Canadian Railroads > GO Niagara – 4 Years Ahead of Schedule.

GO's plan was to implement weekday GO Train service between Toronto and Niagara Falls in about 4 years time....but now, beginning on January 7/19 an existing Toronto – Hamilton train will be extended to St. Catharines and Niagara Falls.

https://news.ontario.ca/mto/en/2018/12/ontario-delivers-historic-weekday-go-train-service-to-niagara-falls.html

The new train leaves Toronto in the evening and returns from Niagara Falls in the morning....running opposite to the VIA (Amtrak) Maple Leaf and similar to an old schedule VIA discontinued in 2012.

GO does plan to implement additional frequent train service...... but for now. there are hourly GO Buses from Niagara Falls connecting with Go Trains in Burlington.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/18 07:30 by ghCBNS.

ghCBNS Wrote:

> GO does plan to implement additional frequent
> train service...... but for now. there are hourly
> GO Buses from Niagara Falls connecting with Go
> Trains in Burlington.

Back to the future. CNR offered frequent Niagara Falls-Toronto train service, daily, during my college years at Niagara University in the late 1960s. 

The photo, at the CNR Niagara Falls depot,  dates to the late spring of 1966.

Art House

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No need for a VIA service it seems, now.

reindeerflame Wrote:
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> No need for a VIA service it seems, now.

VIA shouldn’t even be in the Toronto-Niagara Falls market. At 89 miles...it’s barely intercity but I guess VIA will continue to operate the Canadian leg of the Maple Leaf.

ghCBNS Wrote:
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> GO does plan to implement additional frequent
> train service...... but for now. there are hourly
> GO Buses from Niagara Falls connecting with Go
> Trains in Burlington.

Any GO service is better than none, but the bus from Niagara Falls to Burlington is painfully slow - almost two hours.  Besides the obvious need to pull off the Queen Elizabeth Way to service stops, there is another issue that lengthens the trip. The stop at St. Catharines is at a mall. When I took it, there was nowhere to purchase tickets and there still may not be. It took 15 minutes to load a small number of passengers. Only one had a Presto card and the driver had to sell cash fares to the rest and explain they didn't have to buy a second ticket for the connecting train. The total trip to Toronto, including 15 minutes between bus and train, is three hours. Fortunately, last summer there were some express buses that went from N.F. to Burlington in just over an hour.

Go Greyhound.

Amtrak does great business in the 89 miles between NY and Philly  or Chicago and Milwaukee. No having to take a pokey bus halfway to get to an all-stop commuter train either. 

VIA should have kept running the 2nd frequency. They could have marketed it as a run-through to Ottawa or Montreal to get more business.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Go Greyhound.
>
> Amtrak does great business in the 89 miles between
> NY and Philly  or Chicago and Milwaukee. No
> having to take a pokey bus halfway to get to an
> all-stop commuter train either. 
>
> VIA should have kept running the 2nd frequency.
> They could have marketed it as a run-through to
> Ottawa or Montreal to get more business.

Have you compared the population between New York-Philadelphia and Chicago-Milwaukee with that between Toronto and Niagara Falls?

After GO began the nearly hourly bus service between Niagara Falls and Burlington VIA still continued to run the local Niagara Falls -Toronto trains. Sure there were some that liked the one-seat ride but for most....VIA couldn't compete with more frequent and cheaper bus to train option and those locals came off in 2012 leaving only the Maple Leaf.

Now additional trains are back with more to come.

Ive always wondered if there would be a market for a Windsor-NF train for Via at least once daily, but I guess eventually anyone who really wants to do that could make a connection via Aldershot.

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