This one is fun because it has a neat little working-out: (as a student) this trip costs twice as much as a TTC fare for the same trip, but is twice as fast.
Downsview Park is a very nice GO station. The views are incredible. Inside, the station is very bright and airy, and is an actually excellent use of yellow off-white. Large windows allow in lots of natural light and make it easy to see the platform so you don’t miss your train.
(I’ll always have [fond?] memories wandering around this hall memorizing things for Adjustment Calculus 😄)
Outside, on the platform, there is an excellent view of the CN Tower, peeking over all that lies in between. In 20 minutes, we’ll be down there.
As for the route itself, there’s not much to really report. At first, it mostly runs through quiet industrial land and forest, slowly giving way to old Toronto neighbourhoods. It’s quite interesting, really. Partway through, there is also a diamond crossing, which I believe is only one of three in North America, and the only one crossed by passenger service. Cool!
Closer to downtown, the UP joins us and the rail corridor starts looking much newer. There’s new concrete all around, and most of the railway is in a trench, which isn’t very interesting, but there are some clear noise barriers to look through which provide neat views of Toronto just outside the downtown.
Finally, the Union rail yard feels much larger on this side than on the east. There are lots of condos to pass, and the CN Tower (there it is again!) and the SkyDome1, although these are hard to see as we’re in a trench. All in all, this is a fun, short ride, with some interesting scenes of Toronto.
Skywalk to SkyDome forever! ↩