On the right track? Vaughan looks to GO Transit rail lines to connect growing city

Thestar.com
April 1, 2022

Maple and Rutherford are the two GO stations at the east side of Vaughan, connected to Barrie up north and Union Station down south in Toronto.

But like many other Greater Toronto Area municipalities, Vaughan is growing and wants to add more train stations.

In total, there are seven GO stations that are identified by the City of Vaughan.

Five GO stations are already “conceptually identified” along the proposed Bolton GO rail corridor, according to the 2010 Vaughan Official plan, the city said.

These GO stations include: Islington/Highway 407, Kipling/south of Langstaff, Highway 27/Rutherford, east of Barons/Major Mackenzie, and East of Huntington/Nashville.

In addition to these five stations, the proposed Kirby GO and Concord GO stations are identified on Schedule 10 or the future transit network as shown in the City of Vaughan's official plan dating back to 2017.

Kirby has an approved business case but there is no funding for it from Metrolinx.

Peter Miasek, president of Transport Action Ontario -- a provincewide non-profit advocating for sustainable public transportation -- explained that it’s not only Vaughan that wishes for more GO stations to improve its connectivity but other GTA municipalities are feeling it too.

After all, the proposed map for the 2051 rapid transit network shows all of the existing and future GO stations.

“There are 17 existing stations on three lines, and there are 15 new ones -- hoped for -- in York Region, giving a total of 32 on five lines of which the Bolton-Caledon would be one of the new lines,” Miasek said.

The Bolton line would have three stations in Vaughan, one located near Steeles Avenue, one near Rutherford Road and one near Major Mackenzie Drive.

These identifiable lines are in a reaction to a booming population.

“We cannot continue to build enough roads or widen enough roads to have them (people) all travel by car. So we need a transit solution,” said Miasek.

Also, municipalities across the GTA are GO station-hungry because they don’t want the stigma of sprawl attached to them.

“There's all the other benefits, also reducing sprawl. If you can get more transit-oriented development, so many reasons,” Miasek added.

Vaughan’s population is projected to increase by 36 per cent by 2031 and jobs are expected to grow by 18 per cent in the same period.

Vaughan, which is currently building its new downtown core, also explained it’s seeing the incoming of thousands of businesses and more than 335,000 residents.

There are also mega projects taking place in Vaughan, including the emerging downtown core known as Vaughan Metropolitan Centre as well as the Vaughan Enterprise Zone, which spans more than 3,800 acres, or approximately 1,566 hectares of employment land. The zone in the next 20 years is expected to produce about 60,000 jobs.

This explains why Vaughan has added its weight to the Caledon-Vaughan GO Rail Line.

On March 10, Vaughan announced that the Caledon-Vaughan GO Rail Line is “officially” part of Ontario’s 30-year transportation plan unveiled by Premier Doug Ford on the same day.

“The city, in partnership with the Town of Caledon, the City of Brampton, York Region and Peel Region, continues to collaborate with Metrolinx to pursue the proposed Caledon-Vaughan GO rail line,” said the city.

However, at the end of the day, it’s up to Metrolinx -- a Crown agency -- to say whether all these identifiable GO stations will be built, and Vaughan knows this.

“Ultimately, Metrolinx is the final approval authority for providing GO train service on the proposed rail corridor and for locating and constructing the proposed stations,” the city said, adding it will continue to back the proposed rail line and the proposed GO station locations through its Block Plan and development application processes.