GO Transit

[LesPio]

Taken from a Metrolinx posting on LinkedIn

Kitchener GO Line improvements

As part of GO Expansion, Metrolinx has several ongoing projects along the Kitchener Line, which will help deliver future two-way, all-day GO Train service.
If you zoom in on the City Of Guelph, with its population expected to increase from its current 132,000 to 203,000 by 2051, expanding transit will help serve its growing needs.
In fact, since 2018, Metrolinx has more than doubled the number of trips from City of Kitchener to and from Union Station (which includes Guelph).

Service Improvements
While the number of trips between Kitchener and Toronto has dramatically increased in the last five years, continuing to increase service along the Kitchener Line is a key priority for Metrolinx – especially two-way, all-day service on weekdays for commuters and on weekends for sports fans and concertgoers alike.
While the work along the Kitchener Line will be delivered in phases, we’ve already seen service improvements for Guelph and the surrounding region.

Increased Train Service:

• Since January 2020, by improving the infrastructure on the Kitchener Line, Metrolinx has increased GO Train service by four trips per day on weekdays, meaning customers now have 10 Toronto-bound trips from Guelph GO and 10 Guelph-bound trips from Union Station to pick from
  

Increased Bus Service:

• In April 2023, weekend bus service was extended to Waterloo, which neighbours Guelph. These new trips have grown in popularity so much that additional trips were added in June and September 2023, delivering a total of 55 trips on weekends
  
• Also added in April 2023, GO Bus route 17 – added new hourly weekday direct bus service that offers 32 trips between Waterloo-Guelph-Hamilton – connecting four post-secondary institutions year-round
  

Increased Train Speed:

• In 2021, following work to repair, replace and upgrade infrastructure and essential signal technology along the Kitchener GO Line, Metrolinx increased train speeds (reducing journey time) through Guelph
  

Update on Infrastructure Improvements
Through GO Expansion, infrastructure improvements to deliver two-way, all-day service to the Guelph region are being delivered in phases and the work is progressing well.
Construction of a second platform at Guelph Central GO Station is underway. The new platform and covering canopy, running from just west of Wyndham Street to the east to approximately Neeve Street, is expected to be completed in 2024.

A new storage track is currently under construction west of Guelph will provide space for maintenance vehicles to tuck out of the way and off the main tracks so future increased train operations are not affected.
Additionally, a new 2.6-kilometer passing track is currently being built in Breslau (part of Woolwich Township), located between Guelph and Kitchener GO Stations. The Kitchener Line between Kitchener and Georgetown GO consists of a single active track, where GO Trains share space with freight traffic.
Adding passing tracks at strategic locations along the line provides operational flexibility to manage GO and freight services to improve reliability. It will also support future two-way, all-day service, without requiring a second track on the entire corridor between Kitchener and Georgetown. This track will be the first of three new passing tracks to be constructed between Kitchener and Georgetown.
There is even more work taking place across the Kitchener Line, which together, unlocks the potential for added benefits, including additional service improvements.
This work includes:

• Fourth Track – new 2.5km section of track from Lansdowne to Dupont to increase capacity on the Kitchener Line
  
• St. Clair-Old Weston GO (SmartTrack) Station – will provide proximity to Stockyards District, and connection to St. Clair TTC service and Kitchener GO Line
  
• Infrastructure Improvements – including bridge and structure improvements to allow for more frequent and convenient train service
  
• King Victoria Transit Hub – will provide a connection to ION LRT and second track and platform for future service increases
  
• Heritage Road Layover – will provide additional train storage with capacity for four 12-car GO Trains, and supports service increases on the Kitchener Corridor.
  
  

Future Improvements
Combined, these improvements in Guelph will enable seamless travel to various destinations including downtown Toronto – both during the week and on the weekends.
Additionally, these changes are expected to support economic growth and development in the Waterloo-Toronto Innovation corridor by providing improved connections for employers and residents to the rest of the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

[tomh009]

King Victoria Transit Hub? Will Metrolinx participate in the construction costs?

[taylortbb]

King Victoria Transit Hub? Will Metrolinx participate in the construction costs?

Metrolinx will be paying for everything in the rail corridor, which is their property. The Ontario government also promised $53M towards the region's costs for the parts on their property.

[SF22]

I have been reading through the rail study for 236/264 Victoria St N, Kitchener, and there is some information related to GO included that you might find interesting as well:

• ...[T]here is a permanent slow order between MP 61.8 and MP 63.52, between which the study area is located, that limits passenger trains and freight train speeds to 30 mph in preparation for a stop at the Kitchener GO Transit station, therefore the speed of GO Transit trains should not exceed 30 mph once the Kitchener Expansion Project will be completed in 2025. (p12)
  
• Metrolinx anticipates that, on a typical weekday, 99 GO Transit trains (both revenue and equipment trains) will run on the Guelph Subdivision adjacent to the Proposed Development once the Metrolinx Kitchener expansion project is operational (p12)
  
• There are anti-whistling by-laws in affect near the subject lands at Duke St, Saint. Leger St. Park St, Strange St, and Lancaster St. W. (Appendix A)
  

Full rail study is here: https://app2.kitchener.ca/AppDocs/OpenDa...Report.pdf

[Bytor]

I have been reading through the rail study for 236/264 Victoria St N, Kitchener, and there is some information related to GO included that you might find interesting as well:

• ...[T]here is a permanent slow order between MP 61.8 and MP 63.52, between which the study area is located, that limits passenger trains and freight train speeds to 30 mph in preparation for a stop at the Kitchener GO Transit station, therefore the speed of GO Transit trains should not exceed 30 mph once the Kitchener Expansion Project will be completed in 2025. (p12)
  
• Metrolinx anticipates that, on a typical weekday, 99 GO Transit trains (both revenue and equipment trains) will run on the Guelph Subdivision adjacent to the Proposed Development once the Metrolinx Kitchener expansion project is operational (p12)
  
• There are anti-whistling by-laws in affect near the subject lands at Duke St, Saint. Leger St. Park St, Strange St, and Lancaster St. W. (Appendix A)
  

Full rail study is here: https://app2.kitchener.ca/AppDocs/OpenDa...Report.pdf

That seems reasonable as that is the approximate stopping distance from 30mph (48km/h) at 0.1m/s² deceleration.

[nms]

While 99 trains seems like a lot, if they ramp up to an 18 hour operating day, that works out to 5.5 trains an hour. If one factors in movement to and from the yard, suddenly 99 doesn't seem like enough for a weekday.

[Acitta]

CTV: 'The missing piece': Regional councillors approve $19.75 million land deal for new transit hub

[ijmorlan]

Since when does an encampment at Weber St. affect development on the transit hub lands between King and Duke, especially the first phase of such construction? Suddenly we’re building a transit hub 3 blocks long? Now I’m a big proponent of enormously horizontally large buildings, but this is the first we’ve heard of the Duke to Weber block having anything to do with the transit hub.

Note by way of support for my consternation that the tracks wiggle over — by the time you get to Duke St. you are past the end of where a straight platform can be.

[ZEBuilder]

Since when does an encampment at Weber St. affect development on the transit hub lands between King and Duke, especially the first phase of such construction? Suddenly we’re building a transit hub 3 blocks long? Now I’m a big proponent of enormously horizontally large buildings, but this is the first we’ve heard of the Duke to Weber block having anything to do with the transit hub.

Note by way of support for my consternation that the tracks wiggle over — by the time you get to Duke St. you are past the end of where a straight platform can be.

The Region was planning on using the Weber/Victoria lot as an off site parking lot for the station, there were plans floating around somewhere for it. The court ruling for the encampment effectively blocked the Regions plan for the parking lot however. Thus it seems reasonable to assume that instead of having that parking lot right at Weber/Victoria the parking lot will now be at Duke/Victoria. The property could then years down the road be converted to a TOC of some sorts along with the rest of the land owned by the Region.

[SF22]

Since when does an encampment at Weber St. affect development on the transit hub lands between King and Duke, especially the first phase of such construction? Suddenly we’re building a transit hub 3 blocks long? Now I’m a big proponent of enormously horizontally large buildings, but this is the first we’ve heard of the Duke to Weber block having anything to do with the transit hub.

Note by way of support for my consternation that the tracks wiggle over — by the time you get to Duke St. you are past the end of where a straight platform can be.

The Region was planning on using the Weber/Victoria lot as an off site parking lot for the station, there were plans floating around somewhere for it. The court ruling for the encampment effectively blocked the Regions plan for the parking lot however. Thus it seems reasonable to assume that instead of having that parking lot right at Weber/Victoria the parking lot will now be at Duke/Victoria. The property could then years down the road be converted to a TOC of some sorts along with the rest of the land owned by the Region.

I saw those drawings for the Victoria/Weber parking lot as well - it was meant for staff parking for those who would work at the transit hub. I believe they also intended to use that lot to stage materials as part of the building process.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a full redesign of the transit hub now. We're now dealing with 25,000 square metres of uninterrupted space, instead of the original 16,000 (plus the surface lot, which is about 1800). Maybe the trains will stop a little further towards Weber, or Waterloo Region Housing will push to actually include affordable housing in towers above the hub; we know they've been reviewing all regional land to see where substantial housing can be built with strong connectivity, and this feels like an obvious choice. It'd be fantastic to see a line of four or five storefronts along King St behind the Central LRT station, geared towards pedestrians using the transit space - a coffee shop, a convenience store, a bakery, any grab-and-go restaurant, a bank, a fresh grocer selling the veggies and meat you need for dinner. The fact that there was not a single shop in the original hub plans is appalling.

And how about having the Cherry Park trail cross over King as originally drawn, and run parallel with the train tracks all the way down to Weber to connect with the Weber MUT? Ideally they also scrap the idea of a surface lot, and now that they have a little bit of extra space for things like ramps, that they push the minimal parking down one level and set a building on top of it.

I do wonder if the original plan was dealing with a massive space limitation that caused them to make frustrating choices. I can only hope that the extra space will allow for some more logical decisions to get made.

[ijmorlan]

The Region was planning on using the Weber/Victoria lot as an off site parking lot for the station, there were plans floating around somewhere for it. The court ruling for the encampment effectively blocked the Regions plan for the parking lot however. Thus it seems reasonable to assume that instead of having that parking lot right at Weber/Victoria the parking lot will now be at Duke/Victoria. The property could then years down the road be converted to a TOC of some sorts along with the rest of the land owned by the Region.

I saw those drawings for the Victoria/Weber parking lot as well - it was meant for staff parking for those who would work at the transit hub. I believe they also intended to use that lot to stage materials as part of the building process.

Thanks to both of you for the information. Not sure why we’d be planning for surface parking at that location.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a full redesign of the transit hub now. …

I hope we get something like what you described. A lot of good ideas there.

[danbrotherston]

I saw those drawings for the Victoria/Weber parking lot as well - it was meant for staff parking for those who would work at the transit hub. I believe they also intended to use that lot to stage materials as part of the building process.

Thanks to both of you for the information. Not sure why we’d be planning for surface parking at that location.

Oh come now, you know exactly why we'd be planning a surface parking lot at that location.

I do hope we get something good at the transit station. But even more than that, I hope we actually get a transit station. Frankly, the previous budgets for the transit station have been insane (same as the ION to Cambridge), further increasing the project's scope could threaten it's very existence. What I *would* like to see is more incrementalism. Stop paving some shitty parking lots everywhere, because it sets the precedent that the parking is provided and that the lot exists (and is a sunk cost), just build the station as planned, and leave it an empty lot next door, then when a plan for it arrives, do that then.

[Bytor]

The Region was planning on using the Weber/Victoria lot as an off site parking lot for the station, there were plans floating around somewhere for it. The court ruling for the encampment effectively blocked the Regions plan for the parking lot however. Thus it seems reasonable to assume that instead of having that parking lot right at Weber/Victoria the parking lot will now be at Duke/Victoria. The property could then years down the road be converted to a TOC of some sorts along with the rest of the land owned by the Region.

I remember that they wanted to use the encampment lot as a construction staging area, hence that attempt at eviction which was denied in the courts. When was it said that that lot was going to be parking?

[ZEBuilder]

The Region was planning on using the Weber/Victoria lot as an off site parking lot for the station, there were plans floating around somewhere for it. The court ruling for the encampment effectively blocked the Regions plan for the parking lot however. Thus it seems reasonable to assume that instead of having that parking lot right at Weber/Victoria the parking lot will now be at Duke/Victoria. The property could then years down the road be converted to a TOC of some sorts along with the rest of the land owned by the Region.

I remember that they wanted to use the encampment lot as a construction staging area, hence that attempt at eviction which was denied in the courts. When was it said that that lot was going to be parking?

If you look at page 4 of the most recent plans posted in March it shows the Region's plan for the Weber/Victoria property.

   

[ac3r]

Since when does an encampment at Weber St. affect development on the transit hub lands between King and Duke, especially the first phase of such construction? Suddenly we’re building a transit hub 3 blocks long? Now I’m a big proponent of enormously horizontally large buildings, but this is the first we’ve heard of the Duke to Weber block having anything to do with the transit hub.

Well...it's incredibly unsafe. Put a dirty lawless homeless encampment 3 blocks from Union Station and you'd see it would be extremely undesirable and very unsafe. Nobody wants to be anywhere near that kind of mess because it would be dangerous. Add in construction and it's even worse.

It would make the job site very unsafe. GO Transit and VIA already have to be worried about crackheads stumbling across the tracks, so the last thing we need is them falling into a pit or nodding out on a massive urban job site. Plus, securing the site would be expensive because obviously they would be trying to steal stuff all the time. For the last couple years it has cost us tens of thousands of dollars (probably hundreds at this point) just to pay for security and policing them on a gravel lot. It'd cost even more money to have security monitoring a job site for a few years straight in order to minimize theft (tools, metals, electronics etc). Developers like VanMar and IN8 have had to spend a lot of money securing their job sites downtown, so doing the same on a government project that would take years to complete would cost even more money.

Asking how and why having homeless people, rail lines and construction sites together in a small area is a bad thing shouldn't even be a serious question. Injuries and potentially deaths would be inevitable. While the encampment sits a good 300 meters away, that's still way too close for it to be safe. In the United States of America where homelessness is much, much worse there has been a continual rise in deaths due to them camping out alongside railroad tracks.