It has all the makings of a win-win. Metrolinx wants to attract riders to its Union Pearson Express train. Via Rail wants to provide its southwestern Ontario passengers more convenient access to the airport.

Both railways use the tracks at the Weston GO station. But so far the two agencies haven’t figured out a way to let Via stop at Weston so its passengers can get on the airport train that would take them to Pearson in 11 minutes.

Instead Via riders have to keep going all the way downtown, walk through Union Station to the Union Pearson Express (UPX) terminal and then double back 25 minutes to the airport.

“We took an initial look at accommodating Via service stopping at Weston Station but due to the impact on GO and UPX service it is proving to be difficult,” said Metrolinx spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikins.

While nothing is final, the station is already busy, she said. The airport trains run every 15 minutes in both directions so one of them stops in Weston every 7.5 minutes. Thirty GO trains also use the station every day. That number will increase with GO’s electrified regional express rail expansion.

In one instance, there would be four trains in the station but only three tracks to accommodate them, she said.

“We want to support intermodal service at our stations as much as possible without compromising service,” she said.

Then there’s what transportation experts call dwell time — the amount of time it takes for passengers to board and exit at a station. Given the traffic at Weston, Metrolinx estimates Via would have only 60 seconds to get its passengers on and off the train. By comparison, the UPX trains stop for about 30 seconds, said Aikins.

A Via spokesperson confirmed that the national passenger rail has asked Metrolinx for the right to stop at Weston. The two railways have an interline agreement that allows their customers to transfer back and forth at a number of spots such as Oakville and Oshawa.

For Via passengers going in and out of Union Station from points such as Kingston, the transfer to the UPX — which has tickets available through the Via website — has been working well, said Malcolm Andrews.

“We understand for a number of scheduling and logistical reasons it was just deemed not feasible in terms of schedule alignment at this time,” said Andrews.

Via runs four trains a day — two in each direction — through Weston to southwestern Ontario destinations.

“We’re always on the hunt for opportunities where we can continue to make it easier for passengers to transfer between different modes of public transportation and Weston looked like an obvious choice for trains travelling between Toronto and southwestern Ontario via Guelph, Kitchener and Stratford,” he said.

“We’re going to keep looking for opportunities where we can find synergies where it’s to the benefit of our mutual customers,” he said.

Metrolinx is expected to release new ridership numbers for UPX in advance of a quarterly board meeting Wednesday. The airport service, which launched in June, has been criticized for failing to attract many riders and for being expensive. A one-way trip from Union to the airport costs $27.50, or $19 with a Presto card.

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Many people who live along the line would like to see the $456 million train service stop more frequently and be priced as public transit.

The Ontario government is also looking at spending $130 billion in infrastructure over the next decade, including a high speed rail service connecting Windsor, London, Kitchener and Toronto.

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