GUELPH – Plans to re-establish a passenger rail line between Guelph and Cambridge has the backing of city council.
During its meeting on Tuesday, Guelph City Council unanimously agreed to have Mayor Cam Guthrie send a letter to Metrolinx, which runs GO transit, outlining in-principle support for a rail line business plan from the Region of Waterloo.
“Hopefully we can see this come to fruition for our communities,” Guthrie said, referring to it as a “great opportunity and a great partnership.”
“It’s an incredible foundation for reinforcing the need for two-way, all-day GO (train service between Guelph and Toronto),” noted Coun. Phil Allt.
There is no timeline for passenger service to begin, that’s up to Metrolinx … if it decides to go ahead with the idea. The proposal also calls for Metrolinx to fund the initiative.
Travel between the two cities is expected to take 15 minutes and happen hourly, Oriana Aguas, the Region of Waterloo’s project manager, told Guelph council.
“We found through this work that there is already an existing market that goes between Cambridge and Guelph that this service would probably benefit,” she said.
Cambridge city council endorsed the business plan last year, as did Region of Waterloo council.
Following the council approvals, Metrolinx is expected to undertake further design and engineering to develop a preliminary design business case.
It's expected, if all goes smoothly with approvals, it would take six years to complete the line that would take passengers embarking in Cambridge on a 15-minute ride to Guelph Central Station.
The GO train would be integrated at a planned Pinebush light rail transit station on Hespeler Road south of Eagle Street.
Ongoing talks with CN Rail are also required to establish a strategy to use the Fergus Subdivision Line, a partially decommissioned rail line that travels from Pinebush Road under Highway 401 and connects with the Kitchener line at Alma Street and continue to Guelph Central Station.
Projected costs for the project range between $396 million and $505 million in 2023 dollars depending on the frequency of trains.
Train service between Guelph and Cambridge ended in 1959.