GO/VIA Transit

[markbarbera]

Originally Posted by thistleclub

Instead, Toronto and Montreal have exemplary rapid transit connections interlined with their regional transit hubs. IIRC, Hamilton has connections to four HSR routes.

In addition to the four HSR routes using bus bays inside Hamilton GO (1,2,3,51), there are another 15 HSR routes that connect to Hamilton GO via the HSR stops that bracket the station on James and John (routes 4,5,6,7,8,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,33,35)

[davidcappi]

I am genuinely curious how the 16 Union Express bus factors into these numbers, because some days that bus is almost full of people going to union either before or after rush hour.

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by davidcappi

I am genuinely curious how the 16 Union Express bus factors into these numbers, because some days that bus is almost full of people going to union either before or after rush hour.

That wouldn't be captured because it's rail ridership they're tracking in this case. I agree that the ridership on the 16 is reliably high.

[thistleclub]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

In addition to the four HSR routes using bus bays inside Hamilton GO (1,2,3,51), there are another 15 HSR routes that connect to Hamilton GO via the HSR stops that bracket the station on James and John (routes 4,5,6,7,8,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,33,35)

And two bus shelters between them.

In all seriousness, in a bygone era I used to imagine a scenario wherein the city expropriated the properties across from the Hamilton GO in order to build a more synergistic version of the MacNab Transit Terminal (which is a deluxe version of the bus shelter at James and Hunter).

[thistleclub]

Ghost stations: Questions pile up on timeline of all-day GO service to Hamilton
(Hamilton Spectator, Matthew Van Dongen, Nov 15 2017)

Bewildered city councillors want to know why all-day GO train service is not headed for the $80-million worth of new GO stations that will soon be open along Hamilton's lakeshore rail line.

The province's arms-length transit agency, Metrolinx, opened a $45-million GO station on James Street North in 2015. But more than two years later, only two Toronto-bound commuter trains leave the station each morning.

Construction is also about to begin on a $35-million Confederation station further east on the same line, at Centennial Parkway, that should be ready to roll in 2019. New stations are also promised in future along the lake-hugging rail corridor in Grimsby, St. Catharines and Niagara Falls.

Despite all of the new infrastructure, Metrolinx regional planning director Antoine Belaieff told councillors Wednesday there is no public "service plan" yet for the expanded GO line.

And regardless, long-promised hourly GO train service -- whenever it finally arrives in Hamilton -- is first aimed at the Hunter Street GO Centre, which is on a Canadian Pacific-owned line not connected to the newly built stations.

That plan "confuses the heck out of me," said Mayor Fred Eisenberger, who asked why new train service isn't a priority for the new stations and expanding commuter line into Niagara.

Belaieff said Metrolinx had already chosen to first extend true "all-day" service to the Hunter Street station when the agency's 10-year expansion plan was announced in 2015. Hamilton is supposed to be on track for hourly service by 2025, but Belaieff said he had no more specific timeline to offer.

He also didn't directly address the rationale for choosing to extend more frequent train service first to the Hunter Street location rather than to the newly built stations along the expanding lakeshore rail line.…

Belaieff said trains will be able serve the new east end station in 2019, but Metrolinx isn't able to say how many. "It would be illogical to have stations with no trains," he said. "There will be service, but we don't have a service plan yet."

He also couldn't say when service is expected to improve to the existing West Harbour station at James Street North.


Read it in full here.

[drpgq]

Nothing will happen unless councillors hold Wynne's feet to the fire. Metrolinx doesn't care about Hamilton.

[ScreamingViking]

Evidently, not one councilor made a connection between service to Hunter and its advantage of proximity to many local transit routes and future LRT (never mind proximity to the densest parts of the city, and most of the city's new and proposed condo development, and the potential economic development stimulus for downtown).

They do have a point questioning why the money is being spent for the new stations without the service. But that service remains in the plan, and the money would have been spent anyway, so it just means Metrolinx is ahead of the game in this aspect. And they now have flexibility to add trains incrementally if they can make it work with CN (which should be easier with the additional new track around the west end of the harbour), and have the seasonal Niagara trains make stops at West Harbour.

[thistleclub]

In the wake of the Kirby station controversy and calls to have the Auditor General unpack the planning rationale around service expansions, Metrolinx has been foregrounding RER New Stations Initial Business Cases to justify policy choices, and moving more methodically. I would guess that they're eager to avoid getting on the back foot during an election cycle where they stand to lose the government that made rail enhancements a central element of a generational investment in transit.

[thistleclub]

MP Bob Bratina talks trains at Lake Avenue school
(Stoney Creek News, Mike Pearson, Nov 17 2017)

Hamilton East-Stoney Creek MP Bob Bratina gave students at Lake Avenue school a glimpse into 150 years of railway technology on Nov. 17.

Bratina brought his model of a 19th century train station, inspired by the former Stoney Creek station built on Lake Avenue in 1853. The Liberal MP also offered demonstrations of telegraphs, Morse code and steam engine technology before answering questions from students.

Bratina completed his model train and station in his spare time, as a Canada 150 project.

Tying his presentation to the present time, Bratina spoke about the future Confederation GO Train station, which is expected to break ground before the end of the year. Bratina said he hopes to work with the provincial government to bring all-day GO Train service to Hamilton as soon as possible.

[thistleclub]

GO Bus service changes as of Dec 30, 2017, courtesy GO Transit:

Route 18 (Lakeshore West)

The weekday westbound 4:56 p.m. trip from Aldershot will now end at Hamilton GO Centre. West Harbour customers can instead take the Lakeshore West train, which departs Aldershot at 4:58 p.m. and arrives at West Harbour at 5:12 p.m.

Route 40 (Hamilton/Richmond Hill)

All non-express trips will serve the new GO bus terminal at the TTC Highway 407 Station on the TTC Line 1 subway extension. Schedules will be adjusted by up to 10 minutes to include the new stop.
Schedules will be adjusted for some trips for improved reliability and to better reflect actual travel times.

Route 47 (Hamilton/York University)

All non-express trips and 47F express trips will serve the new GO bus terminal at the Highway 407 Station on the TTC Line 1 extension. Schedules will be adjusted by up to 10 minutes to include the new stop.
Schedules for express trips will be adjusted for better connections to other GO bus routes, with earlier departures.

[LikeHamilton]

GO train service update coming from site of new Stoney Creek station Thursday

An unspecified announcement will be made from the site of the planned new Stoney Creek GO station.

07Feb18 by Matthew Van Dongen Hamilton Spectator

Liberal politicians from Hamilton and Niagara say they will announce "significant transit news" Thursday from the site of a planned $35-million east city GO station.

Hamilton MPP Ted McMeekin and St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley are slated to make an unspecified announcement from 397 Centennial Parkway N. Provincial transit agency Metrolinx bought that property and a neighbouring parcel two years ago for the proposed station.

That station started early stage construction last year and is supposed to be in service by 2019. It is not clear if the announcement will address long-standing questions about when Hamilton will see improved train frequency.


Right now, only two trains leave Hamilton's new $45-million West Harbour GO station each morning. That station is on the same CN rail line that will serve Stoney Creek and eventually stations in Grimsby, St. Catharines and Niagara Falls.

Metrolinx has previously estimated it will cost about $150-million to build the station and make improvements or changes to the CN-owned rail corridor that will allow GO commuter trains to connect between Toronto and the Stoney Creek station.

The new station is expected to have around 390 parking spaces, a kiss-and-ride and a pedestrian tunnel.

Local riders and politicians have expressed growing frustration at the wait for more frequent service on the corridor. Metrolinx has also said hourly train service will come first to the Hunter Street station, not along the CN line required to feed Niagara service expansion.


mvandongen@thespec.com

905-526-3241 | @Mattatthespec

[thistleclub]

You had me at "pedestrian tunnel."

Building it in as a stop on the 10th year of Niagara-Toronto summer service? That'd help explain Jim Bradley's inclusion.

[thistleclub]

West Harbour: The Sequel

@TedMcMeekin:

Pleased to join good friend MPP Bradley & Mayor Eisenberger to celebrate official groundbreaking of new Confederation GO Station in Stoney Creek. Service will begin by end of next year. Project will extend Lakeshore line & enable future service to Niagara Falls. #hamont #onpoli

[LikeHamilton]

Province breaks ground at new Stoney Creek GO station

CBC News Posted: Feb 08, 2018 10:18 AM ET

Liberal MPPs were on hand at the site of the future Stoney Creek GO station Thursday to mark the official groundbreaking on the project.

Tedd McMeekin, MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale and Jim Bradley, MPP for St. Catharines, were at the site today to unveil a new station sign and celebrate the project's groundbreaking.

The province says the Confederation GO station will include an island platform with a canopy, a "kiss and ride," a bus loop and a headed bus shelter.

It will also include a pedestrian tunnel, "up to" 600 parking spaces, and six elevators.

In a news release, the province said the station will "help facilitate year-round GO rail service to Stoney Creek on the Lakeshore West Line, and will also lay the groundwork for future plans to extend a second rail track to Niagara Falls."

Metrolinx plans to expand GO trains to St. Catharines and Niagara by 2023, and is currently designing a Casablanca GO station in Grimsby.

Work is already underway for the Stoney Creek station at 397 Centennial Pkwy. N. That includes excavating the property, building sewer connections and culvert extensions, and clearing the rail corridor.

[thistleclub]

In a news release, the province said the station will "help facilitate year-round GO rail service to Stoney Creek on the Lakeshore West Line, and will also lay the groundwork for future plans to extend a second rail track to Niagara Falls."

Metrolinx plans to expand GO trains to St. Catharines and Niagara by 2023, and is currently designing a Casablanca GO station in Grimsby.

Emphasis mine. I may be jaded from too many close readings of the endlessly recycled press releases, but it reads as if they're not necessarily planning on extending GO service to the station year-round.

Former Premier McGuinty's West Harbour GO pledge, made two weeks before the 2011 election, was similarly open-ended: His commitment was daily two-way GO train service for the two-week duration of the 2015 Pan Am Games, but not necessarily beyond that.

It's political semantics: Promise the thing that sounds like the thing that people want to hear, but in a way that in no way obligates you to deliver that desired outcome.

Of course a Stoney Creek train station has the potential to help the government deliver train service to Stoney Creek every month of the year. That the province is hyping this low-hanging fruit should raise eyebrows.

[matt602]

I've never understood how they claim they can get more frequent service to the Hunter Street station on a single track mainline that winds through a tunnel running under downtown than they can to a station on a fully double tracked mainline that runs between Bayview Junction and Niagara/Fort Erie. Anecdotally, the CP Hamilton Sub that GO trains use to access the Hunter Street station seems far busier than the CN Grimsby sub, even with the occasional VIA/Amtrak trains that run between NYC and Toronto. I've listened to CP dispatch on a rail scanner many times and you can hear the dispatcher often having to squeeze freights through the section between Desjardins and Kinnear yard in order to not conflict with the existing 8 trains a day. It gets very tight around rush hour because the Kinnear yard just East of the Hunter Street station is a much busier and important yard than CN's Stuart Street facility, as well as being an important crew change point for CP trains.

I've always felt that it's been the province and Metrolinx who have been slowing this whole process and not CN. It just doesn't make sense to me.

[davidcappi]

The Hunter St. tunnel is also in super rough shape. The shoring walls on either side are crumbling, and people have used it as a dump for decades. I can't see a practical way to clean it up or rebuild/repair it would having service ready to compensate at West Harbour.

[Innsertnamehere]

the single track limitation is less than 700m, and immediately before the terminal station. They are also only planning hourly services - it's fairly easy to schedule around that. They are running hourly train service on both Barrie and Stouffville right now with far, far larger single track sections. I imagine that GO will add another track for the rest of it besides the tunnel. the negotiation is essentially going to be "we will block your tracks for a much shorter time by providing a dedicated track for GO except through the tunnel, but when we block the track, it'll be more often".

That, or they have figured out how to add a track through the tunnel.

[ScreamingViking]

There's also the relationship with the two railways.

GO Transit and then Metrolinx has had to deal with CN on the majority of the commuter rail network, which they've largely purchased now. But CN is quite protective of the parts that are still key to its operations, such as the corridor west of Burlington GO station leading into Hamilton and on to Niagara (the western end of the Oakville Subdivision, leading into the Grimsby Subdivision that runs to Niagara Falls).

With CP, they have agreements on the Milton line and the switch-over from the Oakville Sub to the CP line through Hamilton. I don't know the details but perhaps CP has been easier to work with when it comes to accessing Hunter. I agree that hourly service would be easier to fit into CP's scheduling, and even the enhanced morning/evening peak services too. I think it helps that the GO trains don't go any farther east on the CP tracks.

[thistleclub]

Green light for Confederation GO station construction, even as Metrolinx negotiates with CN Rail
(Stoney Creek News, Kevin Werner, Feb 8 2018)

The new $150-million Confederation GO train and bus station is scheduled to be completed “late” in 2019, says Hamilton Liberal MPP Ted McMeekin.

But it is contingent on Metrolinx reaching an agreement with CN Rail to use the track, which is owned by the company.…

Work has already started at the location near the rebuilt bridge that included realigning Centennial Parkway in 2016. The Liberals announced the project in May 2015 as part of the $1.2 billion capital funding for Hamilton’s light-rail transit system. Construction had been scheduled to start in 2017 with a completion date of 2019.

Service is scheduled to begin in 2021.

Read it in full here.


No word on whether the $150 million tab includes the $12 million cost of that rebuilt bridge.