A stretch of rail line running between Kitchener and Georgetown is now in the hands of the provincial government.

The Ministry of Transportation announced the purchase Wednesday, calling it the “next step towards two-way, all-day regional express rail service along the Kitchener line.”

“For passengers, it means your trains are going to get priority on the track and you are going to get there faster,” Kitchener Centre MPP Daiene Vernile said in Kitchener.

The acquisition covers 53 kilometres, from Park Street in Kitchener to just west of Main Street in Georgetown.

It brings 80 per cent of the GO Transit rail corridor within provincial ownership, although CN still owns the line between Georgetown and Bramalea.