Metrolinx evaluating 50 potential new GO station locations
Mayor John Tory’s SmartTrack stations are among those being studied. It’s not clear how many will be approved.

TheStar.com
Sept. 22, 2015
Tess Kalinowski

Metrolinx is evaluating 50 potential sites for new GO stations, including those identified in Toronto Mayor John Tory’s SmartTrack plan, in an effort to grow ridership and provide GO customers with more choices.

It’s not yet clear how many more stations the provincial agency will add as it expands GO with a regional express rail program that will see electric trains running, in some cases, at 15-minute frequencies.

“It’s going to be less than 50 but I can’t really say what the number will be,” said the provincial agency’s CEO Bruce McCuaig on Tuesday.

Also unknown is when the stations selected from among the 50 will be built. None of the sites being researched has environmental approvals or a budget.

Once design and planning are complete, it takes about three years on average to build a GO station.

The locations on all seven GO lines vary from the booming Liberty Village neighbourhood in Toronto to Innisfil on the Barrie line.

“They are in different kinds of communities. Some are in built-up areas and we need to integrate them into a very dense environment. Some are in greenfields and will be much more straightforward to build,” said McCuaig.

GO already has 64 stations with another six in the works. But with plans to expand its service from 1,500 trips a week to 6,000 by 2024, transit officials will need more stops to accommodate more riders, said McCuaig.

“We’re trying to build our ridership and provide stronger connections into local transportation services so there’s a better connection between your local bus and the regional train,” he said.

In some cases local bus routes will have to be adjusted to feed the new stations.

“We want more and more of our customers who are walk-in, who are cycle-in or transit into our stations as opposed to our current model where the largest portion of our customers drive into our stations,” he said.

The 50 sites being evaluated were selected from an initial list of 120. A shortlist will be decided this winter following a fall consultation period. Shortlisted sites will then go back for further study.

Spacing between stations will be critical, according to a report before the Metrolinx board on Tuesday.

Although the GO regional express rail program means that electric trains will be able to accelerate more quickly, putting the stations too close could negatively impact trip times for riders travelling further distances.