Confederation GO train station almost a ‘go’

Transit hub construction set to start later in fall

Metrolinx will start building the $150-million Confederation GO train station by the end of this year, said Metrolinx officials.

Information on the Metrolinx website reveals that work on the design of the station is about halfway complete, with the goal of completing the plans later this fall.

“It will enable two-way (weekday) train service from Toronto through Hamilton/Stoney Creek and Niagara,” stated Scott Money, media relations officer for Metrolinx in an email.

The station will have a ticket sales area, shops and a waiting area, an island platform with a pedestrian tunnel allowing people to access both sides of the corridor, heated train shelters and platform canopies, an accessible platform with elevators, a bus loop with heated shelters, a kiss-and-ride area, vehicle and bike parking and direct stair access from the platform to Centennial Parkway, said Money.

The Liberals announced the project in May 2015 as part of the $1.2-billion capital funding for Hamilton’s light rail transit system. Construction had been scheduled to begin this year and be completed in 2019. Service is scheduled to begin in 2021. The station itself is estimated to cost about $35 million, while $115 million will be used to improve the existing rail service.

Metrolinx purchased about 0.6 hectares of land at 395 and 397 Centennial Parkway for the station and parking area in 2016.

Ward 5 Coun. Chad Collins has said that having a GO station in the area will be a huge shot in the arm financially for Stoney Creek and the east end of Hamilton.

“It’s an automatic economic generator,” he said. “(The station) will be a magnet for people along the QEW.”

The Confederation station is one of a number of new train stations Metrolinx is developing to eventually provide GO service from Hamilton to Niagara Falls.

In June 2016, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca announced the extension of GO train service to Niagara from Hamilton with stops in Grimsby by 2021 and St. Catharines and Niagara Falls by 2023.

The Niagara GO train service business case estimates 14,000 people travel between Niagara and Hamilton each day.

Hamilton, Metrolinx and CN Rail recently completed in late 2016 a realignment of Centennial Parkway to accommodate the CN Rail bridge replacement project.