Q & A's

An inter-municipal Mayors/Chair working group and supporting staff team from Clarington, Oshawa, Whitby and the Region of Durham have been established to ensure collaboration, share information, and work with Metrolinx and the Province to advance the extension. 

The team meets regularly for the purposes of tracking progress on this project, sharing news and information, and discussing related issues. The team is also engaging community stakeholders including post-secondary institutions, the business community and development interests. 

The goal is to ensure that the rail extension to Bowmanville, north of Hwy 401, which is of key importance to the future growth of Durham Region and municipalities to the east of Durham, remains a priority focus of Metrolinx and the Provincial government.

• Municipality of Port Hope
• Town of Cobourg
• County of Northumberland

• Durham College
• Trent University Durham GTA
• Ontario Tech University
• Clarington Board of Trade
• Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce
• Durham Homebuilders Association
• Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington
  

Any impact on the existing Oshawa GO/VIA station is dependent on the route chosen by the Province. Should the route be north of Hwy 401 under Metrolinx's option one, which is the option preferred by the Region and local area municipalities, it is expected the station would remain open for VIA service but GO train service would move north of Hwy 401 to the new Thornton's Corners station site. 

74,000 additional working age people would be within a one hour transit commute of downtown Oshawa and 170,000 additional working age people would be within a one hour transit commute of the Bowmanville GO Station.

The Economic Impact Analysis identified 63 different parcels of land available for development or re-development in close proximity to the four proposed stations. 

The net result of such investment would be:

• The construction of 7.8 million sq. ft. of office, retail and industrial buildings, creating over $1.1 billion in transit-oriented, walkable urban development
• 21,000 permanent jobs
• 6,000 new homes
• $1 billion in economic activity from the construction alone
• 5,000 person years of employment from the construction
• 1,000 permanent jobs arising from the operation of the service
• $500 million annually in economic activity from the operation of the service 

• more than $70 million in annual savings for residents related to time, vehicle costs and improved road safety
• a significant reduction in the amount of CO₂ emissions by decreasing private vehicle use by 50 million kilometres a year
• cut commute time by up to half

• The Courtice station site is proposed for west of Courtice Road, just north of Baseline Road West and Hwy 401.
• The Bowmanville station site would be located southwest of the intersection of Regional Road 57 and King Street/Hwy 2 West.
• For more information on the GO East Clarington project, visit the GO East Clarington website.

• The Provincially-approved Environmental Assessment (EA) for the extension to Bowmanville speaks to noise and vibration mitigation.
• As the project commences, the municipalities will be able to raise the management of noise and vibration impacts with Metrolinx, the agency that will be responsible for the extension.

Provincial Cabinet services as the approval authority.  Metrolinx provides advice to the Ministry of Transportation, which makes a recommendation to Cabinet.

The Province, and hopefully the Federal government, will be the major funders of this project.  The Region and local municipalities will be responsible for related local road improvements.