Kitchener station

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Kitchener
Kitchener station wide.jpg
Location126 Weber St. West
Kitchener, Ontario
Canada
Coordinates43°27′20″N 80°29′35″W / 43.45556°N 80.49306°W / 43.45556; -80.49306Coordinates: 43°27′20″N 80°29′35″W / 43.45556°N 80.49306°W / 43.45556; -80.49306
Owned byVia Rail
Line(s)CN/GO Guelph Subdivision
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks2
Bus operatorsGO Transit
Grand River Transit
Connections
Bike transport Spurline Trail
Construction
Structure typeManned station; Heritage station building[1]
ParkingCentral Systems Auto Parks
Bicycle facilitiesOutdoor sheltered bicycle storage
Disabled accessYes
Other information
Station codeGO Transit: 02186
Fare zone27
History
Opened1856[2]
Rebuilt1897
Previous namesBerlin (1856–1916)
Key dates
1966Clock tower removed by CN
2011GO Train service begins
Services
Preceding station VIA Rail Canada simplified.svg Via Rail Following station
Stratford
toward Sarnia
 Sarnia–Toronto Guelph
toward Toronto
Preceding station GO Transit logo.svg GO Transit Following station
Terminus Kitchener Guelph
towards Union Station
Former services
Preceding station BSicon LOGO Amtrak2.svg Amtrak Following station
Stratford
toward Chicago
 International Guelph
toward Toronto
Preceding station Canadian National Railway Following station
Petersburg
toward Sarnia
 Sarnia– Toronto
via Lucan Crossing
toward Toronto
Designated2006
Reference no.4571
Location
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap

Kitchener station is a railway station located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, slightly to the northeast of downtown Kitchener, at 126 Weber Street West, near the corner of Victoria Street. It is a heritage building[1] containing a waiting room and ticket counter built beside a set of tracks also used as a freight yard. A separate building to the east of the passenger area, originally built in 1925 as a freight building,[3] now serves as the headquarters for the Goderich–Exeter Railway.

The station is served by two daily Via Rail trains in each direction running between Sarnia and Toronto via London. On weekdays there are also 8 eastbound and 7 westbound GO Transit train trips between Kitchener and Toronto. In the times or directions that train service is not operating, GO bus route 30 Kitchener provides express service to Bramalea GO Station where passengers can connect to off-peak trains.[4] Grand River Transit routes 4, 6, 20, 34 and 204[5] stop near to the station on either Weber Street or Victoria Street.

History[]

Postcard of Berlin GTR station

In 1856, the Grand Trunk Railway was in the process of a westward push, extending its Toronto–Brampton line. The first Grand Trunk train arrived in Guelph on January 30. On Wednesday, June 18, the first train arrived in Kitchener (then known as Berlin) with 150 passengers.[6] The first Berlin railway station opened shortly after, on the 1st of July.[2] The railway was extended beyond Berlin to St. Marys Junction in 1858, and to Sarnia in 1859.[7]

In 1857, shortly after the arrival of the Grand Trunk, the Great Western Railway also arrived in Berlin via its subsidiary, the Preston and Berlin Railway. This branch line, the northern section of which still exists in the form of the CN Huron Park Spur, connected the northern Grand Trunk and southern Great Western mainlines to each other at a junction west of the newly-built Kitchener Grand Trunk station, near King Street. The Great Western began to construct its own wooden station close to the junction, and had purchased land near the Grand Trunk station which would allow for either adjacent stations or a future union station. However, service on the Preston and Berlin line ended only a few months after it began due to the catastrophic collapse of its bridge over the Grand River, and the plans for a union station never bore fruit.[6]

The Grand Trunk Railway built the current station building in 1897[1] to replace the original, smaller building built in 1856. The station building originally included a prominent Gothic clock tower. A second tower was added to the station after a 1908 fire. In 1916, the town of Berlin was renamed to Kitchener, and the station was renamed accordingly.

In 1966, Canadian National Railway (CN), by this point the owner of the station, removed the clock tower and the other roof features. In 1983, CN threatened to demolish the station, but Via Rail, which had assumed responsibility for CN's passenger services in 1978, opted to retain it. Under the provisions of Canada's Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act, it was designated a railway heritage structure on February 15, 1994.[8]

Between 1982 and 2004, Kitchener was served by the joint Via Rail-Amtrak International service between Chicago and Toronto.[9]

Pair of GO trains parked at the layover facility, located just west of the station

In November 2010, a partial rollout of GO train service was announced to be in place by late 2011. Two Kitchener line trains daily served Acton, Guelph and Kitchener with layover for those trains at a small facility in Kitchener. $18 million was spent to get this first stage operational, with further upgrades to come.[10] Service began on December 19, serving only Kitchener and Guelph to begin with.[11]

Services[]

Via Rail[]

See also: Québec City–Windsor Corridor (Via Rail)

Kitchener station is a stop on the Via Rail Toronto–London–Sarnia intercity train service, which forms a component of Via Rail's Corridor network. This currently consists of two trains per direction per day, but only one of these trains terminates in Sarnia, with the other terminating early in London.[12]

Via Rail services as of April 2021:[13]
Train From Via To Freq.
84 Sarnia Wyoming – Strathroy – London – St. Marys – Stratford – Kitchener – Guelph – Georgetown – Brampton Toronto 1/day
87 Toronto Brampton – Georgetown – Guelph – Kitchener – Stratford – St. Marys – London – Strathroy – Wyoming Sarnia 1/day

GO Transit[]

See also: Kitchener line

The station is also served by GO Transit's Kitchener line regional/commuter service connecting it to Toronto via Guelph, Georgetown, and Brampton. Kitchener is the service's western terminus. It currently consists of 8 eastbound and 7 westbound trains per weekday, with no weekend service. Eastbound trains consist of 6 commuter-oriented early morning trains, 1 mid-afternoon train, and 1 evening train. Westbound trains consist of 1 mid-afternoon train, 6 late afternoon trains, and 1 evening train.[14]

Future[]

Further information: Kitchener Central Station

The Region of Waterloo plans to replace the existing Kitchener station with a new Kitchener Central Station or "Transit Hub" located at King Street where the railway crosses the Ion light rail line. The station would accommodate regional GO and intercity Via Rail trains, as well as intercity coach buses. In 2016, it was estimated that the new station could only open in 2022 at the earliest.[15] The Central Station light rail stop opened in 2019 along with the light rail line itself.

After some public consultation, plans for the "King and Victoria Transit Hub" were made public in November 2020. In addition to integration with the Ion light rail system, the new station would also feature a connection to the Iron Horse Trail, one of the most-travelled cycling and walking routes in the region, as well as a pedestrian underpass connecting the north and south halves of Waterloo Street, creating more pedestrian routes in the immediate area. The planned two-storey station would have ramps and elevators to reach the railway platform level from the street level. It would also have a publicly bookable community room for local events.[16] The construction of the new station is also listed as a project dependency in Metrolinx's March 2021 preliminary business case for two-way, all-day service on the GO Kitchener line. This is due to the need for a second station platform in order to accommodate two-way service.[17]

A larger GO train layover facility is planned west of Kitchener near Baden, in order to allow increased train service to Kitchener.[18] In the meantime, trains are stored in an interim yard in Kitchener off Shirley Avenue east of the station.[19][20]

In addition, an infill station known as Breslau GO is planned in the residential community of Breslau, across the Grand River to the east. The new station would be oriented around park and ride service, in order to address parking capacity without large-scale station parking downtown.[21]

See also[]

References[]

Citations[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Canadian former National Railways Station at Kitchener". Canada's Historic Places. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "William Armstrong, the Grand Trunk Railway and the Breslau Bridge". Historically Speaking - Kitchener Public Library. 2 April 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  3. ^ Brown, Ron (2002). The Last Stop: Ontario's heritage railway stations. Toronto: Polar Bear Press. ISBN 978-1-896757-19-3. OCLC 49047616.
  4. ^ "Kitchner Line Schedule" (PDF). GO Transit. 31 August 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  5. ^ "Grand River Transit Route Map" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-03. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Clowes 1996, p. 10.
  7. ^ Scrimgeour 1990, p. 8.
  8. ^ Savage 1994.
  9. ^ Melzer, Matt (23 April 2004). "Final Run of the Amtrak / VIA International". TrainWeb.org. Retrieved 4 August 2015. From 1982, Amtrak and VIA Rail Canada had jointly operated the International train between Chicago and Toronto
  10. ^ Outhit, Jeff (14 November 2010). "GO trains to run from Kitchener to Toronto in 2011". Waterloo Region Record. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
  11. ^ Outhit, Jeff (25 November 2011). "GO Train coming Dec. 19". Waterloo Region Record. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  12. ^ "Toronto-London-Sarnia" (PDF). Via Rail. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  13. ^ "Timetable: Temporary Schedule" (PDF). Via Rail. 1 April 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  14. ^ "Kitchener GO Train and Bus Schedule" (PDF). GO Transit. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  15. ^ "Central Station Open House Panels" (PDF). Region of Waterloo. May 19, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 23, 2018. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  16. ^ Weidner, Johanna (19 November 2020). "Region shares design of new transit hub in downtown Kitchener". Waterloo Region Record. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  17. ^ Metrolinx 2021, p. 51.
  18. ^ R. J. Burnside and Associates, Ltd. (2009-07-13). "Georgetown to Kitchener Environmental Study Report". Archived from the original on 2010-05-28. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  19. ^ "New Train Layover & Bus Facility, Shirley Avenue, Kitchener". Merx. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  20. ^ Coxson, Doug (September 9, 2014). "Baden site still in GO Transit's plans for train layover facility". New Hamburg Independent. Archived from the original on 11 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  21. ^ Outhit, Jeff (17 November 2019). "New plan pitches faster, two-way GO trains in Kitchener by 2025". Waterloo Region Record. Retrieved 29 January 2021.

Bibliography[]

External links[]


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