Commuter service planning

In 1968, MPP William Hodgson introduced a private member's bill to move that the government of Ontario establish GO Transit services north of Metro Toronto.^[6] That year, a community group known as the GO North Committee distributed "GO North" stickers for motorists to adhere to their automobile's windshield to advocate for GO Transit commuter rail service north of Toronto.^[7]

Planning for commuter services resulted in the establishment of the Newmarket Bus Terminal by 1970, from which commuters would be taken to the Richmond Hill GO Station to commute to Toronto.^[8]

John Crawford Medcof, operating a company named Railroad Boosters, rented a train for one-day service between Barrie and Toronto on 16 October 1969,^[9][10] earning a profit.^[11] He gave the proceeds to the government of Ontario to support a north GO train service promised by John Robarts in late 1969, but asked for the government to return the money when the provincial government announced it would not establish a Richmond Hill line service in 1970.^[12][10] He applied for a grant of CA$97,200 from the federal government to operate a commuter train for twelve weeks, with one train leaving Barrie in the morning for Toronto, and a return trip at night.^[11] The grant was approved per the government's local initiatives program in December 1971.^[11] The train was operated by Canadian National Railways, and charged the same fares as those for the GO Transit bus service.^[11] Another trial commuter service from Barrie to Toronto was operated in late 1972, carrying 13,483 passengers.^[13]

In 1973, the Canadian Transport Commission held a public hearing at Georgian College^[13] during which its three-member committee heard presentations from Medcof and councillors from all "municipalities between Toronto and Barrie".^[14] All presentations favoured the creation of commuter train service between the two cities, including that of York—Simcoe MP Sinclair Stevens.^[14]

On April 1, 1972, CN introduced commuter service from Barrie to Toronto, as required by the Canadian Transport Commission. The service was transferred to Via Rail in 1978.^[15] As a result of federal government financial cutbacks to Via Rail, the service was transferred to the provincial government and integrated into the GO Transit network on September 7, 1982, but service only extended to Bradford.^[15] On September 17, 1990, the line was extended to Barrie, but was again cut back to Bradford on July 5, 1993.

Service expansion

On September 8, 1998, GO Transit added a second daily round trip to the line. In the early 2000s, GO Transit opened three new stations on the line: Rutherford on January 7, 2001;^[15] York University on September 6, 2002;^[16] and East Gwillimbury on November 1, 2004.^[17] In 2006, the number of daily trains on the line doubled again to four in each direction.^[18]

In 2006, GO Transit built a bridge at the Snider diamond,^[19] which is the junction between the Barrie Line and Canadian National's primary east–west freight line, the York Subdivision. Since CN controlled both corridors, the passage of passenger trains over the diamond was often delayed by freight trains passing through the intersection. Constructing the bridge and associated trackage resulted in a grade separation of the two lines, eliminating such delays. Construction of the bridge began in February 2006, and the bridge was opened in December 2006. The entire project was completed in June 2007.^[20]

On December 17, 2007, the Bradford Line was extended to the new Barrie South GO Station and was renamed the "Barrie Line".^[21] Construction had begun on February 2, 2007, to construct the new Barrie South station, a new layover facility and new tracks, signals and crossings along the existing 20 kilometres (12 mi) railway corridor. The project cost $25 million, funded by two thirds by the federal and provincial governments, and one third by the City of Barrie.^[22]

On December 15, 2009, Metrolinx purchased the portion of the Newmarket Subdivision within the City of Toronto from CN for $68 million. The Barrie line trackage, from Union Station to Barrie, is now fully owned by Metrolinx. As part of the agreement, the Canadian National Railway continues to serve five freight customers located on the Newmarket subdivision between Highway 401 and the CN York Subdivision.

On January 30, 2012, the Barrie line was extended north to the newly constructed Allandale Waterfront GO Station.^[23]

In the summer of 2012, a pilot train service was introduced on weekends and holidays between June and September.^[24] Two trains in each direction completed the entire route, while an additional four trains ran between Union Station and East Gwillimbury GO station.^[25] The summer service cost CA$520,000 to operate, including train crews, safety and enforcement, station staffing and fuel.^[26] Bidirectional weekend service was offered again in summer 2013, with four trains in each direction covering the entire route from Toronto to Barrie, making all stops and having a bus connection at Rutherford GO Station for non-stop service to Canada's Wonderland.^[26][27] It cost CA$400,000 to operate.^[26] For the summers of 2014, 2015 and 2016, the same train service was provided, but without non-stop buses to Canada's Wonderland, requiring those passengers to transfer instead to York Region Transit local bus service at Maple GO Station.^[28]

On December 31, 2016, year-round weekend train service was introduced with service every 75 minutes in both directions between Toronto and Aurora, including three daily trains per direction covering the full route between Toronto and Barrie.^[29]

On December 30, 2017, the Downsview Park GO Station (an intermodal station intersecting with the Toronto Transit Commission's (TTC) new Line 1 Yonge-University subway extension) opened, and service to York University station was correspondingly reduced to peak hours only.^[30][31] At the same time, the Barrie line's weekend train service was improved to every 60 minutes between Union and Aurora, and new hourly weekday off-peak service was introduced between Union and Aurora, as well as additional peak period trains between Union Station to Bradford GO Station.^[32] Although the station was intended to entirely replace York University GO Station, limited peak-period service was maintained to York University station following the opening of Downsview Park station.

Due to the temporary closure of the York University campus during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, all service to York University GO Station was suspended on March 18, 2020.^[33] On July 19, 2021, Metrolinx announced that the station was permanently closed.^[34]

Connections

The Barrie line makes connections with:

• Barrie Transit
• York Region Transit
• Toronto Transit Commission
• Via Rail
• Simcoe County LINX^[41][42]
• BWG Transit^[43]

Capacity expansion

Second track under construction in 2015 between Rutherford and York University stations

In April 2015, the government of Ontario announced that as part of a broad GO Transit expansion project called Regional Express Rail, service on the Barrie line would increase from 7 daily train trips to over 20 daily train trips by 2020.^{[44][lower-alpha 1]} The railway electrification system is expected to be completed by 2024 and will feature two-way, all-day service every 15 minutes between Union Station and Aurora GO.^[44] However, on August 12, 2021, Metrolinx announced that, after electrification there would be 15-minute, two-way, all-day service beyond Aurora to Bradford, and 30-minute two-way, all-day service to Barrie South and Allandale Waterfront.^[45]

Grade separation

Grade separation construction at Strachan Avenue in Toronto

A number of grade separation projects are planned for the line. The Davenport Diamond will separate the east-west CP rail subdivision tracks from the north-south Barrie line tracks. Road and rail grade separation will be undertaken at Rutherford Road immediately north of Rutherford GO Station,^[46] and at McNaughton Road north of Maple GO Station.

Additional stations

In the September 2015 planning document "New Station Analysis", an initial list of 22 potential GO station sites were identified. These were, from north to south, at Innisfil, Holland Yard, Mulock Drive, St John's Sideroad, Yonge Street, Bathurst Street at Side Road 15, Dufferin Street, Kirby Road, Keele Street at Teston Road, Langstaff Road, Highway 7, Steeles Avenue, Finch Avenue, Downsview Park, Wilson Avenue, Lawrence Avenue, Caledonia Road, Rogers Road, St Clair Avenue West, Davenport Road, Dupont Street, and Bloor Street.^[53]

Of these, most were rejected as unsuitable, either because they were too close to other stations,^[54] or for failing to meet other criteria, such as connections to other services, proximity to urban growth centres,^[55] construction viability, urban density, or necessary infrastructure.^[56] Others were rejected because they were considered for other lines on the network.^[57] Four sites were considered for either the Barrie line or the Kitchener line.^[58] The sites at Highway 7 in Vaughan and at St Clair Avenue West were not included as part of the 10-year RER expansion, but are part of a future expansion program.^[59] The candidate location Bathurst Street at Side Road 15 was deferred for future consideration.^[60]

Stations have been approved in Vaughan for the Kirby Road site (serving the community of Hope), at Mulock Drive in Newmarket, and in Innisfil.^[61] Under the Regional Express Rail initiative, new stations are planned in Toronto: Bloor–Lansdowne GO Station at Bloor Street West (near Lansdowne Avenue and Lansdowne subway station) and Spadina–Front GO Station at Spadina Avenue near Front Street (with access to the CityPlace neighbourhood and 510 Spadina streetcars).^[62][63]