Chuck
Senior Member
The biggest GO news of all is the return of train service to Barrie in just over 2 weeks. The Bradford line will officially be renamed the Barrie line on December 17th.
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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.
In terms of writing, no doubt, but he's abysmal (probably like them all) in terms of fact-checking.
The Barrie extension makes so much sense. I'm so glad it's finally happening. I wish they'd have an additional GO station in downtown Barrie. Are those tracks still there? How will transit access be to the new station? I don't really know anything about Barrie transit.
The tracks to Collingwood are still there, but are not rated to high speeds - they are owned by a short line operator, Barrie-Collingwood Railway, and only used a few times a week to serve a few industries in Collingwood, Barrie and Innisfil.
The tracks from Allandale (where the line to Collingwood, which goes west, and doesn't hit downtown Barrie at all, joined the line to North Bay, now gone) north along the Newmarket sub were pulled after 1999. VIA used to use these tracks, now, like all traffic, it goes the long way around via Beaverton. Stupid.
So there's no tracks in downtown Barrie, though a site across from the Barrie Transit terminal would be the ideal terminus for GO. Allandale wouldn't be too bad (even reopen the station there!), but Barrie South is a horrible location, except it has the land for the GO Transit Parking Authority.
There are plans to extend the Barrie GO Train service to Allandale in the next couple of years. Those plans include an associated bus terminal, local retail and office commercial, and newly landscaped parkland along the bay. It's on its way.
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