Barrie line

Infobox GO Transit rail
name = Barrie
type = line
line = Barrie

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caption =
location =

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 convert|95|km|mi|0 route.

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.

History

Train service to Barrie through Bradford was once provided by Canadian National Railway, which was required to operate this service by the Canadian Transport Commission. Service began on April 1, 1972, and responsibility for the operation was transferred to VIA Rail in 1978.Cite web
url=http://transit.toronto.on.ca/gotransit/2105.shtml
title=GO Transit's Bradford Line
publisher=Transit Toronto
accessdate=2006-06-09] As a result of federal government financial cutbacks to VIA Rail, the provincial government integrated the line into the GO network on September 7, 1982, but terminated the run at Bradford. 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; York University on September 6, 2002Cite web
url=http://ogov.newswire.ca/ontario/GPOE/2002/09/06/c8813.html?lmatch=&lang=_e.html
title=Eves government opens new GO Transit station at York University
publisher=Ontario Ministry of Transportation
accessdate=2006-06-09] ; and East Gwillimbury on November 1, 2004Cite web
url=http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2004/29/c6303.html
title=Media Advisory - GO welcomes customers to its new East Gwillimbury station next Monday morning
year=2005
publisher=Canada Newswire
accessdate=2006-06-09] . 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.Cite web
url=http://www.gotransit.com/public/news/bulletin/Oct5_NorthCorridorChanges.htm
title=North Corridor Changes
work=Customer Bulletins
publisher=GO Transit
year=2005
accessdate=2005-10-29] 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,Cite web
url=http://www.gotransit.com/PUBLIC/news/bulletin/Apr10_Bradfordlineimprovements.htm
title=Bradford line improvements coming your way
work=Customer Bulletins
publisher=GO Transit
year=2006
accessdate=2006-05-14] , which is the junction of the north-south line used primarily by GO transit for passenger service, and the east-west line used primarily by Canadian National Railway (CN) for freight service. Since CN controls both corridors, passenger trains are often delayed in passing through the diamond while waiting for freight trains to clear the intersection. The grade separation resultant from the construction of the bridge will eliminate the 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.Cite web
url=http://www.gotransit.com/gotrip/detailsSchdDiagram.asp?pID=00017
title=Bradford Line - Snider Diamond
publisher=GO Transit
accessdate=2007-12-05]

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.Cite web
url=http://www.gotransit.com/PUBLIC/news/New_stations/newstations.htm
title=New GO stations
publisher=GO Transit
accessdate=2007-12-05] . The project entailed "upgrading rails, ties, signals, and crossings" on the already existing rail system between the Bradford and Barrie South GO train stations",Cite web
url=http://www.barrie.ca/Content.cfm?C=6946&SC=1&SCM=1&MI=1616&L1M=41
title=Construction on the Bradford Corridor – Extension to Barrie Project
publisher=The Corporation of the City of Barrie
accessdate=2007-12-05] as well as building convert|20|km|mi|0 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. Project construction began February 2, 2007.

The government of Ontario announced funding to Metrolinx for network expansion on December 13, 2007 which included $20 million to build a second track to enable all-day two-way service between Union Station and Newmarket, possibly extending to East Gwillimbury station.cite web
url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071213.wtransit13/BNStory/National/Ontario/
title=Ontario to deliver on $100-million it had promised for public transit
last=Gray
first=Jeff
publisher=The Globe and Mail
date=2007-12-13
accessdate=2007-12-13]

Should the expansion of the TTC's Yonge-University-Spadina line proceed as planned, a new GO station would likely be built to interchange with the new Sheppard West subway station; this would not be until 2012 at the earliest.Fact|date=December 2007

References

External links

* [http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/schedule/lstserdt.aspx?table=65 GO Transit: Bradford GO Train & Bus Service]
* [http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/PDF/Timetables/CurrentBoard/Table65.pdf GO Transit: Bradford GO Train & Bus Service Schedule (PDF)]