Regional councillor Doug Craig thinks the city's GO Transit aspirations may have changed after Ontario Premier Doug Ford asked Metrolinx to explore an idea to divert freight trains off the Milton and Kitchener GO lines to improve passenger train connections.
Last week, Ford wrote a letter to the chair of Metronlinx’s board of directors asking the public transit agency to study a plan to divert freight rail traffic from existing GO transit lines to “help alleviate congestion and reduce travel times for passengers.”
In his letter, the premier asks Metrolinx to work with the federal government, obtain any necessary environmental approvals, and undertake a preliminary assessment.
Specifically, his office asks for the preliminary analysis to identify how such a plan could increase service along Kitchener and Milton corridors “as compared to existing GO expansion plans.”
“GO 2.0 can be a central component of our ambitious plan to build the roads, highways and transit that will get Ontario commuters out of traffic, with the infrastructure we need to support our continued growth for decades,” the premier wrote, referring to the plan as “previously referred to as the Missing Link.”
That plan would create a rail track specifically for freight traffic between the Canadian Pacific Kansas City main line near Trafalgar Road in Milton and the Canadian National bypass line at Bramalea, near Highway 407.
The idea was originally presented as an alternative to widening the Milton and Kitchener GO Transit rails and was part of a feasibility report, commissioned by the cities of Toronto, Mississauga, Milton and Cambridge in 2015.
That document said taking freight traffic off central lines would increase availability for GO Transit services and offer the possibility of high-speed rail.
Doug Craig said he hasn't had a chance to look closely at what the premier requested, but wants regional staff to see if it could open the door to creating a direct link to Cambridge along the Milton line.
That possibility could change the conversation around existing plans, he said.
"The GO position is that we would transfer in Guelph and I'm not happy with that. It's got to be a direct run," he said.
He's referring to a business case the region will present to Metrolinx next month that recommends adding GO train service between Cambridge and Guelph. It suggests 17-minute passenger service along the Fergus Subdivision Line to Guelph Central Station where riders could transfer to trains headed to Union Station on the Kitchener GO line.
The region's interim commissioner of transportation Doug Spooner said today he expects the City of Guelph will follow other municipalities in endorsing the plan this month so it can be presented to Metrolinx in February.
But now that a freight bypass is being considered, Craig wants the region to reevaluate what it could mean for the Milton Line to Cambridge.
"The best option for Cambridge is direct to Union Station through Milton," Craig said.
The regional councillor has been trying to get Metrolinx to consider a Cambridge line for GO trains since 2009, when he was the city's mayor.
Back then he worked with CP rail to consider a Milton-to-Cambridge line with a terminus in the area of Franklin Boulevard and Savage Drive.
A 2021 feasibility study of the Fergus Subdivision Line to Guelph, however, cited "significant implementation barriers related to track sharing with freight service along the Milton Line."
The region went on to contend "the investment required to establish a Milton connection would be more costly and offer a longer overall travel time to Union Station."
Those barriers forced the region to switch focus to the Guelph connection.
Craig has always denied CPKC turned down the idea because its tracks were already heavily used.
"Freight was never an obstacle," he told CambridgeToday last year. "The reality was regional officials wanted to promote KW over the Cambridge line."
With files from The Trillium.
