Ontario’s Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria was recently in Hamilton to announce that train track work connecting the West Harbour GO Station to the Lakeshore West main line has been completed.
As a result of the track work, the Ontario government also announced that all trains travelling to and from Niagara Falls, including weekend and off-peak trips, will now stop at West Harbour GO Station.
The change, which means the addition of 32 new stops at the station weekly, means that there will now be four times as many trips for commuters travelling between Hamilton and Niagara Falls.
West Harbour GO previously had a dead-end track that required trains to back in and out of the station, which added about 15 to 20 minutes to round trip travel time.
To save time, the majority of train trips on the Lakeshore West line that connected to the Niagara Region would skip West Harbour GO.
That will no longer be the case because of the track work completed.
Sarkaria said that the completion of track work “means better service for anyone who relies on West Harbour GO and faster service to and from Niagara Falls, one of Canada’s most popular tourist destinations.”
“Our government is making historic investments to expand transit and build for the future, while creating good-paying jobs that protect Ontario workers during this time of economic uncertainty,” he added.
Sarkaria was also joined by MPPs Donna Skelly (Flamborough – Glanbrook), Monica Ciriello (Hamilton Mountain), Neil Lumsden (Hamilton East – Stoney Creek), Sam Oosterhoff (Niagara West) and Interim President and CEO of Metrolinx Michael Lindsay.
It should be noted that the announcement was made prior to Skelly’s election as Speaker to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario – a non-partisan role that means she can no longer participate in government media events.
Lumsden commented, “Our government continues to make major transit investments to get people to where they need to go faster.”
Lindsay was sure to note that the work on the track was also “delivered ahead of schedule.”
“It’s a lovely thing to say in connection to transit and transportation work,” he quipped at a time when other projects have been marred by delays.
The Ontario government also notes that the completed work at West Harbour “will also facilitate GO rail service to the future Confederation GO Station” in Stoney Creek.
Asked about how construction on the Confederation Station is advancing, Sarkaria said, “We’ve made great progress on that, we’ve done a lot of major work on that, and we’re very confident that we can open that facility this year as well.”
The Government of Ontario also recently extended GO bus service to the Six Nations of the Grand River and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nations – the first time Ontario has provided direct GO Transit service to a First Nation.
And, as of March 2025, veterans and members of the Canadian Armed Forces can ride GO Transit for free.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
