GOOD NEWS FOR GRAVENHURST, BRACEBRIDGE, HUNTSVILLE — ONTARIO BUYING 3 NEW NORTHLANDER ‘TRAINSETS’ FOR 3 STOPS IN MUSKOKA BY ‘MID-’20s’

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

GRAVEHURST — The on-again-off-again Northlander could make a stop in Gravenhurst in a few years if the province follows through on a promise yesterday to start the engines again on a new train and service.

Ontario will spend $140 million to buy three new “trainsets,” announced Associate Transportation Minister Stan Cho yesterday.

Each trainset — of a locomotive and three passenger cars — will make 16 stops heading north: Toronto (Union Station), Langstaff, Gormley, Washago, Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Huntsville, South River, North Bay, Temagami, Temiskaming Shores, Englehart, Kirkland Lake/Swastika, Matheson, Timmins and Cochrane.

Once up and running, the Northlander will be running four to seven days a week, depending on the season.

Three new trainsets with an engine and three cars have been orders as part of a deal with the federal government. Ontario’s cost announced yesterday is almost $140 million.

It’s kind of pre-Christmas present by the Tories, but the promises by this government have been broken before.

The trains will be fully accessible with Wi-Fi, USB charging ports and comfortable seating, said Cho, adding they are also among the most environmentally friendly diesel locomotive models on the market.

The government is piggybacking on a federal order with Siemens Mobility Limited, allowing a faster timeline to get the Northlander up and running again from Toronto to Timmins and Cochrane.

Cho said “there’s still a lot for us to do,” and “that work will go on concurrently until these trains are manufactured — such as station and track upgrades, engineering … We’re on track for the mid-2020s and (the order) was a first big step.”

Northern train service began 110 years ago and the last Northlander rumbled through Muskoka in 2012.

Currently, the route is served by four daily buses between Toronto and North Bay, and one or two buses daily to Timmins and Cochrane.

The government claims ridership is expected to be as high as 60,000 annually by 2041, and will boost northern tourism.

The new route will include 16 stops, including three stops in Muskoka, en route to Cochrane. This is a map released last year by Metrolinx.

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