Big Increase in GO Trains

[NS VIA FAN]

Effective September 24 there was a big increase in GO Train frequency on the 85 km Lakeshore Line…running from Oshawa in the east….through Toronto Union Station to Oakville in the west.

Lakeshore East saw two trains per hour added so there’s now at least one every 15 minutes on a memory schedule all day with additional rush hour service

https://www.gotransit.com/static_files/ ... able09.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lakeshore West saw one train per hour added between Toronto and Oakville so now every 15, 15 and 30 minutes all day + additional trains at rush hour and some continue onto Burlington, Aldershot and Hamilton.

https://www.gotransit.com/static_files/ ... able01.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[NS VIA FAN]

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[chriskay]

When I first saw the announcement I was looking forward to 15-minute frequencies on evenings and weekends, but really all this does is add this during the day, between rush hours. Still a good thing for transit overall, however, especially for the suburbs. If they can rely on a "turn up and go" service all day, people may be more likely to take the train instead of clogging our roadways with single-occupant cars.

[gaspeamtrak]

I live in Cambridge and drive down to Aldershot to catch the Go Train which is dissapointing.
Just wondering why they can't do it to Aldershot? Not enough demand or scheduling conflicts?
Just one point about Aldershot.
If you are not there between 8:00 am /9:00am there are no parking spots, you have to go over to Burlington and hope to find one there...

[marquisofmississauga]

What I don't understand is why the West line got short-changed despite the superior infrastructure. There are only five or six round-trips Union-Oakville per weekday. There are at least three tracks all the way to Aldershot.

The east line now has full 15-minute service most of the day all the way to Oshawa. There is a bottleneck around Rouge Hill and Pickering Jct. where there are just two tracks. Even prior to the doubling of mid-day service, many VIA trains were delayed because they are behind a GO train with no opportunity to overtake. Someone at VIA said the situation will get worse when the 15-minute service starts.

[Mark0f0]

Until VIA starts writing huge cheques, they're going to be increasingly marginalized everywhere they operate. Corridor, Western Canada, etc. Railway infrastructure is actually valuable these days, so they can't expect to forever receive low marginal pricing.