GO/VIA Transit

[bornagainbiking]

The pictures of the famous train stations are beautiful. The architectural history is breathtaking.
It is a shame that Penn Station and others are rundown and decline with neglect.
In this day and age we need functional and cost efficient. To build a Taj mahal would be very appealing to the eye of a passerby but is it realistic to the user. Consider, heat, hydro and maintainance, $$$$$$, who will pay for the eye candy? the passerby?
History is very important but every vehicle or building has a function. And if a Overgrown Quonset Hut is most cost efficient sobeit. We are in tough economic as well as delicate times for our environment. Worry about our collective carbon imprint and use this transit money for it's intended goal more people on trains and out of cars. Direct the money to the basic need. Cheap transport for the people of Ontario. The QEW/403 have major accidents daily. Fossil fuels are killing us and parking lots are not farmland.
So a 40 foot ceiling with marble floors is nice and could be an add-on but we need something durable for a person to walk (dry) from the bus to the train platform.
I read earlier about union station and the people who scurry about. WOW.
Just remember the simple fact that a person leaves his/her home and spends time reading a paper, doing crosswords, listening to their MP3 player or sleeps, gets off the train and rushes to work (as they time it out for minimum time travel) and repeats the routine in reverse at quitting time). Just like thousands of others.
Their life is about rushing home to spend time with their families not gazing at the fancy building that is merely in basic terms a parking garage for trains.
I was in union station last week and it was people in a rush going places in a hurry. Rude and pushy, not respect just individual concerns. So a nicer building will fix this? How many hours a day will this be used to capacity?
That is the times we live in. Union station was dirty, dinghy and the washroom had LCBO bottles with drunks using the cubicles for a nap.
So the nicer and bigger it it is. it just attracts the unfortunate for shelter from the rain, use the toilets and sleep in the crevices. Use the money to enhance the shelters and direct them there.
For a train station basically you need a solid floor, good roof and protection from the seasons. The tunnels at Burlington are cold, spartan and damp.
Spend the money on more environmentally friendly trains with larger capacity.
Be like Burlington station where the city meets GO. Get City council to think about that.
Now is the time to use our heads and spend what little money we get wisely.

[SteelTown]

GO train service boost for Hamiltonians
CHML
2/9/2009

GO Transit is improving service for Hamilton passengers.

Starting Monday, March 2, a new morning train trip from Hamilton GO Centre to Union Station will be added to the schedule.

The new trip will leave Hamilton at 7:17 a.m.

It's an extension of the existing trip that leaves Aldershot GO Station at 7:32 and arrives at Union Station at 8:25.

[SteelTown]

GO Transit gets $500M boost

The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Prime Minister Stephen Harper is touting a $500-million investment in transit in Ontario as part of Ottawa’s strategy to combat the global economic slowdown.

Harper says the money will fund more than a dozen GO Transit projects and upgrade the provincially-run commuter system.

Harper says Ontario has been hard hit by the economic downturn, but adds such investments will create jobs and prepare the province to maintain its place as the `bastion’ of the national economy.

The prime minister says the $500 million in funding is part of his economic action plan.

Harper says more initiatives under that plan will be announced in the coming weeks.

Some 200,000 people in the Toronto area use GO Transit’s network of buses and trains daily.

[omro]

It's concerning how these transit funds seem to be bypassing Metrolinx and their MoveOntario plan.

Does this mean the big picture is being ignored?

[SteelTown]

Upgrades for GO Transit
Ken Mann
2/17/2009

The provincial and federal governments are taking steps to address a major barrier to improved local GO Transit service.

They've announced plans to ease congestion at the "Hamilton junction," as part of a 500-million dollar strategy to combat the global economic slowdown by investing in rail improvements.

The junction is the area near the high-level bridge over the Desjardins Canal, where CN, CP, VIA and GO lines all converge.

It is considered one of the busiest junctions in North America.

The funding will also result in the creation of 68-hundred new parking spaces, through the expansion of parking lots at close to a dozen GO stations including Oakville.

Premier Dalton McGuinty notes that parking needs to keep up with rising demand for transit.

[SteelTown]

Hamilton Junction Project - $75.5 million: a rail-to-rail grade separation project that will increase reliability and improve GO train service.

[SteelTown]

Another $75.5-million goes to the Hamilton Junction Project, a job to rebuild the rails in downtown Hamilton so that more trains can leave Hamilton every day for Toronto.

All day GO Transit service isn't too far off now.

[SteelTown]

Originally Posted by omro

It's concerning how these transit funds seem to be bypassing Metrolinx and their MoveOntario plan.

Does this mean the big picture is being ignored?

According to the news MoveOntario 2020 is still "under negotiation" from the Feds, even though it was announced two years ago.

[omro]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

According to the news MoveOntario 2020 is still "under negotiation" from the Feds, even though it was announced two years ago.

Perhaps this is why Rob MacIsaac decided to move on.

[SteelTown]

GO Transit gets $500 million
Projects include $75m upgrade of rail junctions in Hamilton

February 18, 2009
Maria Babbage
The Canadian Press
http://www.thespec.com/News/CanadaWorld/article/515464

Ottawa and Ontario will spend up to $500 million to upgrade the Go Transit system as part of a federal strategy to combat the global economic slowdown, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday.

After emerging from a green-and-white GO train at a west Toronto rail yard, Harper touted the investment as part of a larger "action plan" to revive the country's troubled economy.

"Southern Ontario and the GTA have been hit hard by the slowdown, but it is still a bastion of our nation's economy and will remain so when the recovery takes hold," Harper said.

"That's why it is critical to keep the economy of this region thriving, to keep people working and to keep them moving."

The campaign-style stop, complete with Harper riding the rusty rails of a dead-end track with his new ally Premier Dalton McGuinty, seemed designed to win over disheartened Ontarians drowning in a sea of job losses and bad economic news.

The prime minister has been eyeing vote-rich Ontario, which has lost about 200,000 jobs in the past few years, as key to forming a long-sought majority government.

The $500-million investment, split between the federal and Ontario governments, will fund more than a dozen projects to improve the provincially run commuter system, Harper said.

But nearly half the money hasn't yet been allocated for specific projects, McGuinty acknowledged.

About $175 million will be spent on creating about 6,800 new parking spaces at 12 GO Transit stations.

About $75 million will go toward upgrades at a rail junction in Hamilton that will improve GO train service into the city. The project will mean that GO trains heading into Hamilton will no longer need to wait for freight trains to pass, said GO spokesperson Vanessa Thomas.

The province will undertake an environmental assessment to find the best location for the improvement, Thomas said, which will take up to 10 months. But the assessment isn't slated to begin immediately and there is no completion date or timeline set for the project.

The premier also announced that starting March 2, the 7:32 a.m. weekday train from Aldershot GO Station will now start at the Hamilton GO Station. The new train will leave at 7:17 a.m. and make all regular stops until Oakville, then operate express to Union Station.

McGuinty defended the parking-lot project as helping to meet rising demand for commuter transit while creating construction jobs.

"It's a practical thing," he said.

"Moms and dads have been telling us ..., 'You've got to build more of those darn spaces for us so we can leave our car there and use it.'"

The two levels of government will continue to talk about where the rest of the money should be spent, McGuinty added.

The premier may have to wait a long time for that federal cash to flow, said Liberal industry critic Gerard Kennedy.

Only 4 per cent of the money promised by the Tories for infrastructure projects in the last fiscal year actually made it out the door, he said.

"If GO ran on the schedule that Mr. Harper does, we'd never get a train moving," he said.

-- With files by Emma Reilly, The Hamilton Spectator

[Jon Dalton]

The new 7:17 train starts tomorrow.

If anyone is around the GO station check it out. There's 2 trains sitting at the platform and 2 more behind them at the new storage yard.

[SteelTown]

New Go service starts today
7:17 train small step toward expanded service

March 02, 2009
Elisabeth Johns
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/522981

Weekday commuter rail service between Hamilton and Toronto ggot a major boost today with a new rush-hour train running out of Hunter Street station.

The 7:17 a.m. commuter train now means there will be four morning GO trains to Toronto instead of three, so riders won't have to leave so early.

The new service will address growing demand and will hopefully increase ridership, said Councillor Bob Bratina, who is also on the GO Transit board of directors.

"Rather than driving to Aldershot or Burlington to catch a train, we think the 7:17 a.m. train will be in big demand because it's more convenient for commuters," said Bratina, who was riding the new train this morning.

The 12-car train is the first new service added in Hamilton since 2000. Four trains return to Hamilton in the afternoon and that number remains unchanged.

It's part of more than $8-million the province is spending to build a layover facility east of the Hamilton GO Centre on Hunter Street West.

Four trains will be kept in Hamilton each night, which means the trains no longer have to be shuttled back and forth to the GO yard in Mimico.

This will prevent any delays and make sure the trains are ready in Hamilton on time to transport early morning commuters, Bratina said.

This will also mean some maintenance and cleaning jobs when the building is complete in the spring, he added.

Under GO Transit's strategic plan, GO 2020, Hamilton is set to get major service upgrades and eventually get two-way, all-day service by 2020.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger called the additional train a strong indication from GO and Metrolinx -- the provincial agency responsible for mapping the future of transport across the GTA and Hamilton -- that they are committed to servicing our city.

"This will connect us much better to our regional economy," he said.

"The enhanced GO capacity also gives downtown developers a chance to look at Hamilton in a more urban way."

The biggest problem is a lack of parking for commuters wanting to drive from their home, park their car and get on a train, Bratina said.

There are no parking spots at the Hamilton GO Centre and it's the city's policy not to tear down buildings to create parking spaces. It's something he'd like to address.

"What's happening is that people who could come to the Hamilton GO station drive to Burlington so they can park their car."

Frequent GO train commuter Dean Mitchell said it's "a pain in the butt" to take a bus to Aldershot to get to his job in Oakville.

It's one of the reasons why he's moving from Hamilton to Oakville, he said.

[omro]

The biggest problem is a lack of parking for commuters wanting to drive from their home, park their car and get on a train, Bratina said.

There are no parking spots at the Hamilton GO Centre and it's the city's policy not to tear down buildings to create parking spaces. It's something he'd like to address.

LRT and Park 'n' Ride are my best suggestions.

Awesome about the train, as someone who may (though don't want to) have to commute to Toronto for work, it's great to know about the service expansion. Hopefully the start of more!

I'm actually quite looking forward to getting on a GO train to Toronto. We don't have double decker trains here, at least none that I've ever seen.

[SteelTown]

"The councillor's next goal? Finding downtown parking for commuters. He told The Spectator this morning that he has a property in mind that can make way for parking spaces.

There are no parking spots at the Hamilton GO Centre and it's the city's policy not to tear down buildings to create parking spaces. It's something he'd like to address."

So what's the spot you are looking at Mr. Bratina?

[FairHamilton]

I don't think parking is the issue. The issue is paying to park.

Instead of paying to park, most people would rather drive to Aldershot and park for free. There's a lot at Hughson & Jackson mere steps from GO Centre and it's empty before the 7:04am train. Same with the much larger lot at Jackson and John that runs back to Catherine and behind the John storefronts to Hunter. It's mere steps from the John Street platform entrance and it's empty every morning as well.

I'll put money down that both will be just as empty before the 7:17am train. When they are full at 7am every weekday, then I'll agree there needs to be more parking. Until then, no more parking lots downtown, and certainly not FREE parking!

[SteelTown]

If GO Transit is building the parking garage it'll be like the GO parking structures announced a few days ago, $30 million for a parking structure, which so far is free.

[emge]

At least with LRT eventually going past the GO with both directions, we'll have an acceptable feeder system for mountain/suburban commuters who would never deign to take a bus to the GO or find the buses too slow. That's where any lot needs to go - at the endpoints of LRT.

and for goodness sake, parking lots make no sense, especially in a downtown. do it right. underground parking, multi-storey parking complexes, but not the woefully inefficient spreading of cars over one level.

[Jon Dalton]

I believe the ultimate goal in bringing trains to Hamilton is not to take commuters out of the city for work. Downtown won't be a park-and-ride commuter station. That's what Aldershot is for.

[SteelTown]

I believe the spot Bratina has in mind for a parking structure for GO commuters is at James St North. Across from LIUNA Station is an empty field.

[flar]

Maybe they could partner with LIUNA and other area businesses for a parking facility.