Update — Sunday, December 5, 7:15 a.m.: Lakeshore East trains resumed regular service today, Sunday, December 5.

*Update — Thursday, December 2, 4:43 p.m., here.

As a result of a fatal incident Saturday, November 27 near Pickering GO Station, GO Transit is continuing to modify service along the Lakeshore lines — potentially until tomorrow Thursday, December 2.

GO is providing passengers with 30-minute service at all stations along the 09 Lakeshore East line using both rail and bus services until about 7 p.m.:

• Trains operate between Union Station and Guildwood GO Station and between Pickering and Oshawa GO stations.
• Shuttle GO buses operate between Guildwood and Pickering to connect with train service.

GO says that, while it recognizes that bus connections can make for a longer travel time, it asks that you continue to use home stations, because parking lots are filling up quickly. As of now, Guildwood GO station is at total parking capacity.

To best use limited resources and make sure that it can provide 30-minute service during peak periods, GO revises the schedules for the Lakeshore East line to provide hourly service after 7 p.m. for the coming days.

Starting at 7:10 p.m. each day, westbound service along the line is hourly until the end of the day. Starting at 8:05 p.m., eastbound service is hourly.

From the Metrolinx News blog post, “Latest customer updates on Lakeshore East GO train disruptions after weekend incident”, here:

“New images show how complicated these tasks can be, as workers expect their mission to continue through the upcoming weekend.

“The job requires dozens of people and involves righting at least two rail vehicles that toppled over Saturday night.

“When lifting occurs, experts create an exclusion zone to ensure everyone stays safe. It is an area around the lifting operation where people are excluded, other than the ‘riggers’ - experts setting up the lines - and machine operators.

^ Crews work to clean up the scene of the incident on Wednesday, December 1. Image, Metrolinx

“This is why crew members can be seen standing well away from the rail truck.

“The operation itself involves many Metrolinx teams, as well as experts from the contractor.

“Experts for the contractor have developed a ‘work methodology plan’ to outline how tasks are performed. Part of that effort is a risk assessment, with controls put in place to keep everyone safe. The exclusion zone is an example of one of these controls.

“The contractor has been performing this work because they are one of the most capable rail recovery teams in the country.

“They are doing this against the backdrop of having lost a team member during the incident on November 27.

“Last night (November 30), the excavators lifted and re-railed the rail truck - which weighs over 61,000 pounds.

The ballast car was lifted this morning (December 1).”

^ Rail crew members look on at the scene in this image taken at night. Image, Metrolinx