New report looking at timeline for two-way, all-day GO service
Posted Nov 18, 2019 12:12:53 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A near billion dollar proposal heads to Metrolinx this Friday, with the hope of getting all-day, two-way GO service running in Kitchener in 2025.
The report offers a couple options, with the new approach trimming down the price tag by almost $3-billion dollars on capital costs.
The $927-million dollar option would cover land purchases, and upgrades to tracks and facilities.
The other option would involve the construction of a new freight corridor, needing new track, signals and grade separations at a capital cost of over $3.6-billion dollars.
One of the things on the timeline is a new park-and-ride station near Breslau, which officials hope will increase the number of daily commuters from Kitchener, Breslau and Guelph to Toronto to over 3,000 by 2031.
Right now, under 300 people in Kitchener use the GO train service per day.
The current service — one morning train from Kitchener, with a return trip from Union Station in the afternoon — is also significantly lower than what we could see in five years time.
The new service would call for two trains an hour (both ways) during the weekday peak hours, with one train an hour during off-peak times.
And weekends would see a train once every two hours. There is currently no train service on weekends.
If all goes well, officials aim to start the project this year, as the proposal notes they'd need five years of construction and preparation to meet the 2025 goal.
CLICK HERE to read the full report.
