Seasonal GO train whets appetite for daily commuter service
Anticipation of year-round rail service likely catalyst for growth: Caslin
Folks disembarking from the gleaming GO train arriving at the Niagara Falls train station from Toronto Saturday morning got a healthy dose of hospitality, Niagara style.
A small army of men and women wearing matching green vests and caps greeted them on the platform next to Bridge Street, asked them if they needed help, handed out brochures on everything from the local bus service to attractions, and simply said “welcome to Niagara Falls.”
Known as the Niagara Falls Welcome Team, the all-volunteer group has been making a good first impression on folks taking the seasonal trains from Union Station ever since they started rumbling back and forth between the Honeymoon Capital and Toronto each summer 10 years ago. Some, such as Deanna Simon and captain Barbara Burrows, have volunteered since Day 1.
With the start of the seasonal service on Saturday, there was palpable excitement with the looming expansion of yearround, daily GO rail commuter service to a planned new Grimsby train station by 2021 and to the St. Catharines and Niagara Falls stations by 2023.
“We want the GO trains here daily,” said Simon. “That’s why we keep coming.”
Niagara’s regional government said ridership on the seasonal trains soared by 40 per cent last year,
Suniya Kukaswadia, spokesperson for Metrolinx — the provincial agency oversees GO Transit expansion — said there were about 25,000 passenger trips on the seasonal trains in 2015 and 2016, but that ridership soared by 46 per cent last summer.
Regional Chair Alan Caslin and Niagara Falls Mayor Jim
Diodati were also on the platform greeting visitors who poured from the train, including dozens of cyclists planning to tour the sights in Niagara Falls and head into wine country in Niagara-onthe-Lake.
Last year, regional politicians made it clear to officials with Metrolinx that they want GO commuter trains rolling into Niagara Falls and St. Catharines by 2021 in time for the 2021 Canada Summer Games that Niagara recently landed.
Metrolinx chief capital officer Gerry Chaput said during that visit to regional council that would be akin to moving a mountain because of the “massive build” including new train track, crossovers, bridge work, grading, re-signalling, a train layover facility in Niagara Falls, refurbishing of the existing train stations in Niagara Falls and St. Catharines, a new train station in Grimsby, four level crossing upgrades, property acquisition and studies.
But Caslin isn’t buying that, noting the summer train service shows it’s feasible to have GO trains coming here on a daily basis.
Pushing for that expansion by 2021 will be a focus of the next term of regional council, as will be reviving the dormant midpeninsula corridor that’s needed as traffic on the QEW fills additional lanes as fast as they’re built, he said.
Fast-tracking the GO commuter service, which has already been a catalyst for growth in the region since the announcement of the planned expansion two summers ago, is key to plan for that growth, said Caslin.
“We’re seeing growth, we’re seeing 12,700 new jobs, we’re seeing both our college and university enrolment growing, we’re seeing new business coming to Niagara,” he said. “It’s a great time to be in Niagara.”
“(But) we won’t stand by idly,” said Caslin. “We’re going to be active in lobbying for what we feel is needed for Niagara to prosper.”
Diodati said people from Toronto and other regions around that city have clued into the fact that Niagara’s real estate is much more affordable and it’s got an unmatched quality of life.
“The rest of Ontario has finally figured it out,” he said. “Now there’s a mass rush of people moving to Niagara. It’s just amazing, the attraction there is now for Niagara.
“It (GO expansion) can’t come here soon enough.”
The weekend service will run until Sept. 3, and over the Thanksgiving weekend, Oct. 5 to 8.
Three Niagara-bound trips and four Toronto-bound trips will run on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, and there will be one trip in each direction on Fridays. Trains running on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays during the summer months will feature two to four bike cars with room for 18 bikes on each. Additionally, three coaches will have seat covers, and those coaches can hold 16 bikes each, said Kukaswadia.