Confederation GO Station in Stoney Creek expected to be ready in 2025
Published October 6, 2022 at 12:25 pm
Saying that the province is moving with “unprecedented speed” to fight gridlock, Premier Doug Ford and Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney announced Thursday that the Confederation GO Station in Stoney Creek should be ready in 2025 — six years later than first projected.
Metrolinx has previously outlined the scope of the future self-service station, saying it will have an accessible and canopied island platform, a pedestrian tunnel, a 15-vehicle passenger pick-up and drop-off area and direct stair access from Centennial Parkway. Commuters will also have access to approximately 150 additional parking spaces. It will be part of the Lakeshore West line.
“Over the next ten years, about 2 million people are expected to move into our region,” Mulroney said while standing at the station’s site on Centennial Parkway. “We need our infrastructure to keep up. It is no secret that our plans are ambitious. Our government is moving with unprecedented speed to get shovels in the ground as part of our plan to fight gridlock and have better transit between cities.”
Mulroney added that the construction will begin soon, with completion expected in 2025.
“The reason we are here is that construction is starting soon — this fall,” she said. “It should take about three years, so it should be completed in 2025.
“The project will cost about $50 million. But, most importantly, it’s gonna connect people in Hamilton to transit, to GO Bus, to the the Hamilton Street Railway bus service, and from those transit services directly to GO Rail service. It’s going to connect people to housing and employment opportunities. We have been really committed to increasing transit opportunities here.”
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The minister did not mention the Hamilton LRT line in that response, but the province committed $1.7 billion last year toward building it. The federal Liberal government is putting up the other $1.7 billion. That project was initially cancelled in 2019, early in the Ontario PCs’ first term.
Former Ontario Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne and transportation minister Steven Del Duca announced in Hamilton in 2015 that Hamilton would get the Confederation GO Station in addition to the West Harbour Go Station. Wynne said at that time, “by the time all this is built, I won’t be in this job,” but later added governments have to “think beyond the next election cycle” and make long-term investments.
The Ontario PC Party, led by Ford, won the first of successive majority mandates in 2018. In the summer of ’19, Metrolinx president and CEO Phil Verster said in published reports that Wynne made the announcement “before Metrolinx adopted a market-driven approach.” A public tender for the rail work was issued in 2020.
But it is never too late to give commuters an option to get from suburbia to downtown workplaces and entertainment, especially amid the climate emergency. Sport and Tourism Minister Neil Lumsden, the Hamilton East—Stoney Creek MPP, said getting the Confederation GO Station was a leading issue for voters when he campaigned in the spring election.
“I heard it at the door during the election,” Lumsden said. “We’ve seen firsthand how busy it is. Getting people conveniently to and from Hamilton is essential to our economic success.”
The Confederation GO Station is part of a 10-year, $86.6-million transit plan from the Ontario PC Party government. Ford mentioned that figure covers roads, and mass public transit, including the controversial Highway 413, which is widely opposed by climate justice activists and many mayors across Southern Ontario.
“This new Confederation GO Station, when built… will be an absolute game-changer for the people of Hamilton,” Ford said.
The station will be at 397 Centennial Pkwy., and take its name from nearby Confederation Park on the western shore of Lake Ontario.
Officials have said the timeline for the construction of the self-serve rail station at Confederation will be confirmed following the awarding of the building contract.
— with files from Anthony Urcioli and The Canadian Press
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