Metrolinx will begin running nearly 150 additional or extended GO train trips weekly throughout the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area (GTHA) on Aug. 31, which represents an eight percent increase in the number of trains in service from a year ago.
"We're delivering on our promise to expand transit in Ontario by offering more service, more trains and more choice for GO customers," said Ontario Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney. "For GO Transit, this means an expansion program that will transform GO into a comprehensive two-way, all-day rapid transit system with service every fifteen minutes on core segments of the network."
The 84 new weekly GO train trips will serve the Kitchener, Lakeshore East and Lakeshore West GO train lines, additionally 65 weekly trips will be extended across the Lakeshore West and Kitchener lines, including reinstating evening train service on the Stouffville line. The new train service includes 50 weekly train trips on the Kitchener line, bringing late-night weekday service between Kitchener GO and Toronto’s Union Station and hourly weekday evening service between the City of Brampton and Union Station.
"These changes are another major step in our GO expansion program. The new express option for Kitchener will save customers 20 minutes in their daily commutes. We're doubling rush-hour service for West Harbour GO, and weekend Niagara service will now run all year," said Metrolinx President and CEO Phil Verster. "Offering nearly 150 new and extended weekly GO train trips means our customers have more options to travel when they want to go."
Giving riders options for getting where they want to go and when they want to go is a cornerstone of the GO expansion program, which Metrolinx sums up with a phrase: One region, connected.
Highlights of the new and extended service include:
• The existing 6:00 p.m. trip on the Kitchener line from Union Station will now run express to Bramalea GO before continuing to Kitchener GO. Customers travelling to Bloor, Weston, Etobicoke North and Malton GO stations can take a new 5:45 p.m. trip from Union Station.
• On the Lakeshore West line, there will be new year-round weekend GO train service between Niagara Falls and Union Station.
• Customers travelling out of West Harbour GO will have twice as many options during weekday rush-hour periods, with three existing trips extended to serve the station and a new 4:45 p.m. trip from Union Station running express to Clarkson GO before serving all stops to West Harbour GO.
• Fifteen new weekly trips on the Lakeshore East line will be offered midday.
• Evening train service on the Stouffville line from Union Station, which was suspended for important construction work along the corridor, will be reinstated and extended to Mount Joy GO.
"The new midday, peak and evening services we're adding across the GO Transit network will make taking the GO more reliable and give customers more choice when planning their trips," said Ontario Associate Minister of Transportation (GTA) Kinga Surma. "We're building a transportation system that puts people first by offering them transit options that fit their schedule, whether they're meeting up with family and friends, staying late at the office or wanting to get home early."
Mischa Wanek-Libman | Group Editorial Director
Mischa Wanek-Libman is director of communications with Transdev North America. She has more than 20 years of experience working in the transportation industry covering construction projects, engineering challenges, transit and rail operations and best practices.
Wanek-Libman has held top editorial positions at freight rail and public transportation business-to-business publications including as editor-in-chief and editorial director of Mass Transit from 2018-2024. She has been recognized for editorial excellence through her individual work, as well as for collaborative content.
She is an active member of the American Public Transportation Association's Marketing and Communications Committee and served 14 years as a Board Observer on the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) Board of Directors.
She is a graduate of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Mass Communication.
