The Government of Ontario says it’s partnering with the Government of Canada to help improve railway infrastructure at key rail and road crossings along GO Transit’s 01 Lakeshore West and 09 Lakeshore East lines in Toronto and Halton Region.

It’s building “new road-under-rail grade separations” in Burlington, Oakville and Scarborough. (Grade separations allow vehicles to by-pass over or under railroads.)

It’s building new over- or underpasses:

• at Burloak Drive on the 01 Lakeshore West line; and
• at at Scarborough Golf Club Road, Galloway Road and Morningside Avenue on the 09 Lakeshore East line.

According to an Ontario government news release, the projects also support Ontario’s plans to establish regional express rail service on these two and other GO lines for faster, more frequent service. Ontario says it also plans to “electrify” core segments of GO’s rail network.

It’s funding these projects jointly with the federal government’s New Building Canada Fund. Ontario’s share of the funding is about $200 million.

The Oakville Beaver’s David Lea attended an event announcing the Burloak project. As he explains on the InsideHalton.com news site,

“Oakville MP Terence Young and Pickering-Scarborough East MP Corneliu Chisu announced Friday that the federal government and the province would invest around $35-million to pay for the construction of an underpass, which will carry traffic underneath the Lakeshore West GO Train line.

“With GO trains currently blocking traffic on Burloak Drive every 30 minutes and plans in place to eventually have GO trains on the line running every 15 minutes, Young noted this is an important infrastructure investment to make.

“‘I drive by here everyday, once or twice. As I understand it, this is one of the busiest level crossings in Canada,’ said Young.

“‘Sometimes I’ve counted 100 cars here waiting for a train to go by during the morning or evening rush hour. I am very pleased this is happening. It means improved safety for commuters and lets people get around more easily.’”