TORONTO — A new high speed rail could be coming to Toronto Pearson, one that would travel along the Windsor-Toronto corridor.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Ontario Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca announced last week that the Province is moving forward with feasibility studies for a high-speed rail link connecting Windsor to Toronto.
The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) said in a statement on its website that it “looks forward to working with the Province to review how this proposed high-speed rail service can be integrated in to the Airport’s planned regional transportation centre.”
The announcement came on the heels of the release of an updated Growth Plan, which allows the Government to identify areas like the large employment zone around the airport for coordinated planning.
“The GTAA is very pleased to see the government moving ahead with this important initiative given the benefits that a link to Toronto Pearson would bring,” said Howard Eng, Greater Toronto Airports Authority President and CEO. “A high-speed rail service along this corridor would provide vital regional connections and help to relieve the congestion that today is stifling our economy and impacting the quality of life for all Ontarians. It could also be a key building block in support of Toronto Pearson’s mega hub vision and would move us one step closer to making an integrated regional transit centre at Toronto Pearson a reality.”
In early 2016, the GTAA announced plans to develop a regional transit centre to connect the airport area to key employment and residential areas throughout the Greater Golden Horseshoe. In addition to serving as a connector for airport passengers to surrounding regions, the transit centre at Toronto Pearson would provide crucial connectivity to the 300,000 workers in the Airport Employment Zone, the second-largest employment area in the country. An integrated transit centre at Toronto Pearson also benefits the region by reducing congestion on area roads, enabling more efficient movement of goods on some of Canada’s most congested highways and lowering regional greenhouse gas emissions.
