Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility

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Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility
General information
Location625 Victoria Street East, Whitby, Ontario [1]
Canada
Coordinates 43°51′50″N78°55′05″W / 43.8639°N 78.9181°W / 43.8639; -78.9181
Owned by Metrolinx
Construction
Structure type Rail yard and locomotive and coach maintenance facility
History
Opened2018

The Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility is a GO Transit rolling stock maintenance facility in Whitby, Ontario, Canada. The depot lies between Victoria Street East and GO Transit's Lakeshore East line just east of South Blair Street. It is a secondary depot, the primary depot being the Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility along GO Transit's Lakeshore West line. [2]

Contents

Plenary Infrastructure, a consortium, is responsible for maintenance and repairs to the facility under a 30-year contract. [2] Bombardier Transportation [ needs update ] maintains rolling stock within the facility. [3] [4] Metrolinx owns the facility. [5]

History

In its planning stage, the depot was originally called East Rail Maintenance Facility, but by opening day became known as the Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility. [2] [5] By 2015, the consortium Plenary Infrastructure was awarded a $859.2-million contract to design, build and finance the facility, and maintain it for 30 years. [2] Of the $859.2-million contract cost, the Province of Ontario contributed $764.4 million and the federal government $94.8 million. [5] Construction started in the summer of 2012 with Construction Substantial Completion awarded on March 14, 2018. [6]

The depot will support GO Transit Regional Express Rail, offering faster, more frequent commuter train service across the Greater Toronto Region. [5] Another reason for building the Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility was to reduce the operational risk of having only one depot. It provides operational flexibility under emergency situations in case there are operational issues at the Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility). [1]

Facilities

The Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility has capacity to accommodate 22 twelve-car trains but was expected to house only 13 upon its opening. [2] It provides mechanical maintenance, body repair, as well as daily cleaning and operational services. It is designed to support 30 years of future service expansion as well as the future electrification of GO Transit rail lines. [7] The facility requires 300 to 400 workers. [5]

The 46,000 m2 (500,000 sq ft) site has the following features: [6]

The facility has Gold Certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Environmental features include: [6]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Get behind usually locked doors at Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility". Metrolinx. May 2, 2019. Archived from the original on March 27, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Kalinowski, Tess (March 29, 2015). "Metrolinx to build 22-train facility in Whitby". Toronto Star . Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  3. "Bombardier Awarded Fleet Operations and Maintenance Extension with GO Transit in Toronto". Media Centre. Bombardier. December 21, 2012. Archived from the original on October 23, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2015. GO Transit has exercised options for 10 years of fleet operations and maintenance services for its commuter rail system
  4. "Collective Agreement between Bombardier Transportation and Teamsters Canada" (PDF). Retrieved May 1, 2021. Service, repair and maintenance, calling of crews and the operation of trains relating to the Metrolinx GO Transit and UP Express Operations and Maintenance within Ontario
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility Nears Completion". Government of Ontario. October 13, 2017. Archived from the original on May 2, 2021. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 "Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility". Metrolinx . Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  7. 1 2 "Behind the doors of Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility" (PDF). Metrolinx. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2021.