Mississauga has joined Toronto, Milton and Cambridge in taking what could be the first step toward providing all-day, two-way GO service on the Milton line — and potentially diverting hazardous freight movements away from heavily populated areas.

The four municipalities have commissioned an $84,000 study for a new freight line dubbed "the Missing Link.""the Missing Link."

It would divert all freight to a new connection between the Milton GO line west of Trafalgar Rd. and the CN line at Bramalea, to travel along a track adjacent to Highway 407.

Consultant IBI Group is expected to deliver "a high level business case" in about eight weeks, said Mississauga city manager Janice Baker.

"A lot more work would have to be done around alignment and where this would actually go, who would build and, of course, the railways would have to be engaged in that. Right now, quite frankly, it's a line on a map," she said.

But it's a line that makes a lot of sense.

"There's the commuter benefit, the benefit to removing dangerous goods from populated areas, and there's an economic benefit because when you free up that kind of people movement, it just creates economic capacity ... from an economic perspective and from a smart planning perspective, to put density and population where there is great commuter service," said Baker.

Diverting freight traffic off the line would allow two-way, all-day GO service into Meadowvale business park and into the Cooksville area adjacent to downtown Mississauga.

It would be reasonable to think the Missing Link could be built within the 10 years Metrolinx has been given to electrify the GO system, so as to provide 15-minute service in some core areas, she said.

The report will also look at the estimated cost of building the new freight connection, but Baker said she expects that would be in the billions of dollars.

"I need to be clear: We're not suggesting the municipalities are going to pay for this," she said. It will be up to the federal and provincial governments and Metrolinx to negotiate with the railways.

Metrolinx continuously talks to the railways about making room for more GO service, said an email from an agency spokeswoman. "We are keen to review the results of the study once complete," she said.

Unlike most GO tracks, which are owned by the province, the Milton line is owned by CP, which uses it as a major freight route. That restricts the number of commuter trains on those tracks to the weekday rush hour. Mississauga residents make up the vast majority of the 6 million Milton line riders annually.

Milton has proposed two additional GO stations, said Councillor Colin Best.

"That's a real pressing need. We're up to nine (GO) trains a day, but that's still not enough and the 401 clogs up at James Snow Parkway every morning," he said.

The Missing Link would also divert some freight from the Kitchener GO line, creating capacity for more GO service to Cambridge and Kitchener.

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"It's very complex and it will be very expensive," Toronto area rail consultant and historian Greg Gormick said of the idea. But "it can have positive implications for GO, for Via, for the freight railways, for the citizens and the economy," he said.

Gormick credits GO for encouraging governments to protect land along Highway 407 as a potential freight corridor.

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