GO expansion for the region is under way, but timeline measured in years, not months
Posted Aug 31, 2017 08:18:29 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A short time ago it was announced that GO train service would be expanding in Waterloo to two-way all day service from Waterloo Region to Toronto.
The all-day GO train service has been top of the list, for most in the region.
Construction on the new lines has already begun, but it is not something that can just happen overnight.
There are multiple pieces of this project some more daunting than others, one such task is tunneling under the 401 “It is quite an under taking obviously it is very shallow under the 401 there, but it is very challenging working under that highway,” said Director of Infrastructure for the Kitchener Corridor, Gord Troughton.
Other key pieces of this project include, a new station at Breslau, upgrades to Kitchener GO and other stations, and additional track between Union Station and Mount Pleasant Go Station, 52 kilometres of track between Georgetown and Kitchener, upgraded signaling and communication system, electrification (of the track) and new electric train fleet.
Another major piece of that project is one specific part of the Kitchener corridor “The Kitchener corridor we own just about 79 per-cent of it, so we own from Georgetown to Kitchener, we own from Union Station to Bramalea but the section in between we don’t currently own, it’s CN’s and is currently one of their major freight lines,” Troughton said.
Troughton adds that as it stands right now, GO trains have to cross CN tracks and they only have permission to do that a couple times a day.
One of Metrolinx plans to take ownership of the 19km stretch that CN owns is to build a 30km bypass for freight trains.
It is estimated that the entire project should take about seven years.
