Mayor pushes for Kitchener-bound morning GO train by 2016

A GO Train passes along a stretch of tracks alongside the Don Valley Parkway in Toronto on Friday, April 5, 2013. (CTV Toronto/Maurice Cacho)

GO trains are a hot topic whenever governmental officials from Waterloo Region meet with their provincial counterparts, and this week was no exception.

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic was part of a local delegation that met with Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca and others at a conference in Niagara Falls.

Local politicians have long lobbied for “all-day, two-way” GO trains between the region and Toronto.

Plans to introduce that level of service within the next decade have been announced.

Currently, two trains leave Kitchener for Toronto in the morning, and two trains make the return trip during the evening hours.

The province has pledged to add four more trips by 2016, but details on when and in which direction those trains will travel has not been made public.

Vrbanovic says he’s pushing the province for at least one of those trips to be a Toronto-to-Kitchener morning run.

“We know it’s a long shot for next year … but we want to make sure we keep that at the forefront,” he told CTV News.

Government estimates show the potential for 40,000 jobs to be created along the Kitchener-to-Toronto corridor if public transit options are improved.

Other items discussed with the province at the conference included affordable housing and mental health supports, Vrbanovic said.