GO Transit showed off the latest designs and renderings for their proposed James North GO Station on April 30th. The new design is very different from the original drawings from a year earlier and include much more surface parking as well as a public plaza area.

The new GO station will be located at 353 James Street North in Hamilton and is being constructed for 2015 and will provide increased service to Hamilton in support of the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games. Once operational in 2015, it will help deliver more integrated and effective public transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

GO Transit is also doing technical studies to assess storing two trains at the station as Hamilton is the the end of the line for the LakeShore West GO Train service. GO already stores four trains at the Hamilton GO Centre on Hunter Street for the four morning trains which depart on weekday mornings.

Two HSR bus routes directly pass by the future station with 4 BAYFRONT and 99 WATERFRONT SHUTTLE passing on James St N. Also route 2 BARTON passes within two blocks of the station and express route 20 A-LINE EXPRESS is planned to eventually be extended to the waterfront and would also then pass James North GO on James as well. It remains to be seen if the routing of routes 4 or 99 would be shifted into the station or not.

Metrolinx and GO Transit are also looking for public input on what to do with the public plaza area being incorporated into the design of the station. They are seeking input on what kinds of elements would enhance passengers and visitors’ experience at the future station.

Other than for transit uses, what else could the plaza be used for?What would make the plaza practical and attractive to the local community (farmers’ market, art crawl, etc.). Possible elements in the plaza could be public art and amenities, canopies, landscaping (hard and soft), seating, exterior lighting and bicycle parking.

Take a look below at both the overhead map as well as an artits’ rendering of the station and public plaza.





Take a look at the full slide presentation at the GO Transit website here.