[ShonTron]

It's not easy to add extra mid-day trains in 2 directions in sections of track where there are no signals. There's lots of ways to get from Guelph and Kitchener.

Indeed. The addition of the two peak round trips was totally half-assed. No new infrastructure apart from mini-platforms at Guelph and Kitchener and Presto machines, no CTC, no Acton Station, no track upgrades. It's a slow, rough ride, with RailAmerica's GEXR proving that yes, there's a railway that's as hostile to passenger rail as CP.

It's one thing to run two trains, an hour apart from each other, in the same direction in dark territory. Another to schedule special runs when you have no control over inferior, OCS, tracks.

 

[DavidJamesTO]

I wonder what is going to happen now that RailAmerica has been sold to Genesee & Wyoming. Can VIA and GO expect different treatment? Will they be less likely to renew the operating contract?

 

[yyzhyd]

Bolton Line??

As I currently live in Unionville I'm happy about the new 12 car trains and early 15:18 train home to Unionville.
However, I just bought a place in western Vaughan (Hwy 27/Rutherford) and was wondering when/if rail service to Bolton was planned. I remember seeing some documentation a while back on this which stated that the original (phase 1) plan was to end this line at Major Mackenzie then extend to Bolton proper in a future phase. It showed the station locations etc. but can't find any info on dates of potential planned service.

Anyone with info please help... I'm currently thinking of either driving to Malton or Rutherford Station but would be ecstatic if I could find a timetable on this line.

 

[CDL.TO]

As I currently live in Unionville I'm happy about the new 12 car trains and early 15:18 train home to Unionville.
However, I just bought a place in western Vaughan (Hwy 27/Rutherford) and was wondering when/if rail service to Bolton was planned. I remember seeing some documentation a while back on this which stated that the original (phase 1) plan was to end this line at Major Mackenzie then extend to Bolton proper in a future phase. It showed the station locations etc. but can't find any info on dates of potential planned service.

Anyone with info please help... I'm currently thinking of either driving to Malton or Rutherford Station but would be ecstatic if I could find a timetable on this line.

There is no planned timetable for the line right now. Ridership projections were deemed too low to justify the cost of starting service on the line.

It's in The Big Move, so it's technically still "in the plans". But I'd be surprised to see it in the next decade (unless it gets made an election issue, in which case all bets are off).

 

[yyzhyd]

There is no planned timetable for the line right now. Ridership projections were deemed too low to justify the cost of starting service on the line.

It's in The Big Move, so it's technically still "in the plans". But I'd be surprised to see it in the next decade (unless it gets made an election issue, in which case all bets are off).

Wow that's not good news!
Especially as I see tons and tons of houses going up just west of Hwy 50. I wonder if they may need to reassess those projections?

 

[Markster]

Don't worry, I'm sure they'll find the twice the amount GO service would cost to extend the 427 instead!

 

[doady]

I hope that Bolton never gets GO Train service. It's almost as bad as Georgetown. GO should not be serving places that do not have local transit.

 

[CPancer]

It's nice to see a few minor additions to the Northern Transit system, but I find it useless for making additional trips to East Gwillimbury from Union when they should actually be making more round trips to Barrie from Union...

 

[gweed123]

I hope that Bolton never gets GO Train service. It's almost as bad as Georgetown. GO should not be serving places that do not have local transit.

Maybe not to Bolton, but it would be nice to have a GO Train to Woodbridge, as it would also have a nice connection to the FWLRT (once completed). I've always seen the Woodbridge service as kind of an O-Train style DMU service running from Black Creek-Eglinton to Woodbridge. Either O-Train DMUs or shorter GO Trains (4 cars maybe).

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Maybe not to Bolton, but it would be nice to have a GO Train to Woodbridge, as it would also have a nice connection to the FWLRT (once completed). I've always seen the Woodbridge service as kind of an O-Train style DMU service running from Black Creek-Eglinton to Woodbridge. Either O-Train DMUs or shorter GO Trains (4 cars maybe).

And it's not like there hasn't been that kind of service before. There was a streetcar (or radial line) running from Toronto (Weston Rd somewhere) to central Woodbridge.

FWIW I find it rather odd that service to centres like Barrie and K-W, and even Hamilton to a lessor extent which are 1+ hr trips on the train alone is being run by GO while Bolton gets pushed aside just because "it doesn't have local transit"

 

[nfitz]

FWIW I find it rather odd that service to centres like Barrie and K-W, and even Hamilton to a lessor extent which are 1+ hr trips on the train alone is being run by GO while Bolton gets pushed aside just because "it doesn't have local transit"

Surely it's simply that lack of local transit and lack of GO transit service are simply indications of the same thing - the town is very small.

 

[dowlingm]

Bolton is the sort of place Sumitomo DMUs could serve if displaced by new EMUs on the ARL rather than re-engined. A small 3-4 car set might be able to fit a platform quite close to the Finch West LRT, for example, whereas getting a platform long enough for an L10/L12 would be trickier and perhaps not as sympathetic to the demand pattern. The question would be of course how much extra trackage CP would require/demand on the MacTier Sub to allow a decent service level.

 

[car4041]

A couple people have mentioned a connection to the Finch West LRT, but according to York Region's 2011 feasibility report, the preferred route for a Bolton service is, in effect, a branch off of the Barrie GO line north of Steeles (using the York/Halton sub to get across to the MacTier sub -- the study doesn't say what CN would think of this). There's a map on the last page of the pdf. This route wouldn't connect with the FWLRT, but it would share the Barrie line's subway connection at the new Downsview Park station.

 

[ShonTron]

Surely it's simply that lack of local transit and lack of GO transit service are simply indications of the same thing - the town is very small.

But a Bolton Line would serve Woodbridge, which has (albeit lousy YRT) local transit, and be of use to the far eastern end of Brampton as well. Lincolnville, Georgetown, and Bradford don't have local transit either!

 

[dowlingm]

according to York Region's 2011 feasibility report, the preferred route for a Bolton service is, in effect, a branch off of the Barrie GO line north of Steeles (using the York/Halton sub to get across to the MacTier sub -- the study doesn't say what CN would think of this). There's a map on the last page of the pdf. This route wouldn't connect with the FWLRT, but it would share the Barrie line's subway connection at the new Downsview Park station.

Never seen that map before - thanks. Certainly past statements such as GO's 2005 Expansion EA http://www.gotransit.com/gts/en/resources/archive/other/GO_Expansion_EA-Report_Draft-Rev6.pdf and this Metrolinx press release from 2009 http://www.newswire.ca/fr/story/494...and-go-and-build-rail-link-to-pearson-airport indicated that Bolton service would run through Weston and therefore not via a CP Mactier-CN Halton-GO Newmarket alignment. Routing more trains through the Newmarket corridor would get additional value for the GO/CP North Toronto grade separation (although they'd have to get the Barrie EA restarted this year as promised when the dedicated Davenport Diamond process got canned)