GO Transit

GO Transit is a regional passenger railway in Ontario, Canada. It is owned by the provincial government and serves the southern part of the province. It operates over CN and CP tracks, as well as track now owned by the provincial government. GO operates under Metrolinx, a Crown corporation that manages public transportation agencies in Ontario. Visit GO Transit’s web site

GO Transit was founded in 1967 as a three-year experiment to provide commuter transit along the shore line of Lake Ontario. It was a success, and new lines were added over the years, leading to today’s seven rail lines.

GO Bus service started in 1970, and is integrated with the rail service to extend the reach of GO Transit.

GO’s unique bi-level coaches were developed in partnership with Bombardier Transportation, and were introduced in 1979. These distinctive coaches allowed the railway to expand ridership without operating longer trains.

GO Transit trains operate in a push-pull configuration, with a locomotive at one end and a “cab car” at the other end. The cab car carries passengers and has a small operator cabin at one end to allow the engineer to remotely operate the locomotive.

GO Transit is integrated with the Presto system used throughout the greater Toronto area for transit services.

GO Transit Locomotives

GO currently has two main types of locomotives: F59PH locomotives built in London, Ontario by GMD, and MP40PH locomotives built by MPI.

• GOT 520-568, GMD F59PH locomotives, 8 remaining
• GOT 600-666, MPI MP40PH-3C locomotives, 67 remaining
• GOT 667-682, MPI MP40PHT-T4 locomotives, 16 remaining

The main difference between the two types of MP40 locomotives is that the later locomotives have modified propulsion equipment allowing them to meet EPA Tier 4 emissions standards.

GO Transit used to have GMD GP40TC locomotives, GMD F40PH locomotives, GMD GP40-2(W) locomotives and former F7 and FP7 locomotives used as cab cars. All have been disposed of.

GO Transit Passenger Cars

GO has a large fleet of over 700 bilevel passenger cars of two main types: coaches with control cab (123), and coaches without control cabs (620).

• GOT 200-257 – coaches with control cab
• GOT 300-366 – coaches with crash energy management control cab
• GOT 2000-2857 – coaches
• GOT 4000-4504 – coaches with crash energy management

GO Transit started with a handful of single level self-propelled passenger cars. They have all been sold off.

GO Transit Blog Posts

• GO Transit and More, Parts 1-5

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