GO Expansion, previously known as GO Regional Express Rail (RER), is a project to improve

GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven mil ...

train service by adding all-day, two-way service to the inner portions of the

Barrie line Barrie is one of the seven commuter 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 route ...

, Kitchener line and the Stouffville line, and by increasing frequency of train service on various lines to every 15 minutes or better on five of the corridors. This would be achieved with the electrification of at least part of the

Lakeshore East line Lakeshore East is one of the seven commuter rail lines of GO Transit in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Union Station in Toronto to in Durham Region. Buses from Oshawa connect to communities further east in Newcastl ...

Lakeshore West line Lakeshore West is one of the GO Transit rail services, seven passenger lines of the GO Transit system in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Union Station (Toronto), Union Station in Toronto to Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, ...

, Barrie line, Kitchener line and Stouffville line. GO Expansion is one of the Big Move rapid transit projects. With GO Expansion, GO Transit will increase the number of train trips per week from 1,500 (as of 2015) to about 2,200 by 2020 and expand to 10,500 weekly trips upon completion. Most of the extra trips will be in off-peak hours and on weekends. The expanded services, new infrastructure and electrification is projected to roll out in phases between 2025 and 2030. The 10-year regional express rail plan will cost $13.5 billion and will require of new track, including new bridges and tunnels.

History

Background

GO Transit has historically offered two-way, all-day service along its Lakeshore East and

s, while only providing peak rush hour service on its other lines. ''The Big Move'' outlined the building of express and regional rail service improvements across the existing GO Transit network. Other improvements included extensions to

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

and Bowmanville, as well as new GO Transit corridors to

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

, Seaton and Locust Hill. As part of the

2011 Ontario general election Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number) * One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith *''Eleve ...

, Ontario premier

Dalton McGuinty Dalton James Patrick McGuinty Jr. (born July 19, 1955) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 24th premier of Ontario from 2003 to 2013. He was the first Liberal leader to win two majority governments since Mitchell Hepburn nea ...

also made a campaign pledge to provide two-way, all-day train service on all corridors. This vision of two-way, full-day train service on all corridors eventually included

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. In the context of history of technology and economic development, electrification refe ...

of the system and was renamed Regional Express Rail. As part of the Phase 2 announcement, Metrolinx stated that the Kitchener and Lakeshore lines would be electrified, as well as the Union Pearson Express. With GO Expansion, Metrolinx expects to nearly triple ridership to 175 million riders per year by about 2031 from 65.7 million in 2015.

GO Expansion

On March 31, 2017, the federal government announced it would contribute $1.9 billion of the estimated $13.5 billion cost of GO Expansion. The Kitchener line will receive at least $750 million of the federal funding for infrastructure upgrades including of new track. The

, Lakeshore East line, and Lakeshore West line will share the balance of the federal funding for upgrades and of new track. On February 23, 2022, Metrolinx announced that the preferred bidder for the contract was ONxpress Transportation Partners, a consortium that includes Aecon, FCC Construcción,

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

, and

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

, among others. Under its $1.6-billion contract, ONxpress will complete Phase 1 of the GO Expansion project, which includes designing key infrastructure such as signalling systems and upgrades to

Hydro One Hydro One Limited is an Electric power transmission, electricity transmission and distribution Electric utility, utility serving the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Hydro One traces its history to the early 2 ...

power infrastructure. Phase 1 also includes determining the full scope of the project. The consortium will also start construction for grade separations at rail and road crossings. The contract was finalized on April 19, 2022; Alstom announced it will be implementing the

European Rail Traffic Management System The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is the system of standards for management and interoperation of signalling for railways by the European Union (EU). It is conducted by the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and is the o ...

for the signalling on the upgraded network, the first use of that standard in North America. According to Metrolinx,

ETCS The European Train Control System (ETCS) is a train protection system designed to replace the many incompatible systems used by European railways, and railways outside of Europe. ETCS is the signalling and control component of the European ...

would allow more trains to be on the line simultaneously, citing the words of

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

visiting lecturer Tyson Moore, who stated that systems with ETCS were "allowing trains to get closer together while still respecting basic safety margins". The signalling system on the GO network will implement ETCS level 2. In January 2024, Metrolinx announced that, starting January 1, 2025, ONxpress would take over the operation and maintenance of the GO Transit train system in addition to the responsibility of introducing the improvements required for GO Expansion. ONxpress has a division named ONxpress Operations, which consists of Deutsche Bahn International Operations and Aecon Concessions. However, on May 17, 2025, Metrolinx announced the termination of the agreement with ONxpress Operations.

Electrification

GO Expansion goals would be achieved with the electrification of core sections of the GO Transit train system while also expanding the use of diesel service in others, as follows: * The

between

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

and

Union Station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...

* The

between

Oshawa Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the Greater Toronto Area and of the Golden Horseshoe. It ...

and Union Station * The Kitchener line between Bramalea and Union Station, including the

Union Pearson Express The Union Pearson Express (UP Express or UPX) is an airport rail link connecting Union Station (Toronto), Union Station in Downtown Toronto to Toronto Pearson International Airport. The UP Express began operation on 6 June 2015, in time for the ...

service * The

between Allandale Waterfront (Barrie) and Union Station * The Stouffville line between Old Elm and Union Station With electrification, service on the Lakeshore West line could possibly be as frequent as every three-and-a-half minutes during peak periods. Because electric trains can accelerate and decelerate faster at stations, trip times could be reduced on average by 10 minutes with a maximum reduction of up to 20 to 30 minutes. The electrified network will ultimately extend to , with six

traction substation A traction substation, traction current converter plant, rectifier station or traction power substation (TPSS) is an electrical substation that converts electric power from the form provided by the electrical power industry for public utility s ...

s and 11 traction distribution facilities (switching or parallelling stations). construction for the electrification of lines is to begin in 2023, with partial implementation in 2025 and 2026 and full completion in 2032. The project entails the electrification of over of track, including of new track.

Proposed frequencies

In 2022, Metrolinx estimated that with GO Expansion, GO Transit would have the ability to run up to three times more trains than the 3,500 trains per week it ran in 2019. The busiest routes could operate between 8 and 18 trains per hour. Trains at GO stations such as Exhibition, Bloor and East Harbour could have a frequency of every 3 minutes and a 5-minute frequency at stations such as Burlington and Pickering. Evening and weekend service could be as frequent as every 6 to 15 minutes. The following more modest frequencies were projected in 2015.

Two-way all-day service

GO Expansion will see many sections of GO train lines receiving two-way all-day service. Sections proposed to get two-way all-day 15-minute or better are: * Lakeshore West line between Burlington and Union Station * Lakeshore East line between Oshawa and Union Station * Kitchener line between Bramalea and Union Station * Barrie line between

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

and Union Station * Stouffville line between Unionville and Union Station Sections proposed to get two-way all-day 30-minute service are: * Kitchener line between Mount Pleasant and Union Station (every 15 minutes in peak period) Sections proposed to get two-way all-day 60-minute service are: * Lakeshore West line between West Harbour and Union Station (already in effect since August 7, 2021) * Lakeshore West line between Hamilton GO Centre and Union Station * Kitchener line between Kitchener and Union Station (every 30 minutes in peak period) * Barrie line between Allandale Waterfront (Barrie) and Union Station * Stouffville line between Mount Joy (Markham) and Union Station

Peak direction service

GO Expansion will also see more frequent weekday, peak-direction service on the following routes: * Every 15 minutes on the Lakeshore West line between Hamilton GO Centre and Union Station * Every 15 minutes on the

Milton line Milton 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 to Milton, by way of Mississauga. It opened on October 25, 1981. Trains on the Milton line r ...

* Every 30 minutes on the Barrie line between Allandale Waterfront (Barrie) and Union Station * Every 15 minutes on the Richmond Hill line * Every 20 minutes on the Stouffville line between Old Elm and Union Station

Express service

Stations between Oakville and Hamilton on the Lakeshore West line, between Bramalea and Kitchener on the Kitchener line, and between Pickering and Oshawa on the Lakeshore East line are proposed to receive express service to and from Union Station.

Signalling

As part of GO Expansion, Metrolinx will deploy ERTMS level 1 in order to provide more frequent service, marking the first implementation of ERTMS in North America.

New stations

Metrolinx plans to build several new stations as part of GO Expansion, including , , , , and .

SmartTrack

SmartTrack started out as a proposed Regional Express Rail surface service to run mostly within the City of Toronto. It was proposed by

John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian lawyer, broadcaster, businessman, and former politician who served as the 65th mayor of Toronto from 2014 to 2023. He served as leader of the Official Opposition in Ontario from 2005 to 2007 ...

during his successful mayoral campaign in 2014. The SmartTrack proposal depends on electrification of the Stouffville and Kitchener corridors where SmartTrack service would run. As a part of the agreement reached between Metrolinx and the City of Toronto, five stations will be built within the City of Toronto and are expected to open by 2026; these are , , (Liberty Village), , and .