royalrivers
Active Member
Go train ridership up – what’s next for GO riders?
http://gokw.org/?p=623
According to sources, GO Train ridership between Acton and Kitchener is up to a few hundred a day, I’m told about 500. This is good news if true. Continued ridership growth means GO will get serious about further investments.
About 30 minutes can be shaved off a GO train commute, possibly even 15 minutes more if express to union are implemented.
Politics and money will surely play a role in what happens, but in no particular order here is what could happen:
At-grade crossings in Guelph cost GO 10+ minutes – close/underpass all roads in Guelph would cost $40M
At grade crossings in Kitchener – Weber St is already in progress, others will cost about $40-60M.
Fix Breslau Bridge – $20-40M (This is the slow point just outside of Kitchener)
Add CTC signals to entire line ($20M ?)
Change a departure to Express (Express from Georgetown to Toronto and vice/versa would be ideal!) – $0?
Some of this is expensive, some of this isn’t. It’s up to GO to prioritize what is next but it will be the money that makes it happen. Ridership growth will only help make it happen – faster trains = more riders.
From this list it seems clear that changing one of the GO departures – perhaps the under utilized train to Express may help people jump on it and increase ridership from the west at the expense of riders from the east..
http://gokw.org/?p=623
According to sources, GO Train ridership between Acton and Kitchener is up to a few hundred a day, I’m told about 500. This is good news if true. Continued ridership growth means GO will get serious about further investments.
About 30 minutes can be shaved off a GO train commute, possibly even 15 minutes more if express to union are implemented.
Politics and money will surely play a role in what happens, but in no particular order here is what could happen:
At-grade crossings in Guelph cost GO 10+ minutes – close/underpass all roads in Guelph would cost $40M
At grade crossings in Kitchener – Weber St is already in progress, others will cost about $40-60M.
Fix Breslau Bridge – $20-40M (This is the slow point just outside of Kitchener)
Add CTC signals to entire line ($20M ?)
Change a departure to Express (Express from Georgetown to Toronto and vice/versa would be ideal!) – $0?
Some of this is expensive, some of this isn’t. It’s up to GO to prioritize what is next but it will be the money that makes it happen. Ridership growth will only help make it happen – faster trains = more riders.
From this list it seems clear that changing one of the GO departures – perhaps the under utilized train to Express may help people jump on it and increase ridership from the west at the expense of riders from the east..