Decarbonizing the GTHA’s Urban Rail Transit: A Mixed Methods Analysis of Barriers and Drivers to Electrifying the Metrolinx GO Trains

Annually, transportation accounts for 35% of Ontario’s total GHG emissions and 25% of Canada’s total GHG emissions (Sims et al., 2014; NRCAN, 2018). Despite a growing interest in renewable energy sources, fossil fuels are still the most widely used source of fuel and energy in both Ontario and Canada. The dependence on fossil fuels has detrimental impacts on the natural environment and negatively contributes to the planet’s warming temperatures. In order to slow global warming and significantly reduce GHG emissions, Ontario needs to commit to more sustainable means of transportation for one of its most dense regions, the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area (GTHA). This research seeks to answer the question: How can policy reform and structural changes support a sustainable and long-term transition to the adoption of renewable energy in the GTHA’s urban rail transit system? In answering this, the research assesses the current state of environmental policies in Ontario and the GTHA and identifies what an effective renewable energy policy is comprised of. Drawing on the experiences of other Canadian cities that have had success with renewable energy in rail transit systems such as Calgary and Vancouver, this research explores what decarbonizing the GTHA’s largest transit system, the Metrolinx GO Trains, looks like from an environmental and economic standpoint. The research also evaluates the macroeconomic effects of a renewable energy implementation in the GO Trains, and outlines in detail the business case for sustainable energy in the GHTA’s urban rail transit system. The online design platform HelioScope is used to design a hypothetical solar PV system at the Oakville GO station, and RETScreen Expert is used to develop a feasibility analysis of implementing solar energy at the Oakville GO station. Both results will serve as a base case for which to model the other GO stations on. The results show that solar energy installation at the GO Train stations do, in fact, positively contribute to a sustainable future. The HelioScope and RETScreen Expert models project a substantial and steady reduction of emissions with the implementation of solar energy while still producing long-term economic benefits for Metrolinx. Fossil fuels are no longer an option for the planet— a transition to renewable energy in the GTHA’s rail systems is absolutely necessary if Earth is to see a future with clean air.