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Which overpass is that EnviroTO?

That is on the Barrie-Bradford-Newmarket line at Snider Junction over the CN line which runs across the top of Toronto. It just opened this past year so that trains no longer have to wait for clearance from CN. Construction for underpasses are underway on the Stouffville line crossing the same CN line and at West Toronto under the CP tracks.
 
I always thought it was interesting that they were building them for Snider and Hagerman, but not at Doncaster. They're going to have to do a lot more improvements do the Uxbridge sub before they can have real frequent service. I wish they'd buy Talents like they were talking and offer a real, urban service.
 
Unfortunately, the article writer doesn't seem to understand much about transit. This seems to be a re-iteration of the committment to double the tracks up to Barrie, which should lead to all-day service.

I love the comparison between the Liberal and Tory committments to transit. The Tories offer $150 million a year for transit and the same for roads, while the Liberals offer $17.3 billion for transit over twelve years.


Liberals vow to restore Barrie train if re-elected
NDP cut GO service to and from Toronto in 1993

CAROLINE ALPHONSO

With a report from Karen Howlett in London, Ont.

September 26, 2007

BARRIE -- GO train service between Toronto and Barrie, scheduled to resume at the end of the year, would be expanded if the Liberals were re-elected, party Leader Dalton McGuinty said yesterday.

Mr. McGuinty criticized the NDP for cutting the service in 1993 and the Progressive Conservatives for not restoring it during their time in office.

The Liberals announced a year ago they would spend $250-million of their $17.5-billion MoveOntario2020 transportation plan to get four trains running between Barrie and Toronto by the end of this year.

Two-thirds of MoveOntario - which calls for 95 per cent of the 52 construction projects to be completed by 2020 - will be paid for by the province. The province has asked Ottawa to help out with the remaining money, but it still waiting for a response.

Speaking at a converted train repair station in Barrie, Mr. McGuinty said his government would double the tracks and therefore double the number of trains over time if re-elected.

"That's really important for families to have as an alternative available to them, a user-friendly affordable means of commuting to and from Toronto," he said.

"It relieves stress, it will reduce time ... and, of course, it's good for the environment."

At another campaign stop in Mississauga yesterday, Mr. McGuinty said $100-million of MoveOntario funds would be invested over the next two years in 20 new GO Trains, 10 double-decker buses, a new transit terminal in Markham and six new hybrid buses for Hamilton.

Critics say voters should greet Mr. McGuinty's transit promises with skepticism.

"I would ask people to ask themselves, how many shovels have been put in the ground in four years of Mr. McGuinty's government and how many of his promises like this one has he kept in four years?

"I think the answer is basically none," Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory told reporters at a campaign stop in London, Ont.

He said a Progressive Conservative government would pump $150-million into transit and the same amount into roads next year.
 
"I would ask people to ask themselves, how many shovels have been put in the ground in four years of Mr. McGuinty's government and how many of his promises like this one has he kept in four years?

"I think the answer is basically none," Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory told reporters at a campaign stop in London, Ont.

GO Trip has quite a number of projects underway. The Spadina extension is funded.

He said a Progressive Conservative government would pump $150-million into transit and the same amount into roads next year.

McGuinty could break his funding promise by reducing it 50% and still be spending more on transit.
 
Actually, he could cut it by over 90% and still be spending more.

Tory also promised to fund his transit promise by "spending all of the gas tax on transportation." Unfortunately, all of the gas tax is already spend on transportation.
 
GO Transit puts improvements into overdrive

JOHN BARBER

November 29, 2007

I don't think I ever did anything crueler to my son than to send him to Guelph on public transit at the age of 15. You want them to be self-sufficient, you know they have to learn by doing, but I still flush with shame at the memory of the poor guy stumbling home 12 hours later, numb and trembling, having spent seven hours travelling 90 kilometres on the GO "system," missing the event that inspired the journey as a result, then spending another five hours struggling home again.

My cursory glance at the schedule the evening before had not revealed the hidden pitfall of three-hour layovers in beautiful downtown Brampton. It was my fault. Thinking he was ready to make his own way in the world, I had casually pushed him into a nightmare.

What was I thinking? There are few grown men with the courage and resourcefulness to take public transit to Guelph.

Around the same time, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced a quite spectacular $17-billion investment to alleviate the nightmare, promising improvements to the GO system that will "make a difference between hearing about your daughter's first soccer goal or seeing it for yourself."

Apart from the fact that I had selfishly expected public transit to help me avoid attending my child's distant sports matches, that folksy message hit home, maybe even bought a vote. My transit-traumatized teen will be old and grey before the last billion is spent, but every nickel is necessary.

The proof of the promise is that they're already flowing.

"It's exciting times," GO czar Gary McNeil remarked in an interview yesterday, checking off a long list of current and pending improvements to the system, from new stairwells at Union Station to the ultimate dream of electrifying the Lakeshore corridor, which the Premier promised to make real with his billions.

The system is growing by "leaps and bounds" thanks to "really strong support from all three levels of government," according to Mr. McNeil. GO is laying new tracks, building new sheds and parking garages, installing a $280-million switching system and taking delivery of the first of 53 new diesel locomotives - at $5-million per - to replace its entire existing fleet.

The new diesels "will allow us to pull 12-car trains, so that's a 20-per-cent increase in capacity right there," Mr. McNeil said.

With the new trains will come new crews reporting directly to GO, as opposed to the freight-hauling companies that still own most of the commuter track. "Customer attendants" will replace conductors, and there will be a lot more of them than the private rail companies were ever willing to spare.

GO is also moving ahead of another recalcitrant partner, the City of Toronto, in tackling Union Station, deciding to act unilaterally rather than wait for the city to organize a long-overdue renovation. "We're going to do everything we can to push more people through the system," Mr. McNeil said. Last month, he suggested that burgeoning GO take sole ownership of the entire station.

Electrification remains a long-term but realistic goal, according to Mr. McNeil. In the meantime, everything is set for dramatic improvements to the conventional service. "We're in a position right now to start running more trains in the very near future," the GO boss promised.

I even read, in the latest issue of GO News, that there is now actual bus service to Guelph, thanks to worthy efforts "to better serve our student commuters and all passengers." It's all good.

But the next time, I drive.

Correction: Yesterday's column erroneously reported that a columnist with a competing newspaper demanded that all city councillors be shot. In fact, he recommended they be hanged. The Globe regrets the error.

jbarber@globeandmail.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

He could have been a bit more careful with his 15-year-old son and actually took the care to read the schedule properly if his son was counting on him. Or he could have checked and seen that Greyhound or VIA are a far better choice.

Anyway, that bit about GO crews replacing the CN and CP crews is interesting. At the very least it will make CN's periodic labour disruptions less problematic.
 
Anyway, that bit about GO crews replacing the CN and CP crews is interesting. At the very least it will make CN's periodic labour disruptions less problematic.

Small correction: Only CN crews are being replaced at this time.
 
Oops! I was going to say my mistake, but it's apparently Barber's. I guess that doesn't surprise me since he has a long history of being rather cavalier with facts.

I'm assuming this was prompted by the CN labour problems? Will CP allow them to operate with GO crews, perhaps when their operating contracts expire?
 
Oops! I was going to say my mistake, but it's apparently Barber's. I guess that doesn't surprise me since he has a long history of being rather cavalier with facts.

I'm assuming this was prompted by the CN labour problems? Will CP allow them to operate with GO crews, perhaps when their operating contracts expire?

It was the various labour problems that caused this shift - Their dissatisfaction was at the point where GO paid the penalty clause to leave the contract early. CN was allowed to bid on the new contract, but they choose not to, and I wasn't surprised. It was CN's desire to shed passenger rail that created VIA Rail. It took CP almost a year to sign on.

Anyway, milton trains will continue to be operated by CP crews for the time being, and I imagine that they will open the contract for bids when it expires. CP has always been a little harder to predict, so its anyone's guess what they'll do then.
 
I don't think I ever did anything crueler to my son than to send him to Guelph on public transit at the age of 15. You want them to be self-sufficient, you know they have to learn by doing, but I still flush with shame at the memory of the poor guy stumbling home 12 hours later, numb and trembling, having spent seven hours travelling 90 kilometres on the GO "system," missing the event that inspired the journey as a result, then spending another five hours struggling home again.

My cursory glance at the schedule the evening before had not revealed the hidden pitfall of three-hour layovers in beautiful downtown Brampton

It wasn't your fault, John. If he had a three-hour layover in beautiful downtown Brampton, it's GO's fault. The Guelph bus is supposed to connect to the Union bus, whcih of course, is the only weekend Union service to run a measly every three hours.

Correction: Yesterday's column erroneously reported that a columnist with a competing newspaper demanded that all city councillors be shot. In fact, he recommended they be hanged. The Globe regrets the error.

Love it! I'm sure he made the correction if only to make another dig at the moron at the competing newspaper.
 
GO Transit puts improvements into overdrive

JOHN BARBER

November 29, 2007

I don't think I ever did anything crueler to my son than to send him to Guelph on public transit at the age of 15. You want them to be self-sufficient, you know they have to learn by doing, but I still flush with shame at the memory of the poor guy stumbling home 12 hours later, numb and trembling, having spent seven hours travelling 90 kilometres on the GO "system," missing the event that inspired the journey as a result, then spending another five hours struggling home again.

This is the second person I've heard of that has MISTAKENLY travelled via GO to Guelph. The Greyhound costs the exact same, is way faster, and by far the most convenient. It's extremely easy to check every mode of transit before going somewhere. No one from Guelph would have ever made that mistake. Even the newer, more direct GO buses are no match for the Greyhound.
 
Ahh, but John Barber calls everyone from cities like Guelph "clueless country bumpkins." Surely he, the wise 416er, is the one who is right and the Guelph people who are smart enough to check other options are wrong.
 
Ahh, but John Barber calls everyone from cities like Guelph "clueless country bumpkins." Surely he, the wise 416er, is the one who is right and the Guelph people who are smart enough to check other options are wrong.

My buddy from Guelph is the top engineer in his class at Ryerson (based on my arbitrary ranking of my engineering friends), so they are not country bumpkins!
 
Love it! I'm sure he made the correction if only to make another dig at the moron at the competing newspaper.

In Barber's defense, he should be allowed to get a dig in at Royson or Hume once in a while, if only as just reward for being such a vastly better columnist than either of them.
 

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