Kitchener railway station

Kitchener Via Rail and GO Transit station
Station statistics
Address	126 Weber St. West Kitchener, ON
Coordinates	43°27′20″N 80°29′35″W / 43.45556°N 80.49306°W / 43.45556; -80.49306Coordinates: 43°27′20″N 80°29′35″W / 43.45556°N 80.49306°W / 43.45556; -80.49306
Connections	Grand River Transit
Structure type	Heritage station building[1]
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	2
Parking	Central Systems Auto Parks
Other information
Opened	1897[1]
Accessible
Station code	GO Transit: KITC
Owned by	Via Rail
Fare zone	27
Presto card	Yes
Formerly	Grand Trunk Railway CN Rail
Services
Preceding station   Via Rail   Following station Stratford toward Sarnia Sarnia–Toronto Guelph toward Toronto GO Transit Terminus Kitchener Guelph Central toward Union Station

The Kitchener railway station is located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, slightly to the northeast of downtown Kitchener, at 126 Weber Street West, near the corner of Victoria Street. It is a heritage building^[1] containing a waiting room and ticket counter built beside a set of tracks also used as a freight yard. A separate building to the east of the passenger area, originally built in 1925 as a freight building,^[2] now serves as the headquarters for the Goderich–Exeter Railway.

The station is served by six Via Rail trains daily (three in each direction) running between Sarnia (via London) and Toronto. There are two early morning GO Trains to Toronto and two afternoon direct returns, with additional connections by bus to Bramalea GO Station during the day. ^[3] Grand River Transit Route 18^[4] stops next to the station on Weber Street.

History

Postcard of GTR station

The station was built in 1897^[1] by the Grand Trunk Railway to replace a smaller station built in 1856. The station originally included a prominent clock tower. A second tower was added to the station after a 1908 fire. In 1966, Canadian National Railway (CN), by this point the owner of the station, removed the clock tower and the other roof features. In 1983, CN threatened to demolish the station, but Via Rail, who had assumed responsibility for CN's passenger services in 1978, opted to retain it. Under the provisions of Canada's Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act, it was designated a railway heritage structure as of February 15, 1994.^[5]

As part of a rapid transit in Waterloo Region plan which also includes building light rail through Kitchener and north to Waterloo, Grand River Transit have proposed relocating Via and GO to a new station closer to King Street, where they would interchange with the light rail, a number of GRT routes, and intercity buses. The light rail is currently scheduled to be complete by 2017, with the new station likely completed around the same date.^{[citation needed]}

Pair of GO trains parked at the layover facility, located just west of the station

In November 2010, a partial rollout of GO train service was announced to be in place by late 2011. Two Kitchener line trains daily serve Acton, Guelph and Kitchener with layover for those trains at a small facility in Kitchener. $18 million was spent to get this first stage operational, with further upgrades to come.^[6] Service began on December 19, serving only Kitchener and Guelph to begin with.^[7]

References

External links

• Media related to Kitchener GO Station at Wikimedia Commons

• Via Rail station page for Kitchener railway station
• Kitchener & Waterloo Street Railway