Strike will halt GO Train service for thousands of Mississauga, Hamilton, Milton commuters

If a labour dispute is not settled, thousands of commuters in Mississauga, Hamilton and Milton will be without GO Train service as early as Thursday (Aug. 22).

Metrolinx says if there are work stoppages at Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. and Canadian National Railway (CN), GO train service on the Milton line — which has several stops in Mississauga — and at the Hamilton GO station will be halted.

“In the event of a labour disruption, GO Train services on the Milton line and at Hamilton GO station would be temporarily suspended. We anticipate some service adjustments at Aldershot GO (in Burlington) and on some of our bus routes,” reads a post on the GO Transit website.

The Milton line runs east in the morning and west in the afternoon, offering weekday rush-hour service between Milton and Union Station in Toronto. It has stops in Mississauga at Lisgar, Meadowvale, Streetsville, Erindale, Cooksville and Dixie and at Kipling in Toronto.

All other GO services and train stations (including West Harbour in Hamilton and other Lakeshore West stations), as well as the UP Express, will not be affected by a work stoppage.

The 9,300 workers of the two railways, represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), have indicated they will walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. Thursday if there is no settlement. CN reports it will lock out the workers if a contract is not hammered out.

Metrolinx, the agency that manages transit in the busiest parts of southern Ontario, says detailed travel alternatives will be available on its website and through social media channels on Tuesday in anticipation of a strike.

“We apologize for the inconvenience this disruption may cause,” Metrolinx says.