The Willowbrook 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 located in the Willowbrook Yard in

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 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The facility is west of

Mimico station Mimico GO Station is a railway station in the GO Transit network located in the Etobicoke area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a stop on the Lakeshore West line train service, serving the Mimico neighbourhood. The small station building is sit ...

and is across the main tracks from the VIA Rail Toronto Maintenance Facility.

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 ...

performs train maintenance at the facility on behalf of

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 ...

, the owner of

. Bombardier currently has a 5-year contract with two options of five years each to maintain GO Transit trains.

History

The

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rai ...

created the

Mimico Yard Via Rail's Toronto Maintenance Centre is a railway yard in the western end of Toronto, which stores and services Via trains. It lies within the south side of the former CN Mimico Yard directly opposite of the Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facilit ...

in 1910 west of its

on the west side of Royal York Road. The yard had a locomotive roundhouse and facilities to maintain and repair freight cars. Freight trains were assembled and dispatched from the yard. In 1923, the

Canadian National Railway 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 i ...

(CN) took over the yard along with the Grand Trunk Railway. In 1965, CN moved most of the yard's functions to the then-new

MacMillan Yard The MacMillan Yard is the 2nd largest rail classification yard in Canada, after CN's Symington Yard in Winnipeg. It is operated by Canadian National Railway (CN) and is located in Vaughan, Ontario. It was originally opened in 1965 as Toronto Yard ...

Maple, Ontario Maple is a neighbourhood in Vaughan, York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located northwest of Toronto. Maple was founded as the village of Maple, located at the intersection of Major Mackenzie Drive and Keele Street. Geography Maple is located ...

. In the mid-1960s, GO Transit was looking for a site to store and maintain its commuter trains. Thus, GO Transit subsequently acquired the portion of the Mimico Yard on the north side of the mainline passing through it. (Via Rail acquired the portion south of the mainline for its Toronto Maintenance Facility.) Since the GO Transit yard was near Willowbrook Road, the yard was named the Willowbrook Yard. The Mimico station building was taken over as a dispatching office and crew facilities, and a new

Mimico GO Station Mimico GO Station is a railway station in the GO Transit network located in the Etobicoke area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a stop on the Lakeshore West line train service, serving the Mimico neighbourhood. The small station building is sit ...

was constructed on the east side of Royal York Road. In September 1978, work started to construct the $17-million Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility. The depot officially opened on November 7, 1980. By April 2021, GO Transit had installed of guard rails and warning lines along the roof edges of the seven buildings at the depot. These were to protect workers who maintain heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (

HVAC Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. HV ...

) units and other electrical and mechanical equipment mounted on the roofs. HVAC units run 24/7 and keep the air in buildings clean and safe for workers such as for those working near

locomotive engines A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the u ...

Facilities

The Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility is located on a site and features: * service and maintenance building * Diesel shop for maintaining four to six locomotives * Coach shop with a drop pit to lower vehicles for ease of maintenance * Semi-automatic wash bay designed to handle tall passenger coaches * Bay for regulatory inspections and preventative maintenance, performed on an eight-day cycle. * Control centre * General administration office * Fuelling station for up to four locomotives filling at a rate of 200 gallons a minute * Storage yard for 21 trains As of 2021, the depot works around the clock to service, clean and fuel 28 trains each day.

References

External links

* published by

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willowbrook GO Transit Canadian National Railway facilities in Ontario Rail yards in Toronto

History

Facilities

See also

References

External links