(The following story by Tess Kalinowski appeared on the Toronto Star website on December 12.)
TORONTO — GO Transit could begin buying up train tracks as early as next year as part of a strategy to improve reliability and attract a greater share of the commuter population.
GO now owns only portions of its rail system: a segment around Union Station; the eastern portion of the Lakeshore route; and parts of the Barrie and Stouffville lines.
Most other tracks, including GO’s busiest on Lakeshore, are owned and operated by CN and CP, principally as freight corridors. Their aging infrastructure, including signals, has long been blamed for many GO train delays.
“We want to take those corridors and move them up to a higher level of service. The only way you can do that is to manage your own infrastructure,” GO chief executive officer Gary McNeil told the Star.
He said the railways are receptive to a deal “as long as they can get certain guarantees (and) we’re willing to pay a price.”
On-time, friendly service is the cornerstone of a new strategic plan GO’s board is expected to approve today. It sets out to align GO’s operational vision with the Metrolinx Regional Transportation Plan and the province’s MoveOntario 2020 funding outline.
GO has already added a vice-president of customer service, with the objective of more than doubling its 170,000 daily ridership by 2020.
“In an ideal world, the best customer service you can provide is where the customer doesn’t have to see or talk to anyone at GO Transit. The trains go on time, it’s easy to buy your ticket through an automated mode, you’re getting information,” McNeil said.
But he acknowledged that overcoming public cynicism generated by GO’s spotty reliability depends on making the trains run on time.
GO currently pays user fees to operate on CN and CP corridors. It has also chipped in to maintain and modernize those lines, including the four-year project to add a third track on the Lakeshore corridor. But such initiatives only take place at the behest of the railways.
When the third Lakeshore track is ready next fall, McNeil said commuters can expect to see more rush-hour express trains operating, in addition to the three new runs scheduled to start Jan. 5.
It’s not clear how much provincially owned GO might have to pay to acquire Toronto track. Eight years ago, it bought 35 kilometres on the Stouffville and Barrie lines for about $14 million, McNeil said.
But the going rate on Lakeshore, for example, could be higher, he said. “When we sit down with the railways, we’ll talk about: How do we appraise the value of the property in the corridor? (And) the infrastructure that’s in that property – a lot of which we’ve actually paid for? There’s a long, drawn-out process.”
Riders shouldn’t expect a huge improvement in on-time performance in the period to 2020 covered by the strategic plan.
It sets an objective of 92 per cent of trains arriving within five minutes of schedule, compared to 89 per cent achieved in October.