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April 2018

Ontario invests billions in ambitious plan to boost GO Transit's commuter-rail service

— By Daniel Niepow, Associate Editor

With 2.8 million residents, Toronto is Canada’s biggest city, and it’s only getting bigger. The city’s larger metropolitan region — the greater Toronto and Hamilton area (GHTA) — boasts a population of more than 7.1 million. By 2041, that figure is projected to grow to more than 10 million people.

As the number of GHTA residents continues to grow, the province of Ontario is launching a plan to boost GO Transit’s commuter-rail service in the region. The GO Regional Express Rail (RER) project calls for electrifying core segments of GO Transit’s network and performing hundreds of other infrastructure upgrades.

The goal is to transform GO’s rail system from a primarily peak-hour commuter service to a high-frequency, all-day service. By 2025, Ontario aims to run trains every 15 minutes in each direction on key system segments. In total, GO RER would boost the number of weekly GO Transit trains from 1,500 to 6,000.

Related Topics:

Transit Outlook '25: For agency leaders, finding ways to gain more riders without cutting services or raising fares is a major challenge

Federal funding flows for passenger-rail projects

Transit Outlook '24: An eye on ridership growth, system expansion plans

Honolulu, Los Angeles to roll out new passenger-rail lines

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Browse articles on GO RER GO Regional Express Rail GO Transit GO Transit commuter rail commuter rail express rail Kathryn McGarry Ontario Ministry of Transportation Ontario Peter Zuk electrification rail electrification

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