CN's busy East-West corridor the Halton sub, which is equivalent to CP's Galt sub (where the Milton line runs on). For whatever reason GO & CN are more amendable to reach compromises then GO & CP. Perhaps because GO & CN traffic have been much more intermingled in GO's history or maybe because CN has had to deal extensively with other operations using they're lines such as GO, VIA and other short-line's like railamerica (http://www.railamerica.com/Railservices/GEXR.aspx) and CP itself! Where as CP rarely allows other company's to run over its tracks - though AMT in Montreal(they're version of GO transit, albeit significantly less service) runs more on CP tracks than CN's. Though different regions have different operating requirements and levels of congestion, as well as management who makes the final call. Personally I think CP's just trying to get as much as they can out of GO/Metrolinx/the government to pay for track any expansion which is more then required for the purposed levels of service.

It's interesting that while CP is considered to be a big pain for passenger rail in Canada, they host a large amount of Amtrak service and apparently Amtrak considers them to be one of the best freight railroads to work with.

 

[rbt]

It's interesting that while CP is considered to be a big pain for passenger rail in Canada, they host a large amount of Amtrak service and apparently Amtrak considers them to be one of the best freight railroads to work with.

Large amount? Only a handful of Amtrak routes go anywhere close to CP track in the United States. They might be nice to work with for getting into/out of Chicago.

 

[unimaginative2]

They host the entire Hiawatha service and they were apparently very accommodating to the recently-cancelled Wisconsin "high speed" rail service. I believe they also host the Empire Builder and the Adirondack.

 

[Long Island Mike]

Niagara Peninsula Rail Service Expansion ESR
http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/improve/ea_niagara.aspx


http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3131817

Grimsby could be first to get GO rail service
St. Catharines a "likely option" for short-term end point
By Matthew Van Dongen, Standard Staff
Updated 2 hours ago
The province would "miss a huge opportunity" by only extending the first phase of Niagara commuter rail service to Grimsby, said the mayor of St. Catharines Thursday.

GO Transit released a much-anticipated consultant's report Thursday on the feasibility of extending subsidized GO Train service into the peninsula.

The Environmental Study Report doesn't make a recommendation on whether Ontario should green-light the prospective rail expansion, which could cost more than $1 billion if service extends all the way to Niagara Falls.

But consultant Burnside and Associates suggests a first-phase, $187-million rail expansion to Casablanca Blvd. in Grimsby "has a great deal of merit," while noting full service to Niagara Falls "can be considered, at this time, as a long-term future option."

Extending service to St. Catharines right away, by contrast, would cost about $204 million in grade separations, station and track upgrades, including a doubling of track from Nelles Rd. over the 20 Mile Creek bridge to 15th St.

That pricier option "still makes more sense" than stopping the first phase of expansion in Grimsby, argues St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan — especially given the city's participation in the 2015 Pan Am Games as an event host for rowing.

"I believe the province still has time to make a decision and have service in place for the games … They would miss a huge opportunity by not extending here in the first phase," he said, adding he supports stops in both Grimsby and Niagara Falls. "If they're going to make that kind of investment, they should at the least continue on to St. Catharines."

The report suggests a limited, peak-period commuter service transporting more than 3,800 people a day could be in place as early as 2015 — if the province decides to pay up.

No matter where the train stops in Niagara, the rail corridor will need at least $100 million in improvements and track doubling.

Provincial officials recognize there are a lot of "physical roadblocks" on the route to Niagara Falls, said St. Catharines Liberal MPP Jim Bradley.

The government will have to take into account those obstacles, passenger volumes and "availability of infrastructure funds" in deciding whether to go forward with the expansion, he said.

But Bradley, who was transportation minister when the study began in 2009, said he's "optimistic … we are moving in the direction of extending a service."

He couldn't say, however, when that might realistically happen.

McMullan hopes to see a decision before the provincial election in October.

"It's an election year, and I'm going to be reaching out to our representatives from all political parties to make that argument," he said. "I truly believe this is an initiative all parties can get behind."

The consultants did say St. Catharines is a more likely short-term candidate for a "terminal rail commuter station" than Niagara Falls, given the ongoing challenge of finding a train route over or under the Welland Canal.

The report estimates it would cost at least $750 million to build a bridge or tunnel to bypass the industrial canal's ship traffic, which has right of way over the northern peninsula trains that cross via lift-bridges.

It suggests, in the short term, shuttling passengers by bus the rest of the way to Niagara Falls from either St. Catharines or Grimsby.

Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati plans to derail that proposal.

"Our goal, without a doubt, is full-time year-round commuter service to Niagara Falls by 2015," he said after seeing the report Thursday. "I think it is ridiculous that anyone would say we need to spend a billion dollars to solve this (canal) problem."

Diodati said city officials have met several times with the St. Lawrence Seaway authorities and GO Transit executives to try and "reach an accommodation" on scheduling trains across the Welland Canal.

"What I can say is, I think we're very close to making it workable for all parties," Diodati said. "We're on it; we're going to make it work."

Grimsby Mayor Bob Bentley said he was happy to see his municipality singled out as a likely rail hub.

"We have a lot of commuters," he said. "And in terms of our future growth, a lot of it is going to happen on (the western) side of town."

Bentley added a new rail hub might provide the impetus his town needs to explore limited in-town transit.

The report author doesn't give an opinion on whether 3,800 riders a day — nearly 6,000 by 2031 — are worth a spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new train cars, track and station upgrades.

A ridership forecast provided by Paradigm Transportation Solutions, however, noted ridership levels "tend to be somewhat lower" than those on GO routes closer to the GTA.

That's partly due to the longer distances between Niagara's urban areas, the report notes, and the "attractiveness of the QEW highway corridor" for commuters who already drive to the Burlington GO Station.

McMullan called the ridership predictions "conservative," but argued they still back up the claims of Niagara municipalities that GO is a "necessity" to deal with growing congestion and increasingly dense population centres in the peninsula.

The public has 45 days to comment on the environmental study report, said GO Transit spokesman Malon Edwards.

If there are no objections, the report goes to the provincial environment minister for approval.

That doesn't guarantee cash for an expansion, however.

Edwards said GO Transit will still have to "prioritize" the expansion among the many pending commuter rail projects on the books. Ultimately, the province will have to decide whether to pay for the service or not.

To see or comment on the report, visit your local municipal clerk's office or check out www.gotransit.com.

mvandongen@stcatharinesstandard.ca

Potential expansion phases:

Option 1: Extend to Confederation station in Stoney Creek — $178 million;

Option 2: Extend to Casablanca station in Grimsby — $188 million;

Option 3: Extend to St. Catharines VIA station — $204 million;

Option 4: Extend to Niagara Falls VIA station (over or under canal) — $988 million.

WW: Interesting information on a NFS GO Transit Rail extension...

There would have to be a crossing built over or under the Welland Canal which would make this extension-as prudent as it is-quite expensive and also GO would have to pay to restore double track on that line...

I am all for this extension...but will the WC "Roadblock" make this worthwhile despite the cost? I say "Yes" but...LI MIKE

 

[smallspy]

They host the entire Hiawatha service and they were apparently very accommodating to the recently-cancelled Wisconsin "high speed" rail service. I believe they also host the Empire Builder and the Adirondack.

Their US lines are probably dealt with separately than the Canadian ones, and even up here it is probably split by regions.

Out in the West, Rocky Mountaineer gets things done because they pay and arm and a leg, and don't make any onerous demands on CP - like a schedule, for instance. Meanwhile, WCE is screwed with their 5-trains-in and 5-trains-out schedule and is unable to expand.

Back here in the East, GO is talking about building a second set of tracks to almost Milton, and AMT is pondering the same out to Dorval.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[aleesia]

http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/improve/7953_Renforth_Gateway_PIC_June 2.pdf

IMO the Alternative 1 looks impressive and pretty ambitious, but are a little too costly.

Highlights (p.17) (final routing pending):

for the TTC:
- TTC route 32A could potentially be cancelled in place of 32 serving the western bus loop.
- All TTC routes serving Renforth (32 and 112+) will use the western bus loop.

for GO:
- buses will serve Kipling and points further north (York Region, etc.)
- buses will use only the eastern bus loop

for MiWay:
- buses will serve both loops (west and east)
- looks like 50 will be the only local route going to the subway from Eglinton
- looks like the rest (57, 18, 35, 27) will be cut to Renforth to take advantage of the new station.
- three BRT routes will serve the station (100, 107, 109)

 

[doady]

They should have gone for the transitway extension because it could be used for the Eglinton LRT in the future.

I think it is mistake to cut 35 at Renforth. All the TTC routes serve the Spectrum station. After all, the Toronto border extends Etobicoke Creek. TTC should be providing service to Toronto residents to destinations in Toronto.

 

[nfitz]

I think it is mistake to cut 35 at Renforth. All the TTC routes serve the Spectrum station.

The plan doesn't show any cut to the 32. It currently only goes to Commerce and then does a one-way loop around Explorer/Skymark. The future TTC Service Concept shows something similiar, except looping through the Renforth Transitway station. There hasn't been any TTC service between Renforth and Spectrum for some time ... it was operated on behalf of Mississauga Transit, and they cut it last year.

After all, the Toronto border extends Etobicoke Creek. TTC should be providing service to Toronto residents to destinations in Toronto.

Everything on the North side of Eglinton, west of Renforth is in Mississauga. The border runs up Etobicoke Creek to Eglinton, then east to Renforth, and up Renforth. There's not really anything in Toronto left to serve west of Renforth, other than parkland, and a Tim Horton's.

 

[doady]

The plan doesn't show any cut to the 32. It currently only goes to Commerce and then does a one-way loop around Explorer/Skymark. The future TTC Service Concept shows something similiar, except looping through the Renforth Transitway station. There hasn't been any TTC service between Renforth and Spectrum for some time ... it was operated on behalf of Mississauga Transit, and they cut it last year.

I meant to say TTC should serve Spectrum.

Everything on the North side of Eglinton, west of Renforth is in Mississauga. The border runs up Etobicoke Creek to Eglinton, then east to Renforth, and up Renforth. There's not really anything in Toronto left to serve west of Renforth, other than parkland, and a Tim Horton's.

There is industry on Toronto's side at Spectrum. Of course you knew that already, I don't why I even bother responding to your post.

 

[nfitz]

There is industry on Toronto's side at Spectrum.

There is ... not much though. I can't imagine it would generate that many trips. And all are within walking distance of the Orbitor and Spectrum Transitway stations. Instead of having TTC run an extra 4 km of service on the Eglinton bus, it seems it would make a lot more sense to (finally) come to a suitable arrangement between the various agencies for passengers to use each other's system.

Even if TTC did run the one bus every 30 minutes that demand in this area may justify, then I'd expect most passengers to simply walk to the Transitway anyway.