The Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility is a

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 ...

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...

maintenance facility in

Whitby, Ontario Whitby is a town in Durham Region. Whitby is located in Southern Ontario east of Ajax and west of Oshawa, on the north shore of Lake Ontario and is home to the headquarters of Durham Region. It had a population of 138,501 at the 2021 census. It ...

, Canada. The depot lies between Victoria Street East and GO Transit's

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 Newcastle, ...

just east of South Blair Street. It is a secondary depot, the primary depot being the

Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility The Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility is a GO Transit rolling stock maintenance facility located in the Willowbrook Yard in Toronto, Canada. The facility is west of Mimico station and is across the main tracks from the VIA Rail Toronto Mainte ...

along GO Transit's

Lakeshore West line Lakeshore West 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 Hamilton, with occasional trips extending to St. Catharines and Niagara Falls. Hi ...

. Plenary Infrastructure, a consortium, is responsible for maintenance and repairs to the facility under a 30-year contract.

Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...

maintains rolling stock within the facility.

Metrolinx Metrolinx is a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario that manages and integrates road and public transport in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), which comprises much of Ontario's Golden Horseshoe region. Headquartered at Union Sta ...

owns the facility.

History

In its planning stage, the depot was originally called East Rail Maintenance Facility, but by opening day became known as the Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility. By 2015, the consortium Plenary Infrastructure was awarded a $859.2-million contract to design, build and finance the facility, and maintain it for 30 years. Of the $859.2-million contract cost, the Province of Ontario contributed $764.4 million and the federal government $94.8 million. Construction started in the summer of 2012 with Construction Substantial Completion awarded on March 14, 2018. The depot will support

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 ...

, offering faster, more frequent commuter train service across the Greater Toronto Region. Another reason for building the Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility was to reduce the operational risk of having only one depot. It povides operational flexibility under emergency situations in case there are operational issues at the

Facilities

The Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility has capacity to accommodate 22 twelve-car trains but was expected to house only 13 upon its opening. It provides mechanical maintenance, body repair, as well as daily cleaning and operational services. It is designed to support 30 years of future service expansion as well as the future electrification of GO Transit rail lines. The facility requires 300 to 400 workers. The site has the following features: * Shop area in the main building of about * 13 on-site storage bays for 12-car passenger trains: ** 2 preventative maintenance bays ** 11 canopy tracks for storage * 11 bays for locomotive repair * 12 bays for coach repair * Dedicated buildings for paint shop, locomotive wash, track maintenance, passenger train wash, and wheel shop * Administrative offices with crew centre in the main building * Over of track * 68 train switches The facility has Gold Certification for

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

(LEED). Environmental features include: * Reflective roof materials to limit solar radiation * Natural lighting throughout the main building * Rainwater collection for wash stations and washrooms * Diversion and storage of rainwater * Electric automobile charging stations, dedicated car pool parking area

References

External links

* published by

Stantec Stantec Inc. is an international professional services company in the design and consulting industry. The company was founded in 1954, as ''D. R. Stanley Associates'' in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Stantec provides professional consulting servi ...

{{GO Transit Rail infrastructure in the Regional Municipality of Durham GO Transit Rail yards in Ontario Rail transport in Whitby, Ontario Transport buildings and structures in the Regional Municipality of Durham