Faster GO will boost this region
The $752 million the federal government is spending to improve the GO rail line near Toronto will be a welcome gamechanger for Waterloo Region.
These changes — and they will be major — won’t come tomorrow, next week or next year. People commuting by GO trains today won’t immediately enjoy the benefits.
But have no doubt, improving this rail corridor will transform our region in ways that are desirable for our economy as well as challenging for how we manage growth.
Ottawa was right to make this investment, which was announced Friday.
Six years after GO trains first starting running between Kitchener and Toronto, forging a fast, convenient commuter link between the two cities remains very much a work in progress.
The number of daily trains was doubled last September to four going to Toronto in the morning and four returning to Kitchener in the afternoon.
But because a one-way journey still takes more than two hours, it’s a less-than-ideal option for a daily commute for most people.
How many people want to spend more than four hours a day commuting between two rail stations, especially when that’s only part of their journey? What we have now is simply too slow.
That’s where Ottawa’s cash infusion will help. Much of it will help pay for 40 kilometres of new track between Brampton and Toronto’s Union Station as well as twin tracks so freight and passenger trains can better share the same line.
Eventually, all the improvements at that end of the line should shave close to 30 minutes off a one-way trip.
The latest boost for the Kitchener-Toronto GO line should not be seen in isolation either. It’s one more step toward the goal of two-way, all-day GO train service between the two cities by 2024.
Other improvements are coming — like the electrification of some tracks, a GO station in Breslau and a downtown Kitchener transit hub that connects bus, light rail and train services.
While commuters who rely on GO trains will applaud these developments when they’re all in place, the gains that accompany better rail links between Kitchener and Toronto will be enjoyed by the entire region.
A high-tech corridor — linking Toronto and Waterloo Region — remains a vision as much as a reality.
Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic and Toronto Mayor John Tory dream of a cutting edge region of scientific innovation and business entrepreneurship that rivals California’s famed Silicon Valley.
Two-way, all-day commuter trains in southern Ontario will help bring this tech corridor to life — especially because as there are currently about as many people commuting each day into Waterloo Region from the Toronto area as there are going the other way.
More jobs, a stronger economy, faster, safer transportation options for Waterloo Region — GO trains will deliver all this. They will also encourage more people to move here to commute to the Toronto area. That will put more pressure on regional resources and infrastructure and drive up already soaring regional housing prices.
As much as we want it, progress carries a cost. It also demands constant planning.