I see no wire. MP40 out of shot, shoving. I thought Stoney Creek wasn't in the electrification plan anyway.
Not before 2025, but, see below.
Artwork does get vetted with important people, so it conveys a general sense of the vision, but any resemblance to any specific product is likely coincidental.
Yes, it might be a very distant someday-hint or vision of electricification towards Niagara.
This is the most logical route for electricifation extension of Lakeshore RER (beyond 2025).
The JamesNorth/Confederation GO corridor is a 50-kilometer straight arrow all the way to Welland canal near Niagara Falls, and theoretically can be someday upgraded to high performance commuter train operation (160kph+) or high speed operation (250kph, 300kph). Even the biggest deviation (Grimbsy 3-degree hump) is 300kph-turning-radius-compatible with a very tiny adjustment.
Especially if the U.S. someday goes through with their Acela idea for the Empire corridor -- imagine Acela Express coming to Toronto Union in 2035 or 2045! It would help "justify" the billion-dollar Welland canal rail-grade-separation, and finally give Niagara their all-day 2-way GO service in a reasonable timescale, if it can piggyback off a long-term electricification down this corridor. At least as an omnibus infrastructure project to provide Niagara pennisula with frequent RER service while also linking to any of U.S. future electric high speed network just across the border, replacing the current Amtrak train with Acela Expresses. It may not happen in our lifetimes, but the 'natural rail corridor of electricification' justifies using an EMU to Stoney Creek in that diagram if it is meant to be an intentional teaser/dream of a RER Phase II.
If we hear USA officially announce electricifying to the Canadian border, you can bet your bank that Metrolinx is going to 'eventually' approve a future megaproject to extend GO RER to Niagara Falls, with full grade separation to the border. Then Acela Express can simply 'slowly' taxi to Toronto Union at 140kph-160kph on our existing simply-electricified-grade-separated Lakeshore rail (instead of today's even slower Amtrak). Someday we upgrade sections of the rail to faster, then we suddenly decide we also want to upgrade our Lakeshore GO RER express trains to Lakeshore GO HSR express bullet trains (circa 2050 A.D.?), moving Niagara Falls/St. Catharines, Hamilton, and Oakville faster to Union as a three-stop or four-stop HSR-lite route running parallel to existing allstop GO RER trains. It's a dreamy vision of course, and not viable for a few decades, but it's really a logical route after further densification, given the theoretical 300kph-capable straightarrow alignment of the JamesNorth/Confederation corridor, and there's reserved corridor space for lots more trackage in the Niagara Pennisula straight-arrow corridors.
It could possibly all converge to this within our lifetimes (At least amongst the younger ones of us). If we spent a fraction of the money we spent on freeways, on such rail vision, we'd already have this today. Now, if GO continues to spend $13.5bn every 10 years like this GO RER phase, we may see HSR on Lakeshore corridor by 2050 -- it's well within multiple cycles of $13.5bn 10-year budgets -- and the Lakeshore rail all the way to Niagara are nearly all straight arrows except for the curve around the west end of Lake Ontario. Niagara Falls residents can theoretically get downtown Toronto in barely above 30 minutes (45 minutes if including a few stops, like St. Catharines, Hamilton and Oakville); providing super-massive densification opportunities to both Niagara and Hamilton (gaining metro-size populations). If you imagine ahead to 2050+, one easily observes that the Lakeshore corridor is an excellent candidate for high speed trains due to its straight-arrow nature both north/south of Lake Ontario (except at the Hamilton curvearound) especially since we're already going to electricify this corridor. They may even install electricification structures in such a way that the overhead wire is easily upgradeable to high speed compatible electric cable. Then, as old track and ballast gets replaced, they can be replaced with higher-speed-rated track incrementally, speed limits upgraded in sections, grade separation completes on the whole corridor, crossovers replaced with high-speed-compatible ones, old express trainsets replaced with HSR trainsets after end-of-life, etc. If successive RER mega-budgets continue, bullet Lakeshore express GO trains may even be within our lifetimes through the incremental approach, for St Catharines-Niagara and Hamilton, if those population centres boom for several decades after LRT and RER upgrade cycles, justifying HSR express trains for those population centres. HSR trains do need 15km to accelerate to 300kph, and much less than that to accelerate to 250kph, so those speeds are possible in the straight arrows between Oakville and just before Hamilton (lake curve), and between Hamilton and St. Catharines. Commuter HSR 250kph for corridors similiar to Lakeshore West (50km straight-arrow hops), is found in some other countries already.
Yes, we may be reading too much into these Metrolinx powerpoint diagrams.
But we know some of them at Metrolinx are dreamers too -- and want to catch attention.
It is quite logical if you think decades ahead, though...