Metrolinx will lead a transit environmental assessment process to evaluate the project, probably in the spring, and, building on earlier studies, will present a revised project plan soon. It intends to let all interested parties have opportunities to comment on how to improve service for travellers on the Georgetown line and to the airport.

GO Transit will provide expertise in planning rail service and Metrolinx will consult with a number of transportation partners, including CN, CP, VIA Rail, the City of Toronto and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority.

Expanding the Georgetown line is a major component of Metrolinx’ Regional Transportation Plan. It is also part of the GO Transit Rail Improvement Program (GO TRIP), a $1-billion initiative, that the federal and provincial governments and municipalities fund through the Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund. A private-sector operator will finance the Union Station to Pearson Air Terminal link component of the project.

Many studies have propsed a rail link between Union Station and Toronto Pearson International Airport.

On November 13, 2003, Hon. David Collenette, then the federal minister of transport, announced that Union Pearson AirLink Group (UPAG) would finance, design, construct, operate and maintain a rail link connecting Pearson with Union.

The minister announced that the air-rail link, or “Blue22”, would be a safe, secure, efficient, accessible and environmentally responsible service providing a fast, direct trip the airport and Union. It would operate with only one stop at Bloor Station, where passengers could transfer to and from the TTC’s 2 Bloor - Danforth subway at Dundas West Station. The name Blue22 referred to the line’s traveling time of 22 minutes between downtown and the airport.

SNC-Lavalin Engineers & Constructors Inc., a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group of Companies, owns UPAG.

Residents of communities along the route of Blue22 — particularly in the former town of Weston — remain opposed to the proposal . You can read about the Weston Community Coalition’s ongoing campaign to cancel — or improve — the proposed line here.

Although the proposal — originally the federal government intended to have the line operating in 2008 — has largely been dormant, this summer it briefly came back to life.

You can read Steve Munro’s view of the proposal here.

Here’s what Sean Marshall in spacing toronto had to say.

You can read Transit Toronto’s history of the Georgetown GO line by Daniel Garcia and Sean Marshall here.