But construction will continue to slow down commuters

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Users of the Scarborough GO station can now benefit from one improvement but they’ll have to wait until next year before disruptions at their station are over.

The third track on the Lakeshore East line between Scarborough GO station and the Don River was completed in April, but the track wasn’t up to full speed until this past weekend.

Greg Ashbee, manager of the rail expansion program for GO Transit, said the track needs to settle in after it is laid, first allowing trains to run at just 25 miles per hour before being bumped to 40 mph. On Friday night it was tested at 60 mph.

The Scarborough station is on St. Clair Avenue west of Midland Avenue.

The third track can be used by express GO and VIA trains to help ease congestion on the other two tracks used for trains making frequent stops on the line.

Following the completion of the third track, it still wasn’t able to make a difference in service because of the speed constraints.

“Now we can see it will start ... to figure into daily operations,” Ashbee said. “It will make our on-time performance much better and allow us to improve our rush-hour service.”

For users of the Scarborough station, service disruptions remain as GO works on a new tunnel and accessibility improvements. That project began in the spring and isn’t scheduled to be completed until next spring.

“We are working on a new, wider tunnel with an elevator so we can provide service at that station for wheelchair access,” Ashbee said.

Until the work is completed, several of the eastern cars on the train don’t open at that station.