Agincourt GO Station

Agincourt GO Station[2] is a GO Transit railway station in the Scarborough area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, served by Stouffville line trains.

Agincourt
Location4100 Sheppard Avenue East
Scarborough, Ontario
Canada
Coordinates43°47′10″N 79°17′04″W
Owned byMetrolinx
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks1
Connections
Construction
Structure typeBrick station building
Parking342 spaces
Bicycle facilitiesYes
Disabled accessYes
Other information
Station codeGO Transit: AG
Fare zone07
History
Opened7 September 1982
Rebuilt2018–2020
Passengers
2018134,000[1] 15.2%
Services
Preceding station GO Transit Following station
Kennedy Stouffville Milliken
towards Lincolnville
Former services at CN station
Preceding station Canadian National Railway Following station
Scarboro
toward Toronto
TorontoBelleville via Peterboro Millikens
toward Belleville
Toronto
Port Hope via Peterboro
Millikens
toward Port Hope

History

The station's track was once used by Toronto and Nipissing Railway and later Grand Trunk Railway and finally by CN Rail. TNR opened a station at Agincourt in 1871[3] (not to be mistaken for CPR Agincourt station located further east) and was later demolished and not replaced until GO established service in the area in 1982 (and renovated a station structure in the 1990s).

In 2018, EllisDon Transit Infrastructure was awarded a contract to expand the station for increased Regional Express Rail service. The project will include construction of a second platform, improved pedestrian and vehicle connections, and a new station building. The project is expected to be completed by December 2020.[4]

Connecting transit

The Toronto Transit Commission's 85 Sheppard East and 985 Sheppard East Express bus routes links Agincourt Station to Don Mills station in the west, the 85 and 985B continues east into Scarborough while the 985A continues express to Scarborough Centre station. The proposed Sheppard East LRT would create a grade-separation of the rail line at Sheppard Avenue East (this started in December, 2009), with a connection from the LRT platform to the GO platform. But now it seems that plans have been made to build a second track from Agincourt to Markham GO so the line will operate on weekends. The Rob Ford administration saw a cancellation of the LRT projects, with an intended Sheppard subway line extension; however, on March 22, 2012 Toronto City council voted to reinstate the Sheppard LRT project and construction should restart sometime within the next few years.

Underpass construction

Since the Sheppard LRT project was a plan back in 2010, it required a grade separation of Sheppard Avenue East and the GO train tracks.[5] This led contractors from the City of Toronto government and TTC to build a bridge for the GO train tracks, while having Sheppard Avenue move under it, as the light rail vehicles would not have been able to cross the GO tracks at ground level.[6] On July 3, 2012 the underpass was completed and opened to regular traffic, which was five months ahead of schedule.

Not only does this improve the flow of traffic along Sheppard Avenue, as vehicles no longer have to wait at a rail crossing, it also improves GO train service. The bridge will also allow two-way service on this portion of the line.

Building the bridge also meant that the parking capacity of the station could be expanded. Before the project, parking capacity was only 297 and now it has been increased to 342 spaces.

References

  1. "Drivers of Ridership and Revenue" (PDF). Metrolinx. 2019-02-07. p. 4. Retrieved 2019-01-31.
  2. "Agincourt GO Station Information". GO Transit. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  3. Jeffrey P. Smith. "C.N.Rys. Agincourt". C.N.Rys. Uxbridge Subdivision. Retrieved 17 December 2014. Station: Agincourt, Subdivision: Uxbridge, Mileage: 55.66
  4. Mackenzie, Robert. "Plans for Expanding Agincourt GO Station Submitted to City". urbantoronto.ca. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  5. "Sheppard East Light Rail Transit (LRT)" (PDF). Metrolinx. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  6. Mackenzie, Robert. "New Access Routes into and out of Agincourt GO Station, Starting July 3". Transit Toronto. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
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