This from Paul Langan:

While residents of Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo and Acton await the decision (yes or no) regarding the westward GO Train expansion from Georgetown, GO is already calling for tenders regarding a temporary layover facility. The following was found on the GO Tender call section of their website.

http://steve.hostovsky.com/go_kitchener_quote.pdf

…. meanwhile the politicians have yet to make an official announcement. Thoughts? Thanks to Tom A/David G for the buzz.

For those that don’t mind digging deeper, please find a link below to the following document:

“Cambridge to GTA Rail Passenger Feasibility Study”

Comment below as you see fit! The report link was sent to me by Vincent Greham of the Region of Waterloo. Thanks!

From the Government of Ontario, and with thanks to longtime reader and contributor Nick Alexandrou for the news link

“Starting on October 31, residents and commuters will be able to catch the GO Bus between Kitchener-Waterloo and Mississauga with stops in Cambridge, Milton and Aberfoyle.

Buses will run on weekdays to and from Mississauga’s Square One Mall with 11 eastbound trips and 12 westbound trips. Stops in Southwestern Ontario will include Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Waterloo and downtown Kitchener.

In addition, two trips in each direction will stop at the Milton GO Station to connect with peak-period GO Train service to and from Union Station. There will also be limited weekend service.”

More from news outlets:

http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/610603

http://www.570news.com/news/local/more.jsp?content=20091008_155559_7088

http://southwesternontario.ctv.ca/news.php?id=5940

Great news, GO is finally coming to Waterloo region 6 years after it was first announced. Kudos to Waterloo Region council for turning around and allowing more choice to the traveller.

In another win for the North Mainline, the Union Station to Pearson rail link has been approved for construction and will begin operation in 2015.

Link to globe article here

It is very possible that GO Train service from Kitchener and Guelph could connect to the Pearson rail link at a future Woodbine station, which gives the North Mainline an advantage for those travelling to the airport. For more information, see the Globe article above which contains an excellent illustration of  the proposed rail link. For convenience, the Globe and Mail image has been linked below (direct from the Globe site) but if it does not appear, you may need to visit the article directly.

Pearson Rail Link overview from the Globe and Mail website

With thanks to longtime reader/contributor Nick Alexandrou — who notified us of an editorial by the KW Record staff, an exerpt which summarizes the article:

“One point may be stated with certainty. The Toronto-Waterloo Region connection is only going to increase in the years ahead. There is a lot of work still to do on this proposal, but for any driver stuck in traffic on Highway 401, GO trains — even at the estimated costs — can’t come fast enough.”

And here is the link to the full article: http://news.therecord.com/Opinions/Editorials/article/580072

GO published their final Environmental Assessment documents this week and within was some interesting information about VIA Rail’s planned improvements. After some heavy reading, the following was published in Appendix B:

VIA Rail plans to add six new trains to the North Mainline, London to Toronto via Kitchener and Guelph. Trains departing from London at 1155, 1505, 1755, and departing from Toronto at 1300, 1630, 1830. This plan would provide off-peak service during the afternoons, and seems to avoid GO “Rush Hour”.

Very interesting news, as if this comes to pass we stand to have 12 VIA Rail and 8 GO Transit departures and arrivals per day by 2011, more than double today’s passenger rail service.

- Steve

(Update: The link to the raw documents can be found here)

GO Transit has been built on the philosophy that people in and around the GTA Commute to downtown Toronto. This philosophy has hardly changed over the last 30 years, owing to the fact the majority of users are in fact commuting in this direction. However, times are changing. The notion that GO is considering westward trains seem to indicate a change. But we must see this through.

Waterloo region (and Guelph) are growing rapidly and independently of the GTA. Consider the Waterloo technology industry — employing tens of thousands of people, companies such as Research in Motion, OpenText, Descartes, ComDev, Intelligent Mechatronic Systems, Sandvine, amongst many others. As an employee of this industry, I must stress that the growth that is occuring in Waterloo as a result of this sectors success can only continue if we find the right talent to fill the thousands of available open positions. This often means we are forced to recruit talent from the Toronto area, where the capture rate of this talent is lowered due to commute distance and/or moving costs.

If Waterloo region and Guelph are to become a successful, independent growth engine of the Ontario economy,  we need to look outward to attract talent using transit. Let’s GO WEST and help our employers attract the talent they require.

- Steve Host

First, here is a copy of the Pic display boards, which was also linked by WaterlooWarrior in comments below, (Thanks!):

http://steve.hostovsky.com/14877_PIC_2_kitchener.pdf

Second, the comments I heard/discussed with GO/RJ Burnside personell at the PIC

• There is strong demand for bidirectional rush hour service, not only including service to Toronto, but from Toronto to Kitchener. Somehow, it would appear that they may explore the option of providing this service at the onset in 2011. Time will tell if this is feasible though.
• Guelph’s parking will be serviced using CIty parking. Some form of parking arrangement between the City and GO will need to be worked out, likely resulting in your GO ticket as your pass to free parking at City parking lots. Poltiically, this requires some form of cost sharing arrangement between the City and Go Transit that has yet to be determined. It would be interesting to see some form of Guelph Transit integration also included, if all stars could align on day one…
• Significant trackwork and improvements are proposed for Guelph, an almost 10,000 foot long ’siding track’ (Second main track), essentially upgrading the existing Siding to mainline standards to allow two trains to pass and wait at the Platform at the same time.
• A second passing track would be installed between Kitchener and Guelph, 6000 feet in length, bordering at the Breslau park and ride station
• VIA Rail is also looking to improve service on the North Mainline, and some form of cost sharing arrangement will be struck for the track improvements (this service has yet to be fully announced by the Federal government)

What’s next? Send in your comments, this is your last chance. By April, the EA will be finalized and submitted for approval. Once approved, the next step is our Provincial Government announcing the project and funding, likely complete with negotiations with municipal governments on cost sharing arrangements. 2011 is the earliest start date if all goes without a hitch. Good luck to all involved!

Good evening, here is my brief report from the Guelph PIC:

• Reported 75 people attended, including many Guelph city councillors
• This is the first fast tracked EA under province’s new guidelines
• Service start date is expected to be 2011
• All of what has been proposed is just that — subject to change

Some details

• One of the major bottlenecks, the Credit River Bridge on CN, is going to be double tracked starting next year, in advance of Kitchener/Guelph expansion
• Baden was not listed as a layover location at the PIC, Petersburg, “IRA Needles” (between Petersburg and Kitchener) and Breslau were proposed alternatively
• Three kitchener stations were proposed (IRA Needles, Downtown (by VIA station) and Breslau)
• Three Guelph station locations were proposed (Lafarge, Downtown, Watson Road (Guelph East)
• Acton is on the map, with two proposed stations (west, and east (hide house))

I’ll post more, and edit this once I recieve electronic copies of the report.

Thanks to the fine folks at GO Transit and RJ Burnside for hosting this, a job well done.