BY MIGUEL MABILANGAN
In order to facilitate further advancements of the GO Rail developments along the Toronto-Waterloo Innovation Corridor, municipal leaders among this region contacted the provincial government. Municipal leaders Premier Kathleen Wynne and Minister Steven Del Duca announced on June 16th, 2016 the critical components that will be going towards the improvement of the commuter rail service among this region.
The government is aware of the economic vitality of this rail service, as it is a key economic driver of the province. They hope that they can construct a Two-way All-day rail service that links Toronto to the Waterloo region because it is an integral component to the creation of stronger transportation links. The Toronto-Waterloo corridor is considered to be the second largest innovation corridor in North America behind the Silicon Valley in the USA. With the increased government financial investment, the newly improved rail transit will link Toronto to Brampton, Halton Hills, Guelph and the Waterloo region, thus making the corridor a global centre for talent, growth, innovation and discovery.
The government has announced that they will invest 43 million dollars in order to help fund a Waterloo Transit Hub in downtown Kitchener, which will make it easier for transit passengers connect to GO Transit, Ion Light Rail Transit, VIA Rail and inter-city bus service.
Starting September 2016, GO Transit will be adding two morning train trips from Kitchener to Toronto and two afternoon trips from Toronto to Kitchener. Also, to optimize train and bus connections, they will be starting a new express bus service that runs both directions from Brampton’s Bramalea GO station to Kitchener, and it will be running all day.
Kitchener Mayor Barry Vrbanovic had this to say: “its great to see the government continuing to move forward on improvements to urban commuters across Ontario. More than 100,000 commuters come from the GTA and are using company’s chartered private bus service. This is not a sustainable model. The future prosperity of the entire corridor depends upon strong commuter rail links.”
To keep up with further developments of the GO Rail initiative, please visit www.kitchener.ca for more information.
