Further to my last post about fuel prices and the rising fortunes of our continent’s railroads, the Toronto Star reports that work is beginning on a project to expand full, hourly, two-way service on the Milton GO line, seven days a week.
GO Transit is Toronto’s “other” transit network, the second most travelled and, with the TTC finally getting additional subsidy, the most “profitable”, with a farebox recovery of 89%, but of the seven train lines operating on the service, only the route along the Lakeshore offers off-peak and weekend service, with trains operating even on Sundays between Aldershot and Oshawa. Additional service is slowly being added to other routes, but it’s still very much a commuter line connecting suburban residents to jobs in downtown Toronto and that doesn’t describe people like me.
The expansion of Milton service is long overdue, but what is frustratingly not mentioned is the status of the much-desired (by Waterloo Region, anyway) extension of that service to Cambridge (either at the east end of town or near downtown Galt). Our regional council keeps on making overtures, but nothing seems to get done. Perhaps when full service is extended to Milton, GO Transit, or possibly Greyhound, will start running shuttles between downtown Kitchener, Cambridge and the end of the Milton line.
If this happened, or if trains operated at convenient times to Cambridge, this would change my behaviour. Currently, when I travel into Toronto, I tend to drive to an outlying subway parking lot and take the TTC the rest of the way. If I’m travelling into Toronto during rush hour, I head for the Aldershot GO station and take the GO train the rest of the way. VIA Rail is an excellent service, but it’s expensive, and the few runs are centred around commuter travel. If I could take public transit to the end of the Milton line, and reasonably expect to have a train waiting for me when I needed it, I’d leave my car at home more often.
And, as this website shows, I’m not alone.
That’s one step forward. For two steps back, consider Greyhound’s boneheaded decision to suspend ticket sales at Kitchener’s downtown bus terminal, relocating the ticket centre to the Sportsworld development on the south side of town.
When I took the bus into Toronto earlier this month, this was the talk of a number of commuters who were very displeased at the inconvenience involved, not to mention the ten minutes the new stop added to the schedule.
I can see why Greyhound wants to stop at Sportsworld. It’s on the route between Kitchener and the 401, so it’s no major inconvenience. It also has oodles of free parking, which might be the deciding factor, here. But why suspend ticket sales in the downtown terminal? That makes no sense. Kitchener commuters to Toronto now have to drive or take transit down to Sportsworld and take the bus there. Kitchener commuters to Guelph are even more screwed, because either they won’t be able to purchase tickets for their bus running along Victoria Street (likely they’ll have to buy the ticket from the driver), or that bus is going to go well out of its way in order to serve the Sportsworld facility.
Just when GO Transit tantalizes us with the hope of improved transit service for the region, the private provider of public transit sees fit to kick us in the nuts. For shame!
The picture at the top of this post was taken from the observation car of the Waterloo Central Railway as it headed backwards from St. Jacobs to Waterloo, crossing Randall Road in the north end of the city.
After reading about the Milton GO train preparations, I felt a sudden desire to take the train again, and arranged to have Vivian and I take our tourist line up to St. Jacobs just a few hours later. Vivian loved it, and especially loved being invited to check out the observation car (actually, the business car) which was being used by the railroad as a cab that allowed the crew here to drive the train backwards by radio.
The line has been doing well since the charitable organization dedicated to restoring steam trains picked up the pieces left by a private excursion company who couldn’t make the previous version of the tourist line work. With a lower capital outlay and backing from Waterloo Region, service has flourished, and talking with a crew member, there’s talk about expansion. There will be a station and a passing siding built at the Farmer’s Market (thanks to a contribution from the nearby Walmart store going up there) and a proper station platform at St. Jacobs. The talk is of running two trains, providing hourly service to the Market, and possibly even to Elmira.
The line is being used as an extended parking lot, allowing people to leave their cars in Uptown Waterloo and shop at the Farmer’s Market and St. Jacobs at the north end of the city. There is further talk about how to turn this into more of a commuter service, and how to keep the service operating alongside a proposed LRT.
As the crew member noted, ten years ago there was serious talk about pulling up this freight line. Now there’s not. The end of cheap oil may be doing this. So that’s a silver lining to this cloud.
June 27, 2008 12:17 PM
I do not understand why the province/GO is dragging their feet on this. GO service to Waterloo makes sense on so many levels. Heck, you could probably justify an extension of the Georgetown line, through Guelph to Kitchener and also from Milton to Cambridge.
I don’t get why we are ignored, is it a geographic thing because we are on the wrong side of the Niagara Escarpment? With the East Bound 401 congestion point moving further and further west (some days you can’t even get past Guelph before you’re in bumper to bumper traffic, it used to be around Trafalgar Road) rail makes sense, or another 6 lane highway. The demand is there, if you build it, we will come.
June 27, 2008 1:42 PM
Catelli, I think it may be the Region of Waterloo itself. I believe the areas that have GO also fund Go at least in part. Waterloo would have to join the club and underwrite at least some of the operating costs. It would be interesting to find out.
June 27, 2008 2:21 PM
Eric,
I was trying to research that very thing (OK I spent 10 minutes in a futile search using Google).
Somewhere in my rather dis-jointed memory, I could swear Cambridge offered to cover the costs of building a new station.
Now as to on-going funding from the City itself, I was not aware of that. But I assume that since the local mayors (Craig in particular) are very strong advocates for GO service, they would be aware of that requirement.
June 27, 2008 2:28 PM
According to this article in the Guelph Mercury, communities must contribute to expansion costs, not ongoing funding.
And according to this article in the Cambridge Times the Cambridge extension could be done for as little as $5 million dollars.
I don’t know how accurate that is, but if the above is all true, this is about as cheap as one get in reducing traffic congestion, improving commuting options and reducing GHG emissions.
June 27, 2008 2:50 PM
GO train service to Kitchener is in the (early) works. They announced a Class EA for it just a couple of weeks ago.
Catelli,
That statement is very telling of how we need to be going forward. We do need the additional and improved passenger rail service — our rail corridors are, by and large, operating well below capacity — but not, in my opinion, a new highway. Rail would get us a lot more bang for our tax-buck, aside from all the obvious environmental benefits.
As for Cambridge, GO train service to there would likely cost more than $5 million. Unlike the one through Kitchener which is operated by a shortline, Cambridge’s railway line is a fairly busy Canadian Pacific mainline.
June 27, 2008 5:12 PM
I understand I’m preaching to the choir here…
I honestly don’t want a new highway. But we do need something. Even if $5 million is way under, $20 or $50 million for a new GO line is still cheaper than a new highway.
For convenience sake, I believe we need rail from Cambridge and Kitchener. The reason Cambridge has grown so much in the last decade is the convenience of the 401. Builders used it to attract GTA commuters. A roughly parallel link would entice drivers to switch. If its out of Kitchener only, the drive to the GO station in Kitchener would negate any value in time saved. Especially if it is part of the Georgetown, Brampton, line. A ride from Kitchener to Toronto would be close to 2 hours (its an hour from Georgetown to Toronto as it is).
Where are am I going with this? If it ain’t convenient and fast, it won’t reduce traffic enough. Extending two lines and investing in high speed rail service would be the ultimate in awesome!
July 1, 2008 2:07 AM
Some more thoughts as a frequent VIA passenger between K-W and TO:
Oh, and for the record, the VIA trip from Kitchener to Toronto (and vice versa) rarely exceeds 1h40 and is often closer to 90 minutes (minus any delays at the point of departure). My sense is that it would make more sense for Waterloo Region to invest in actual rapid transit through some sort of rail system - the iXpress is alright, but the fact that it shuts down well before midnight and, even then, runs only every 30 minutes.
And why is there no major “mainline” (to say nothing of the iXpress) GRT bus route that stops at the train station? We eventually get back to the Catch-22 seemingly inherent to VIA - service isn’t good or frequent enough to result in higher ridership, and ridership is often not seen to justify better funding which would in turn lead to better service. Of course, it may be that VIA should simply be reorganized to focus solely in long-haul routes while GO takes over the more “local” ones. However, that implies a degree of planning, coordination, and, above all, rationality that isn’t really present here.
September 17, 2008 1:30 PM
Somewhat related question. Walking through Uptown Waterloo it strikes me as absurd that there is a rail line passing through what is essentially the main downtown intersection (King&Erb). The line cuts between two downtown buildings and then crosses King. This would be similar to a rail line crossing Yonge St at a main downtown intersection. I’m all for increased public transport and a lightrail system (K-W could certainly use it) but does anyone know why this rail line continues to exist? Why do they not re-route it?
September 17, 2008 2:15 PM
Not really worth it. The rail crossing sees two trains a day, if that.
The Region of Waterloo now owns the line (to protect the future LRT right-of-way) and leases track time to the Goderich and Exeter railway to serve industries between St. Jacobs and Elmira. Rerouting the line or building an underpass would be too expensive, and I think the Region is more interested in building an underpass for the busier rail tracks near King and Victoria.
September 18, 2008 12:13 PM
Makes sense, thanks for the response. It seems like its in a holding pattern then. I can’t see a future for an industrial rail line passing through the middle of a growing and densifying city core. Perhaps it will be the route for a future LRT deployment as you mention.