I am moving Aldershot electrification (from outside this thread) to this thread, to show that Aldershot definitely needs to be electrified.
In
Appendix A, released March 2016, electrification to Aldershot is the
default scenario right now.
Scaleback of electrification to Burlington is
only a "further study" PLAN B scenario.
It's my opinion that:
"Aldershot Should Be Electrified"
My arguments are as follows:
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And....
(Everything else now under construction fronting Plains near Waterdown, on this point forward, now has ground floor retail)
Thanks partially to Aldershot GO all-day service -- these are all clustered within 500 meters of Waterdown Rd.
I can post more.
And beyond this, they have more demolition-and-developments planned.
(Surprised yet, reaperexpress?)
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Explanation of changes in this map:
Electrification in the first phase is only slated to go as far as Burlington, since GO only owns the track that far.
Actually, in the RER Appendix A, they explicitly say that they are considering both Aldershot/Burlington scenarios. Aldershot electrification is mentioned repeatedly. This is supposedly accomplished by building an extra track between Burlington and Aldershot, according to the Metrolinx docs.
Aldershot likely cannot be discontinued -- it is almost as busy as Oakville in morning peak. Hundreds unto hundreds boarding one train. I walked a train as it departed. Every single quad above below averaged 1 person, about 350-500 on that particular 7:30am train even before it rolled into Burlington. (That's the one train that often gets standees before reaching Oakville). I have even seen all nearly 2,000 parking spots taken at Aldershot. Many cars have Cambridge plates as well as places like Ancaster, it is pretty much "the westmost station" north of the lake on the Lakeshore before it curves around, so it has a massive commuter catchment.
Aldershot is also about to urbanize a lot more...developers are now about to build a
massive amount of Euro-style modernist cube 3-storey towns and new retail shopping right next to Aldershot GO ...there is a big advertizing blitz around Aldershot Parking South as well as ads within the station, and I saw a sign nearby recruiting retail too..
(This is only half the site...it stretches onwards behind me.)
Retail is part of this development adjacent to Aldershot GO south parking lot.
(Credit:
Station West by ADI)
"...This 13 acre development in west Burlington is located in an area that calls for
hyper intensification by the City of Burlington..."
I'd bet my mortgage Aldershot will still be around in twenty years - and it may end up very badly needing an Oakville style multilevel parking garage, mark my words... (Even if I wish it weren't the case). It was a station in the middle of nowhere but very slowly destined to becoming a little less so with the new construction going on.
Here is Aldershot parking
massively overflowing during a game:
(Soon, retail and urban towns in that backdrop)
It seemed 400+ (MINIMUM) car overflow, as cars were parked on the grass in the north parking lot peripheries, and cars were also streetside parked on multiple side streets near the south parking of Aldershot GO station. Many commuters turned away, giving up.
I wave off the silly nonsense Fantasyland notion that Aldershot can ever be discontined as a GO station...even if I agree it probably should never have been built as an Amtrak-style manoever in the earlier rail decimation.
I come here twice a day, on most days.
Observation: Aldershot is
definitely here to stay, even as I will catch AD2W trains directly from Hamilton.
Also, besides, Aldershot electrification is mentioned explicitly via additional track to Aldershot, in Appendix A. I hope so, as it makes the mentioned (unfunded, "further study") Hamilton electrification more likely to happen after this RER phase, possibly 2022 or 2026 election.
In fact....Aldershot electrification is apparently a possible new default scenario
with scaleback to Burlington only a "Further Study" scenario, as seen in this excerpt from Metrolinx's Appendix A (as of April 2016)
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With several new condo towers completed on Plains recently within walk of Aldershot GO, there are now starting to be more offpeak non-Hamilton embark/disembarks at Aldershot than at Appleby/Bronte.
Aldershot (south of tracks) is in a hard full-throttle journey to becoming much more urban than Appleby/Bronte!
With such incredible development momentum at Aldershot, and highly targeted for "
hyper intensification" (quoted), Metrolinx should not be shortsighted given these developments, and trunctate electrification at Burlington (especially given Aldershot circa 2025, not to mention anything that might happen after 2025).
Also, the closer electrification reaches Hamilton, the sooner Hamilton electrification can also happen (e.g. funded after 2022 or 2026 elections) -- the journey times would actually be faster than Hamilton 16 express even offpeak/nighttime -- without even accounting for peak period.