Lake to Lake Service

The Barrie Line, first opened as a GO service in 1982 but used as a transcontinental route long before that, runs from Union station, blocks from Toronto's Waterfront on Lake Ontario, to Barrie's Allandale Waterfront on Lake Simcoe.  Today this line provides a weekday service prioritizing trips towards Union in the morning and out of Union in the afternoon with a few trains in the opposite direction during that period.   On the weekend an infrequent all-day service reaches Barrie every 3 hours and more frequent hourly service reaches Aurora.

Under the GTA Transit 2050 Plan this line would become fully electrified and have three service levels: "Urban" service to Concord with trains every 10 minutes or less, "Suburban" service every 30 minutes to Aurora, and "Regional" service every hour to Barrie.  This line will become known as the fastest way to get from the north to downtown.  

Three major initiatives would be delivered to this line as part of this proposed plan:

1. Opening new stations to support network connectivity: In 2029 two stations currently in procurement, with construction expected to begin soon, will open in the city.  These two new stations are Bloordale with connections to line 2 at Bloor near Lansdowne Road, and Caledonia with connections to Line 5 on Eglinton Ave West.   

2. Opening more stations to support enhanced "Regional" and "Suburban" service:  In 2031, new stations would open to enhance connectivity and provide better transit options for people living in York Region and southern Simcoe County.  Within York Region stations would open at Kirby, Eversley, and Armitage with connection to YRT bus services.  In Simcoe County a new station would open in Innisfil in support of the development of a massive new town centre development.

3. Enabling "Urban" service: Enabling urban service involves three key deliverables.  The first deliverable is double tracking (and in some locations triple tracking to allow regional or suburban trains to pass) so that frequent two-way service can operate.  The second deliverable is electrification so that trains can accelerate more quickly to get people to their destination and allow the addition of more stops without significantly impacting travel time.  The last and most visible deliverable is adding many more stations to drive demand through greater connectivity and easier access to stations.   This new urban service will greatly reduce travel times with frequent and fast service that delivers 9 new stations of which 6 connect to high level transit services (2 to subway lines, 1 to an LRT line, and 3 to major streetcar routes). 

   • Connecting to new subway lines are Concord and Ancaster stations.  Concord station will be located along Highway 7 with connections to the future Ontario Line 3 between Vaughan's Metropolitan Centre and the growing Promenade area.  Ancaster station with connections to the future extension of the Sheppard Line 4 would provide quick connections to North York Centre and also serve the inventive communities being built at the south end of the now closed Downsview Airport. 

   • Duke Heights station to be located at Finch Street West would provide connectivity to an extended Finch Line 6 with connections to northern North York and Etobicoke.

   • Fashion station, Parkdale station, and Earlscourt station will provide connections to frequent streetcars services, vibrant neighbourhoods, and key venues like the Rogers Centre.  

   • Four additional stations, Wallace Emerson, Earlscourt, Glen Park, and Snider, would provide connectivity to growing neighbourhoods and key bus routes.