Burlington

Aldershot, Burlington, and Appleby GO: which station fits your commute

By Chris Ouzas, Broker, Michael Ouzas Real Estate Team, Royal LePage Signature Realty. September 2026.

Burlington has three stations on GO Transit's Lakeshore West line: Aldershot, Burlington, and Appleby. Buyers ask us all the time which one to build a search around. Here is how the three compare, and which neighbourhoods sit closest to each.

Three stations, one line

All three stations sit on GO Transit's Lakeshore West line, which runs from Niagara Falls and Hamilton through Burlington and along the lake into Union Station in downtown Toronto. Weekday local trains run every 30 minutes between Union and Aldershot, and every 60 minutes onward to West Harbour in Hamilton. Closer to Toronto, between Union and Oakville, the frequency doubles to every 15 minutes. That means the choice between these three stations is mostly about location and parking, not a real difference in how often the base local service runs, since all three sit inside that 30 minute window.

Where the three differ is in extra service. Express trains run on the line at peak periods, and a few of them run all the way to Aldershot. Aldershot is also the only one of the three with VIA Rail, which changes the math for anyone riding the Toronto to Windsor corridor or connecting through to Niagara Falls.

The numbers side by side

Sources: addresses, parking totals, and platform counts from GO Transit's station pages and Wikipedia's entries for each station. Ride times to Union are Rome2Rio's aggregated averages of GO Transit and VIA Rail schedules, checked September 2026; treat them as approximate, not a guaranteed departure-to-arrival time.

Aldershot GO

Aldershot GO sits at 1199 Waterdown Road, at Highway 403 and Waterdown Road, inside the Aldershot neighbourhood itself. GO Transit's own station page lists 934 free spaces in the main lot and 705 in the south lot, for 1,639 total. The station has two side platforms and one island platform across four tracks.

Aldershot is the western anchor of frequent local service on the Lakeshore West line. Every second off-peak train continues past Aldershot to West Harbour in Hamilton, and four peak trains run through to Hamilton GO Centre. It is also the only one of the three stations with VIA Rail. VIA's Quebec City to Windsor corridor trains stop here, along with the VIA-Amtrak Maple Leaf to Niagara Falls and New York, and three daily VIA trains serve the Niagara Falls route. On GO's own local trains the ride to Union runs close to an hour and can run longer depending on the departure, averaging about 1 hour 10 minutes. VIA is the faster option when its schedule works for your day, though only a handful of VIA trains a day make the trip.

Buyers who want the train inside the neighbourhood rather than a drive to it land in Aldershot. It is also the pick for households splitting a commute between Toronto and Hamilton, or anyone who rides VIA Rail on a regular basis rather than GO alone.

Burlington GO

Burlington GO sits at 2101 Fairview Street, south of the QEW between Brant Street and Guelph Line. It is the middle station of the three on parking: a multi-level garage with 736 spaces, a west lot with 912, and a main lot with 455, for about 2,100 in total. The station has two island platforms across four tracks, and both peak and off-peak express trains call here in addition to the local service.

The GO ride to Union averages about 1 hour 3 minutes, with departures every 30 minutes. Burlington GO is the practical station for downtown Burlington, though it is worth being clear about what that means: the station is a bus ride or a short drive up Brant Street from the core, not a walk from a condo lobby, as we cover in our downtown Burlington guide. Roseland sits a short drive south, with Burlington GO and Appleby GO both realistic depending on which end of the neighbourhood you are shopping.

Burlington GO suits buyers who want a station close to the city's core and its amenities, and who are comfortable with a short drive to reach the platform rather than a walk.

Appleby GO

Appleby GO sits at 5111 Fairview Street, in the city's east end. GO Transit's station page lists 1,742 spaces in the north lot and 1,072 in the main lot, for 2,814 total, the largest lot of the three. The station has one island platform and one side platform across three tracks, and it takes both local and peak express trains on the Lakeshore West line.

The GO ride to Union averages about 57 minutes, the shortest average of the three stations, with departures every 30 minutes. That makes sense on the map: Appleby is the closest of the three to Toronto. Appleby is the station our Millcroft and The Orchard clients plan their commute around. From Millcroft it is roughly a ten to fifteen minute drive down Appleby Line, and it is the same practical option from The Orchard, a straightforward run down the same road. It is also within reach of the eastern end of Roseland.

Appleby suits buyers in the newer family communities north and east of the QEW, where a car is already part of daily life and the extra few minutes to reach the biggest lot of the three is not a real cost.

Which station fits your commute

If VIA Rail matters to you, or you want a station inside the neighbourhood rather than a drive to one, Aldershot is the answer, and it is also the pick for households splitting a Toronto and Hamilton commute. If downtown Burlington's restaurants and waterfront are the draw and a short drive to the platform is fine, Burlington GO is the closest station to the core. If you are searching in Millcroft, The Orchard, or the newer communities in north and east Burlington, Appleby GO is the station your daily drive already points toward, and it carries the most parking and the shortest average ride of the three.

All three run on the same 30 minute base schedule, so the real decision usually comes down to which neighbourhood fits the search, not which platform saves a few minutes. For the current market numbers behind these neighbourhoods, see our Burlington market data hub.

← All posts