GO Train service in Cambridge? New Transportation Minister Kathryn McGarry faces high expectations
Posted Jan 18, 2018 10:18:12 AM.
Last Updated Jan 18, 2018 10:40:09 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
With great power comes great expectations, and it’s fair to say the expectations on Cambridge MPP and newly named Minister of Transportation Kathryn McGarry are high.
Those expectations can be summed up by one tweet from Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig.
Put simply, Cambridge wants GO Train Service.
At a recent media conference at Cambridge City Hall, Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig, North Dumfries Mayor Sue Foxton and Regional Councillor Karl Kiefer all spoke to then Transportation Minister Stephen Del Duca about the need of Go Train Service.
Now the minister of transportation is one of their own, and as Mayor Craig puts it, there is hope.
Craig says the main stumbling block is not logistical issues about track usage, it’s that no one at Queens Park cares about connecting Cambridge, ” I don’t think we are a priority, I think that’s the issue, I don’t think it’s about the availability, there is one train per hour being used by CP rail (Canadian Pacific) so that’s not an issue, it’s really about being a priority.” Said Craig.
Now, according to Craig, Cambridge has a powerful ally in their corner, “We’ve gone to Queens Park, we’ve talk to the former ministers of transportation, and nothing has transpired to give us any hope, but now with Kathryn McGarry there are great hopes riding on this.” Said Craig.
Currently GO commuters in Cambridge and south Kitchener have to rely on GO Bus Service connecting from Sportsworld Crossing Road or at Pine Bush Road and Hespeler Road.
Craig says that GO Bus is not a long term solution because it relies on the congested an unpredictable 401, “The Go Bus does not really service well because people don’t like to transfer from one type of transit to another, and also we have the bus going on the 401 the same clogged situation going by car down to Milton.” Said Craig.
Overall Craig says he is hopeful about the future, but as many people in the Region know, hope can be dangerous when it comes to GO Transit.
