More GO Trains coming to Barrie line starting in 2017: Metrolinx
Completion of double-track will allow increase from 14 to 36 diesel GO Trains along corridor

YorkRegion.com
Nov. 16, 2016
Rahul Gupta

Residents living by the Barrie rail corridor are bracing themselves for an influx of train traffic as early as next year.

Metrolinx is completing design work ahead of construction of a rail bridge for the Davenport Diamond train crossing which, along with electrification of the line, promises to significantly boost GO Transit service. While those changes are still several years away, GO traffic along the corridor will increase service starting summer 2017 following the completion of a double-track running adjacent to the Barrie corridor between York University and Rutherford GO station in Vaughan.

Completing the new six-kilometre “passing track” will allow GO to eventually run two-way, all day service on the Barrie line with trains running every 15 minutes seven days a week. The new track however will immediately boost rail traffic along the corridor from 14 to 36 diesel trains per day, rising to 180 electric trains following electrification. CP freight trains also run along the corridor independent of GO operations.

At a public meeting Tuesday, Nov. 15 at Loretto College School, some residents expressed surprise at the coming changes. Laura Zeglen, chair of the residential advocacy group Options for Davenport, said she’d been led to believe from conversations with Metrolinx train traffic wouldn’t rise until the rail bridge is completed.

“I feel like we’re being told different things by different people,” said Zeglen, whose group has strongly opposed the Davenport bridge plan.

Metrolinx community relations manager Manuel Pedrosa said the intention was always to move slowly, assessing service demands for the corridor and running more trains accordingly. He insisted train traffic will stay capped at 36, and won’t dramatically rise immediately even following electrification.

“We won’t just turn on the switch and move from 36 trains to 180,” said Pedrosa. “Our phasing strategy will dictate how we increase service, based on the demand for all-day service.”

Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins also promised the planned service increases will be phased in “very gradually”, and even with more trains, two-way service on Barrie definitely won’t start in 2017.

“We have always said that service would be increased gradually and we would be using a mixture of diesel and electric (trains) when it comes,” said Aikins via email Wednesday morning.