GO Transit
GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Toronto Area and the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven million across an area over, stretching from Kitchener in the west to Peterborough in the east, and from Barrie in the north to Niagara Falls in the south. In, the system had a ridership of. GO Transit operates diesel-powered double-decker trains and coach buses, on routes that connect with all local and some long-distance inter-city transit services in its service area.
GO Transit began regular passenger service on May 23, 1967, as a part of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. Since then, it has grown from a single train line to seven lines. GO Transit has been constituted in a variety of public-sector configurations. Today, it is an operating division of Metrolinx, a provincial Crown agency with overall responsibility for integrative transportation planning within the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area and is projected to grow dramatically with electrification, increased frequency and new stations through the GO Expansion, which is scheduled to be completed in phases through 2025–2032.
History
Early days
Cities in and around the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area expanded greatly during the 1950s, influenced by growth in immigration and industrialization. Much of the existing commuter service was provided by the Canadian National Railway, which faced mounting pressure to expand its service beyond the Lakeshore trains it ran between Hamilton in the west and Danforth in the east, to Toronto; however, CN lacked the financial and physical capital to do this. Real improved commuter service was not considered until the 1962 Metropolitan Toronto and Region Transportation Study, which examined land use and traffic in the newly created Metropolitan Toronto. The idea of GO Transit was created out of fear of becoming lost in years of planning; it was "approached as a test, but recognized to be a permanent service". In May 1965, the government of Ontario granted permission to proceed with the launch of Canada's first specially designed commuter rail service, at a cost of .Creation, growth and recession
Government of Ontario Transit started as a three-year long experiment on May 23, 1967, running single-deck trains powered by diesel locomotives in push-pull configuration on a single rail line along Lake Ontario's shoreline. GO Train service ran throughout the day from Oakville to Pickering with limited rush hour train service to Hamilton. The experiment proved to be extremely popular; GO Transit carried its first million riders during its first four months, and averaged 15,000 per day soon after. This line, now divided as the Lakeshore East and Lakeshore West lines, is the keystone corridor of GO Transit. Expansion of rail service continued in the 1970s and 1980s, aimed at developing ridership in with the introduction of the Georgetown line in 1974 and the Richmond Hill line in 1978. The Milton GO Train line opened in 1981, followed by the Bradford and Stouffville lines a year later, establishing GO Transit's present-day service of seven rail corridors.Other than establishing new rail corridors, GO Transit introduced the Bombardier BiLevel Coaches in 1978, in order to increase the number of passengers carried per train. These unique rail cars were developed in partnership with Bombardier Transportation. One year later, in 1979, the former Bay Street GO concourse at Union Station was built to accommodate these additional passengers. GO Bus service began on September 8, 1970, extending the original Lakeshore line to Hamilton and Oshawa, as well as providing service north to Newmarket and Barrie. It eventually became a full-fledged network in its own right after 1989, feeding rail service and serving communities beyond the reach of existing trains.
Near the end of 1982, Ontario Minister of Transportation and Communications James W. Snow announced the launch of GO-ALRT, an interregional light rail transit program providing $2.6 billion of infrastructure. Although this plan was not implemented, certain key objectives from it were established in other ways: additional stations were built, all-day service to Whitby and Burlington was established and networks of buses and trains interconnected the network.
GO extended limited rush hour train service on the Bradford, Georgetown and both Lakeshore lines and began offering off-peak service on the Milton line in 1990. Train service was also extended to Burlington on the Lakeshore West line in 1992. In a series of cost-cutting measures, then–Ontario Premier Bob Rae announced a "temporary" reduction in spending on services, causing all of the expansions of the 1990s to be reduced or eliminated.
Reconfiguration and revival
All day train service was restored from Burlington to Whitby, and peak service was finally brought to Oshawa in 2000. A large initiative to expand the GO Transit network, under the GO Transit Rail Improvement Plan, or GO TRIP, started in the mid-2000s. C$1billion was invested in multiple rail and bus projects, making it the largest commuter rail project in Canadian history. This was later dwarfed by a further slate of new GO infrastructure proposed in MoveOntario 2020, the provincial transit plan announced by Premier Dalton McGuinty in the leadup to the 2007 provincial election. With re-investment in regional transit, GO experienced growth in its train network: all day service was restored to Oshawa in 2006 and Aldershot in 2007; service was expanded to Barrie South in 2007, to Lincolnville in 2008, to Kitchener in 2011, to Gormley in 2016, to Bloomington in 2021, and an excursion train operated on summer weekends to Niagara Falls. This service was later expanded to all year round.GO Transit also went through three major reconfigurations. In January 1997, the province announced it would transfer funding responsibility for GO Transit to GTHA municipalities. The Greater Toronto Services Board, composed of regional municipality chairs, city mayors and municipal councillors, was created as a municipal agency in January 1999, and GO Transit became an arm of this agency in August 1999. However, then-Premier Mike Harris announced the province would re-assume funding responsibility for GO Transit two years later, and this was completed with the abolition of the Greater Toronto Services Board on January 1, 2002. The Greater Toronto Transportation Authority was created in 2006, with the responsibilities of co-ordinating, planning, financing and developing integrated transit in the GTHA. This agency was merged with GO Transit in 2009 under the name Metrolinx. GO Transit continued as an operating division alongside two other major initiatives: the Union Pearson Express and Presto card.
Future
As part of the 2011 provincial election, Premier Dalton McGuinty made a campaign pledge to provide two-way, full-day train service on all corridors. Metrolinx continues to plan for this service expansion, which is now known as GO Expansion. Part of Metrolinx's Big Move regional transportation plan, it is estimated to cost $4.9 billion and serve 30million additional riders by 2031. Other possible future rail service extensions identified in GO Transit's 2020 plan include Niagara Region, Bolton, Brantford, Peterborough and Uxbridge. Metrolinx also announced plans in January 2011 to electrify the Lakeshore West, Lakeshore East and Kitchener rail lines, as well as the Union Pearson Express.In 2021, Metrolinx announced a pilot service to London, Ontario, with one train towards Toronto in the morning and one train returning to London in the evening. This pilot ended in October 2023 after 2 years. Trains no longer serve London.
Improvements are being made to Union Station, which is the busiest passenger transportation facility in Canada, and is expected to have its current passenger traffic double in the next 10 to 15 years. Improvements underway include a new roof and glass atrium covering the platforms and railway tracks, new passenger concourses, additional staircases and vertical access points and general visual improvements to the station. Other longer term options such as a second downtown station are also being studied to meet future demand.
GO Transit is currently undergoing a major expansion project to improve train service. The project will electrify the Lakeshore East, Barrie, and Stouffville lines, the Lakeshore West line as far as Burlington, the Kitchener line as far as Bramalea, and increase train frequency on various lines to 15 minutes or better on these corridors, with several new stations being built both within Toronto and throughout the GTHA. It will also bring all-day, two-way service to the inner portions of the Barrie, Kitchener and Stouffville lines. GO Transit will increase the number of train trips per week from 1,500 to about 2,200 by 2020 and expand to 10,500 weekly trips upon completion. Most of the extra trips will be in off-peak hours and on weekends. The expanded services, new infrastructure and electrification is projected to roll out in phases between 2025 and 2030. The 10-year regional express rail plan will cost $13.5 billion and will require of new track, including new bridges and tunnels.
Starting January 1, 2025, the consortium ONxpress was to take over the operation and maintenance of the GO Transit train system from Alstom in addition to introducing the improvements required for GO Expansion. ONxpress had a division named ONxpress Operations Inc. which consisted of Deutsche Bahn International Operations and Aecon Concessions. However, by May 2025, Metrolinx and ONxpress mutually agreed to terminate the agreement. Alstom would continue to handle maintenance and operations.