Barrie Line - History

History

In 1852, construction began on the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway, which would run from Toronto to Collingwood. The line opened on May 16, 1853, when passenger train service began operating between Toronto and Aurora (then Machell's Corners). On October 11, 1853, service was extended to Barrie.

In 1888, the Grand Trunk Railway took over operation of the line. In 1923, the Canadian National Railway inherited the bankrupt Grand Trunk Railway.

On April 1, 1972, CN introduced commuter service from Barrie to Toronto, as required by the Canadian Transport Commission. The service was transferred to Via Rail in 1978.

As a result of federal government financial cutbacks to Via Rail, the service was transferred to the provincial government and integrated into the GO Transit network on September 7, 1982, but service only extended to 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, 2002; and East Gwillimbury on November 1, 2004. 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. 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, which is the junction of the north-south line used primarily by GO transit for passenger service, and the east-west CN York Subdivision line used primarily by Canadian National Railway (CN) for freight service. Since CN controlled both corridors, the passage of passenger trains over the diamond was often delayed by freight trains passing through the intersection. Constructing the bridge and associated trackage resulted in a grade separation of the two lines, eliminating such 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.

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. The project entailed "upgrading rails, ties, signals, and crossings" on the already existing rail line between the Bradford and Barrie South GO train stations", as well as building 20 kilometres (12 mi) 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.

On December 15, 2009, Metrolinx purchased the lower part of the Newmarket sub in central-north Toronto from CN for $68 million. The Barrie line trackage is now owned by Metrolinx all the way from Union Station to Barrie. As part of the agreement, CN rail will continue to serve five freight customers located on the Newmarket sub between Highway 401 and CN's main east-west York Sub.

The Barrie line was expanded with the addition of the Allandale Waterfront station on January 30th, 2012.