Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives are promising a radical expansion of the GO Transit network if re-elected, but many doubt a line cutting through midtown Toronto will ever materialize.
Before the election was called, the PCs announced a so-called GO 2.0 plan, instructing Metrolinx to explore the construction of a freight rail bypass that would help keep commercial rail off routes used by passenger trains that have to use tracks owned by CN Rail and Canadian Pacific Kansas City railway (CPKC).
This week, as part of the re-election campaign, the party took GO 2.0 further, announcing a PC government would create a midtown Toronto GO line. That line that would run along a route owned by CPKC, according to the company’s network map.
Experts say it’s an idea that’s been floated before but is difficult to deliver on, while opposition parties say Ford doesn’t have the transit record to get it done.
“People don’t want pie in the sky goodies that are going to cost billions, if they’re ever built, and take years if not decades,” said Greg Gormick, a transportation policy advisor. “They want improvements to their service now.”
CPKC likely wouldn’t want to give up capacity on the line because it connects to other important freight rail lines, said Gormick, who worked at CBC from the 1970s to the 1990s.
“[Freight service] does have a slight impact on the economy of Canada,” he said.
PC Leader Doug Ford maintains the idea is more than just an election promise.
“It all depends who owns the rail, but we’re working collaboratively with them,” he said this week.
CPKC declined to comment on a specific campaign promise, but said generally that changing its routes would be a tall task.
“Evaluating the feasibility of relocating railway infrastructure is an enormously complex matter and the magnitude of the challenges should never be underestimated,” a company statement says.
Midtown line important to CPKC, says transit advocate
The proposed bypass would be built adjacent to Highway 407 and would have the potential to divert trains that don’t need to travel through Toronto, opening tracks for passenger cars.
But even if the bypass were constructed, CPKC would still need to use that midtown line to get to its Scarborough yard, said Steve Munro, a Toronto transit advocate. Or, he said, CPKC would need to build a new yard.
“You tell me where there’s a piece of land in the southern GTA big enough to hold a new rail yard for CPKC and I’m sure they’d be thrilled to take it off your hands,” Munro said.
Premier Doug Ford has directed Metrolinx to look into diverting freight trains from existing rail lines to accommodate the eventual expansion of GO Transit service in Kitchener and Milton. CBC’s Lane Harrison explains.
Some say a midtown line is not impossible, even if unlikely.
Reece Martin, a popular transit advocate, published a YouTube video about a possible midtown corridor called “Toronto’s Secret Rail line” in 2021, which racked up nearly a hundred thousand views.
“You might argue that a giant rail yard is not the best use of land within the city of Toronto,” Martin said in an interview with CBC Toronto.
“We got rid of a lot of them in the past. So I don’t think that it’s impossible for them to give it up. But that would require some really smart policymaking from the government.”
Overall, Martin believes the announcement will end up being an empty election time promise.
Opposition criticize Ford’s transit record
City councillor Josh Matlow, whose Toronto-St. Paul’s residents would likely be among the passengers of the potential midtown line, agrees it’s a good idea but doesn’t have the faith a re-elected Ford government is the one to do it.
“For so many different reasons, it’s a good idea. The question is can this government actually do it and do it well and do it within our lifetimes?” he said.
That sentiment is one that’s shared by some of Ford’s election opponents.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles pointed to the much-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT as an example of the PC’s record on transit.
“Doug Ford is going to promise just about anything right now to get himself re-elected,” she said.
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said his party has been advocating for the expansion of GO service.
“We’re still waiting for the Ford government to even bring forward a timeline for all-day, two-way GO on the Kitchener line, for example,” he said.
On the 2018 election trail, Ford said all-day, two-way GO service between Toronto and Kitchener would happen “as quickly as possible” if his party won the legislature.
This week he said the region will “100 per cent” see all-day service in the coming years, but noted freight carriers that need to be part of the discussions.
Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie has yet to comment on GO 2.0 specifically, but she has said throughout the campaign that Liberals believe in funding public transit to get cars off the road.
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