Ground was officially broken at the future site of the Confederation GO station in Stoney Creek. Expected to open next year, the new station will extend service from Toronto along the lakeshore west line to Stoney Creek and will also allow for future expansion to Niagara Falls. But when asked when all-day GO train service will actually happen in Hamilton, we didn’t get a clear answer.
“It’s coming, it’s coming but it’s contingent and we want to be completely transparent on this. Extended, active, very active GO service is going to be contingent on our negotiations with CN. You can’t run trains if you don’t have tracks.” Ted McMeekin, MPP.
The issue of twinning tracks is one of the key sticking points in the talks with CN, which have already been underway for several years. McMeekin says the sooner the negotiations are done, the sooner all-day train service can happen.
The plan calls for the service to be extended to Grimsby and St. Catharines by 2023 and then two years following that, in 2025, it will be stretch all the way to Niagara Falls. Planners say it will take that long to acquire land and expand local transit routes.
