Richmond Hill is one of the seven train lines of the

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 millio ...

system in the

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater T ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. It operates between

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Bloomington GO Station Bloomington GO Station is a train and bus station along the GO Transit network, located in the extreme northeast corner of Richmond Hill, Ontario. The station primarily serves the community of Oak Ridges and the town of Whitchurch–Stouffville ...

in the north in Richmond Hill. Trains on the line operate only during weekday peak hours (morning trains southbound, afternoon trains northbound), while off-peak weekday times are served by the GO bus route 61.

History

A Richmond Hill commuter train service had been announced in 1969 by the provincial government, but its implementation was cancelled in 1970 in favour of bus commuter service. Following a promotional opening on Saturday April 29, the Richmond Hill line became the fourth GO Transit rail line on Monday, May 1, 1978. The opening had been delayed because the BiLevel coaches ordered for the Lakeshore line were not delivered on time, so existing Lakeshore line trains were not available to be redeployed on the Richmond Hill line. The layout of the line remained generally unchanged from 1978 to 2016, when the line was extended north to the new Gormley station. This extension was part of the GO 2020 strategy, which aims to extend the line north to Aurora Road in

Whitchurch-Stouffville Whitchurch-Stouffville ( 2021 population 49,864) is a town in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada, approximately north of downtown Toronto, and north-east of Toronto Pearson International Airport. It is in area, and located in t ...

. Phase I of the project, which was completed in late 2016, established the Gormley GO Station where the line intersects Stouffville Road, created a train layover facility at Bethesda Road, and graded the corridor for the extension. Phase II of the project, which was completed in June 2021, extended the line further north to Bloomington GO Station.

Route

The Richmond Hill line operates over the

CN Bala Subdivision The Canadian National Railway (CN) Bala Subdivision is a major railway line in Ontario, Canada. It runs between the provincial capital of Toronto in Southern Ontario and Capreol in Northern Ontario, where the line continues as the Ruel Subdivis ...

, which is owned by Metrolinx between Union Station and Doncaster Diamond, where the line crosses the CN York Subdivision. North of Doncaster Diamond, the line is owned by

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN ...

and is part of its transcontinental freight route. The

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...

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transcontinental service from Vancouver to Toronto operates along the entire route of the Richmond Hill line, but does not stop at any stations other than Union. During regular service, the Richmond Hill line operates trains that are six to ten coaches long. Due to diminishing ridership during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, GO Transit is reducing the number of coaches on all Richmond Hill line trains from six to four cars. Following successful testing of four-car trains operating on the line beginning on April 19, 2021, all train trips on the Richmond Hill line are four cars long effective May 5, 2021.

Stations

Future

As a part of the

GO Transit Regional Express Rail GO Expansion, previously known as GO Regional Express Rail (RER), is a project to improve GO Transit train service by adding all-day, two-way service to the inner portions of the Barrie line, Kitchener line and the Stouffville line, and by inc ...

(RER) initiative, train service along the Richmond Hill line is planned to be expanded over the next decade. During peak hours, trains would run in peak direction every 15–30 minutes along this line. To implement the planned RER service, the Richmond Hill line would need $1 billion in flood mitigation and a grade separation at the Doncaster junction with the York Subdivision.

References

External links

GO Transit: Richmond Hill GO Train & Bus Service Schedule (PDF)
* {{GO Transit GO Transit Passenger rail transport in Toronto Rail transport in Markham, Ontario Rail transport in Richmond Hill, Ontario Passenger rail transport in the Regional Municipality of York Railway lines opened in 1978 1978 establishments in Ontario