{"id":7358,"date":"2009-10-20T17:15:22","date_gmt":"2009-10-20T21:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=7358"},"modified":"2009-10-20T17:15:22","modified_gmt":"2009-10-20T21:15:22","slug":"metrolinx-approves-committees-recommendations-for-electrification-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/10\/20\/metrolinx-approves-committees-recommendations-for-electrification-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Metrolinx approves Committee&#8217;s recommendations for electrification study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"GO Trains photo by Aubrey Arenas\" src=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3215\/3029144474_63350b4172.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"335\" \/><\/p>\n<p>At lunchtime today, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.metrolinx.com\/en\/default.aspx\" target=\"_self\">Metrolinx<\/a> Board of Directors unanimously gave the thumbs up to the GO Transit Electrification Study <a href=\"http:\/\/www.metrolinx.com\/electrification\/default.aspx\" target=\"_self\">Community Advisory Committee<\/a>&#8216;s recommendations for the scope of work in a study of electrification of the entire GO rail system. It is expected that a request for proposals will be issued this month, with the study to be completed by December 2010.<\/p>\n<p>When asked about what was expected to be found in this study, that hadn&#8217;t been uncovered in the past, Gary McNeil, Managing Director of GO and Executive Vice President of Metrolinx, said &#8220;the studies that were done by GO Transit in the past really looked at the basic operating and capital costs associated with electrifying primarily the Lakeshore Line [&#8230;] whereas now we&#8217;re looking at a significant increase in these corridors [and] we think both the benefits side and the impact side associated with either electrifying or diesel has more then just a cost association with it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The terms of reference for the potential consulting firms has asked them to &#8220;specifically give some advice on whether there are any emerging technologies that deserve long term attention,&#8221; says Daniel Burns, Chair of the Community Advisory Committee. According to McNeil, &#8220;the real question is how much benefit do you get and how much does that benefit cost us [&#8230;] where do you get the best bang for your bucks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>However, Keith Brooks, of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cleantrain.ca\/index.php\" target=\"_self\">Clean Train Coalition<\/a>, argues this has all been done before.\u00a0 He says that, in a previous Metrolinx study, &#8220;they also looked at the cost-benefit factors, and electrified service was the clear winner,&#8221; and he doesn&#8217;t know &#8220;why they need to study again, when that study clearly indicated this is the best economic case, not to mention all the environmental and health impacts and the community impacts.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Although the study will look at broader issues of alternative modes of power for the trains, it is the timeline that most concerns many public stakeholders. Brooks, and other members of the Clean Train Coalition, seem to be frustrated by the delay, stating &#8220;it puts them in a wait and see&#8221; position. Once the study has been completed and implementation begins, the plan is for a gradual increase in service and Metrolinx would not be running any new trains until the infrastructure is complete in around 2015 and even then this is a 25 year plus into the future project. When asked if he would have done anything differently, McNeil stated, &#8220;I wish in 1972 that the province had decided to electrify the Lakeshore Line.&#8221;\u00a0 Hopefully it is not another 37 years before things change for rail travel in the GTA, as this is the right time to have progressive thinking and make good decisions on alternative technologies.<\/p>\n<p><em>Photo by Aubrey Arenas<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At lunchtime today, the Metrolinx Board of Directors unanimously gave the thumbs up to the GO Transit Electrification Study Community Advisory Committee&#8216;s recommendations for the scope of work in a study of electrification of the entire GO rail system. It is expected that a request for proposals will be issued this month, with the study<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/10\/20\/metrolinx-approves-committees-recommendations-for-electrification-study\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Metrolinx approves Committee&#8217;s recommendations for electrification study&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4077,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50,8],"tags":[12600,976,12335,13428,13425,13431,13424,7875,13429,13427,13426,3005,8533,13430,12797],"class_list":["post-7358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-infrastructure","category-transit","tag-aubrey-arenas","tag-chair","tag-clean-train-coalition","tag-community-advisory-committee","tag-daniel-burns","tag-executive-vice-president","tag-gary-mcneil","tag-go","tag-go-transit-electrification-study-community-advisory-committee","tag-good-decisions-on-alternative-technologies","tag-keith-brooks","tag-managing-director","tag-metrolinx","tag-metrolinx-board-of-directors","tag-rail-travel"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Metrolinx approves Committee&#039;s recommendations for electrification study - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/10\/20\/metrolinx-approves-committees-recommendations-for-electrification-study\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Metrolinx approves Committee&#039;s recommendations for electrification study - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At lunchtime today, the Metrolinx Board of Directors unanimously gave the thumbs up to the GO Transit Electrification Study Community Advisory Committee&#8216;s recommendations for the scope of work in a study of electrification of the entire GO rail system. 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