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In what is likely to become one of the first shots of the upcoming provincial election campaign, Premier Wynne just announced a vast $29 billion plan for transit expansion. While the funding plans remain rather vague at this point, it would be a continuation of the extraordinary investment in transit expansion over the past decade. From my perspective, the most exciting component is the promise of electric train service every 15 minutes on the GO rail corridors. This would be a tremendous step that would go a long way toward implementing the CityRail vision. It’s fantastic to see the provincial government recognizing the value of using the existing rail corridors for rapid transit.
The devil, as always, is in the details and there are very few details available at present. The press release touts GO Regional Express Rail as "a faster, more flexible way to get in and out of Toronto's downtown core." Hopefully provincial planners realize that regional rail has far greater potential than that. While it will certainly be useful for trips to Downtown, we need to get away from GO Transit’s Downtown Toronto-centric commuter rail mentality. Regional rail should be about providing a rapid transit backbone, like the existing Toronto subway, for all types of trips throughout the region.
15-minute frequency and electric trains are a great place to start. Beyond that, the trains need to be fully integrated with local transit, with the same fares and coordinated schedules. It should be as seamless as connections today between TTC bus and subway and fully integrated fares, as Metrolinx has begun to discuss, are essential. We also need modern European or Japanese rolling stock, like the Bombardier Talent 2, that provides faster acceleration, better reliability, and more comfort than comparatively antiquated North American designs.
Real regional rail like CityRail is common throughout the world, but it doesn’t exist in North America, where there is a much sharper distinction between mainline rail and urban transit. Given the lack of experience in developing regional rail on this continent, it simply makes sense to not try and reinvent the wheel but instead bring in experts from places that have done it successfully. London, for example, hired Hong Kong’s MTR to design and operate its new Overground service. We don’t need to invent anything new for CityRail: the rolling stock, signalling systems, and operating practices all already exist in Europe and Asia. It’s simply a matter of accepting our limitations, finding experienced people to bring the technology here, and adapting regulations to permit new technologies.
The GTA’s rail corridors are an extraordinary resource that is greatly underused by a park-and-ride shuttle service to downtown Toronto. The province’s GO Regional Express Rail announcement is excellent news that suggests that the CityRail vision could become a reality in GTA.
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Jonathan English is a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University. His blog is Transit Futures.
