Supercrawl rarely extends beyond Barton anyways. What's the big deal?

The fact that it doesn't extend beyond Barton is a big deal for the few businesses along there. This will be even worse for them.

Perhaps James North needs a BIA so that these businesses that are shut out of Supercrawl have more say in its planning, and more sway with the city as to when construction takes place. Having said that, I am wondering if the lack of commercial space on this block is behind their lack of influence on such issues. The majority of the block is occupied by Mission Services and Marchese Pharmacy.

There is one or two galleries, and a barber shop. The store below my unit is currently vacant but available to rent. The building next to us has an electronics store opening in it. I live beside the pharmacy in the colourful building.

Not much will happen on that block until the GO station opens up. It needs more foot traffic that it's just not getting right now.

“Few” is the operative word here.

http://oi62.tinypic.com/ort087.jpg
http://oi61.tinypic.com/27yo5qh.jpg

Hope that's local steel. :P

What is that?

The main building of the station. The construction photos would have been taken from the bridge on the far right of this rendering...
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bg7TDwbCMAAyoDA.png:large
Source

I didn't really realize until I walked by today how big of a project this is. The station itself is a lot bigger than it seemed, and the surrounding lands are being totally transformed. Once this is done, that area is going to seem a lot different.

I was thinking liuna station was gonna open up again and we would have our own "union station", but this makes more sense... it looks nice still

Any news on whether it is on schedule?

James St. GO station plan still on track: Metrolinx
The Hamilton Spectator (Wednesday, November 05, 2014)

Metrolinx says it remains on track to begin regular train service to the new James Street GO Station in time for the Pan Am Games next July.

Construction at the site has hit a couple of road bumps, including the inadvertent dumping of cement by a subcontractor into a city sewer and the late rebuild by CN of the nearby Bay Street bridge.

Metrolinx spokesperson Alex Burke said the new station will be ready for passengers next summer but work will continue after it opens on landscaping and an urban plaza.

Dedicated train service, at least two trains in and out each day, will be provided during the Pan Am Games in July.

City transportation planning manager Al Kirkpatrick said Pan Am planners are mulling the possibility of additional Games trains, but are still wrestling with the logistics.

The city is still waiting on a confirmed start date and schedule for regular GO train service to James Street.

Construction Update
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B1iJzcBCYAA3-rd.jpg:large
Source


And some renderings...
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5588/...7db0471e_b.jpg
Hamilton's James Street North GO Station - Final Rendering by Metrolinx, on Flickr

^ *Note the new train design from the previously posted rendering from the same angle.


https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2902/...51f7ba77_b.jpg
Hamilton's James Street North GO Station - Final Rendering by Metrolinx, on Flickr


https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2916/...3af892db_b.jpg
Hamilton's James Street North GO Station - Final Rendering by Metrolinx, on Flickr

In keeping with the design/colourway unveiled in July 2013.

Still no confirmed start date? Hopefully they continue right after the Pan Am games.

Definitely -- They are constructing JamesNorth GO for eventual (not right away, but eventual) all-day GO service to Hamilton, so this will eventually be our "surface subway" station to Toronto.

The Aldershot station (next station down the line) is only 3-5 minutes down the rail, and already gets all-day bidirectional (incoming and outgoing) service. For JamesNorth GO, there is a Phase II of construction that will proceed to year 2017 to expand the station. The two extra trains are specifically for PanAm, above-and-beyond regular daily GO service they are bringing to the station. Some construction stuff may be late won't make PanAm but will definitely get built anyway. If there is a boondoggle, the worst thing is they'll build a temporary platform for PanAm, and open full commuter service later than expected after PanAm, but as a Hamiltonian myself dependant on Toronto job, I definitely would hope they get things complete enough before then -- I'd like to stop driving to Aldershot! They already announced Phase 1 for PanAm and Phase 2 for 2017, and they seem to be already building some of the Phase 2 stuff concurrently with the Phase 1, so some of the pictures you see might not be stuff complete for PanAm 2015.

It's designated as a hub station for James, with apparently many renewal opportunities for Hamilton.
The City of Hamilton has big long-term plans with it:
http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/...tyHubStudy.pdf
"The James Street North station area has been identified by Metrolinx as one of 51 Mobility Hubs within the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA)..."

Stuff that may not happen till late this decade or early next, but as you can see -- this isn't a PanAm flash-in-pan.
There's going to be construction onsite till 2017. The pretty artist concept probably isn't going to occur in 2015, they'll be late for that. PanAm was just an excuse to start building this project...

I'm still confused on how the two GO Stations will function?

If James St. N. is easier for GO trains to access and also serves the Niagara Peninsula, will the TH&B Station at Hunter St. become a bus station only?