TORONTO — Toronto’s UP Express won’t be introducing express trains after all.
A day after provincial transit agency Metrolinx announced plans to make every other Union Pearson Express train an express between Toronto Union Station and the city’s Pearson Airport, Ontario’s transportation minister has cancelled that plan in the face of immediate and significant opposition.
The plan to have half of UP Express trains skip two intermediate stations, each offering connections to Toronto Transit Authority subway and streetcar lines, was announced Monday along with a significant expansion of GO Transit commuter trains to begin later this month [see “GO Transit to add more than 300 trains …,” Trains News Wire, April 16, 2024]. But an online petition calling for reversal of plan was launched later Monday, and drew more than 5,700 signatures in little more than a day. Many people in the city’s west end use the UP Express trains as a preferred commuting method to downtown Toronto, CityNews reports.
And so, on Tuesday evening, Transportation Miniester Prabmeet Sarkaria said in an announcement on social media site X: “While the intention was to provide a faster option for people travelling between Union and Pearson, I’ve heard riders’ concerns about servicing Weston and Bloor stations along the UP Express line. I’ve directed Metrolinx not to proceed with these changes.”
CityNews reports Metrolinx confirmed in a Tuesday night statement that it would not proceed with the plan and “will be posting updated schedules in the coming days to reflect this direction.”
Correction: It’s the Toronto Transit Commission, not “Authority.”
Fixed, and I knew better. Thanks.
So why not add an express train(s) just for Pearson? When I saw the headline I thought the rental car/shuttle bus lobby interfered with it. As a user of various express trains from city centers to airports, I find them invaluable. Heathrow Express in London is a great example and one I have used often.
Residents of Toronto get my thumbs up. Rail isn’t about speed, it’s about frequency and connectivity. By shaving a few minutes off the schedule, UP Express would cut the frequency at the intermediate stops in half.