Barrie line

Barrie is one of the seven train lines of the GO Transit system in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Union Station in Toronto in a generally northward direction to Barrie, and includes ten stations along its 59.5 miles (95.8 km) route.^[1] From 1982 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2007, it was known as the Bradford line, as that community then constituted the line's terminus. With the opening of the Barrie South station on December 17, 2007, the Barrie nomenclature was again restored.

The line runs on the tracks of the Canadian National Railway's (CNR) CN Newmarket Subdivision, or Newmarket Sub for short. Metrolinx purchased the entire line from CNR in 2009.

History

In 1852, construction began on the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway, which would run from Toronto to Collingwood.^[2] The line opened on May 16, 1853, when passenger train service began operating between Toronto and Aurora (then Machell's Corners).^[3] On October 11, 1853, service was extended to Barrie.^[4]

In 1888, the Grand Trunk Railway took over operation of the line.^[3] In 1923, the Canadian National Railway inherited the bankrupt Grand Trunk Railway.

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.^[5]

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.^[5] On September 17, 1990, the line was extended to Barrie, but was again cut back to Bradford on July 5, 1993.

On September 8, 1998, GO Transit added a second train to the line. In the early 2000s, GO Transit opened four new stations on the line: Rutherford on January 7, 2001;^[5] York University on September 6, 2002;^[6] and East Gwillimbury on November 1, 2004.^[7] On December 17, 2007, GO Train service was restored to Barrie after fourteen years with the opening of the Barrie South station.

On October 5, 2005, GO Transit issued a press release stating that the number of trains on the line would be expanded to four for the morning southbound trip, and four for the afternoon return.^[8] This also affected all connecting bus lines with links to the train line, especially GO bus service from Barrie and Keswick.

On April 10, 2006, GO Transit announced the construction of a bridge at the Snider diamond,^[9] which is the junction of the north-south line used primarily by GO transit for passenger service, and the east-west CN York Subdivision line used primarily by Canadian National Railway (CN) for freight service. Since CN controls 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 completed and opened on December 2006. The entire project was completed on June 2007.^[10]

GO Transit received some federal and provincial funding to extend the Bradford rail line to Barrie. The new station, named Barrie South GO Station, is located at the southern end of the city. Construction of the station began in June 2007, and it opened on December 17, 2007.^[11] The project entailed "upgrading rails, ties, signals, and crossings" on the already existing rail line between the Bradford and Barrie South GO train stations",^[12] as well as building 20 kilometres (12 mi) of new track and a layover facility. Overall, the project cost $25 million, of which one third was covered by the municipal government of Barrie.^[12] Project construction began February 2, 2007.

On December 15, 2009, Metrolinx purchased the lower part of the Newmarket sub in central-north Toronto from CN for $68 million. The Barrie line trackage is now owned by Metrolinx all the way from Union Station to Barrie. As part of the agreement, CN rail will continue to serve five freight customers located on the Newmarket sub between Highway 401 and CN's main east-west York Sub.

The Barrie line will be expanded with the addition of the Allandale Waterfront station in September 2011, at which time it will also increase the number of trains to five each in the morning (southbound) and evening (northbound).^[13]

Stations

There are nine stations on the Barrie line, excluding the terminus at Union Station in Toronto.

Connections

The Barrie line makes connections with:

• Barrie Transit
• York Region Transit
• Toronto Transit Commission

Future

Construction is currently underway to extend the line from its current terminus to a new Barrie Waterfront Station. This will bring the total length of the line to 63.0 miles (101.4 km).^[1]

The government of Ontario announced funding to Metrolinx for network expansion on December 13, 2007, which included $20 million to build a second track between Union Station and Bradford to enable all-day two-way service.^[14]

As a part of the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension, a new GO station will be built to interchange with the Sheppard West Subway station.^[15] The current York University station will be abandoned when the new station opens, which is likely to be in 2015.^[1]

To provide an interchange with York Region's Viva bus rapid transit service, a new station will be built at Highway 7. The station is to be called Concord Station, after the community in which it will be located.^[1]

References

External links

• GO Transit: Barrie (Bradford) GO Train & Bus Service
• GO Transit: Barrie (Bradford) GO Train & Bus Service Schedule (PDF)
• GO Transit: Barrie (Bradford) GO Train & Bus Service Schedule -Simplified Barrie South to Union Station (PDF)