Toronto Union Pearson Express | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | MMM Group Limited

DavidH said:
It's cable-driven.

However, the GTAA has already acknowledged that a technology change will be required for any expansion to occur, and it's not off the table.
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Wow -- I did not expect that. Then surely GTAA needs to put together a cable car museum, pronto? I, for one, would visit it gladly.
 
What? Mike Sullivan et al still aren't satisfied? I thought they wanted more trains, not less. Please, anybody could have seen this coming from the get go. If you took the Weston arguments and subbed in 'Windmill' or 'Community Bike Trail' in place of 'privately operated diesel trains providing a luxury service,' nobody on this board would have given a second thought to calling this what it is.

If you have people on video pointing to back yards and saying increased train service will decrease local land values and therefore shouldn't be built, there is a word for that.

P.S. Are they actually planning on putting a tunnel here? I thought the plan was for a trench, not a tunnel. Isn't that a bit much? At the end of the day these aren't very high volume streets.
 
^^^

Next will be that the Lawrence Ave overpass should be converted to underpass b/c it's ugly and breaks up the neighborhood, plus it would allow John St. to be saved from being split if the trench were extended S of Lawrence.
 
I just can't understand how this somehow precludes improvements to the GO line. In fact, Metrolinx's plans explicitly include all-day GO service on the Georgetown corridor. I think that the upgrades should also include a station for GO and VIA connecting to the airport people mover.

The idea that Blue22--or whatever it's called--won't get people out of their cars is preposterous. The people who take this service are the people who today are taking $50+ cab rides. Any glance at the airport will show that this is a lot of people.

Using RDCs to operate the service is a great idea. It's a lot more efficient and sustainable to recycle perfectly good railcar bodies (rebuilt with new engines and new interiors) than to scrap them and build new ones.
 
I'm definitely going to try and get to one of the public consultations. My three questions are:

1. What is GO Transit's mandate.
2. Is the airport a large trip generator that serves the GTA.
3. How is GO Transit going to get me to the airport.

I see Blue22 as VIA Rail and GO Transit shunning their responsibility. I want airport rail and if Blue22 can make a business case with most of the Georgetown GO Trains and VIA K-W trains stopping there then by all means let Blue22 use the route. If Blue22 only has a business case by not having VIA and GO serve the airport then I think the whole thing is flawed. It would be like a taxi company paying the city for exclusivity to key trip generators and pulling back TTC service to make the business case work.
 
The whole Blue22 thing is a complete joke. The airport would be best served by a frequent, all day GO service. All they'd have to do is build a brancj line to the ariport. Voila, I'm pretty sure even the westonites wouldn't mind that.
 
jks said:
The whole Blue22 thing is a complete joke. The airport would be best served by a frequent, all day GO service. All they'd have to do is build a branch line to the ariport. Voila, I'm pretty sure even the westonites wouldn't mind that.
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it's too logical to be applied.
 
EnviroTO said:
I'm definitely going to try and get to one of the public consultations. My three questions are:

1. What is GO Transit's mandate.
2. Is the airport a large trip generator that serves the GTA.
3. How is GO Transit going to get me to the airport.

I see Blue22 as VIA Rail and GO Transit shunning their responsibility. I want airport rail and if Blue22 can make a business case with most of the Georgetown GO Trains and VIA K-W trains stopping there then by all means let Blue22 use the route. If Blue22 only has a business case by not having VIA and GO serve the airport then I think the whole thing is flawed. It would be like a taxi company paying the city for exclusivity to key trip generators and pulling back TTC service to make the business case work.
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This is what I suspect is the case. If GO had frequent service to the airport, I doubt Blue22 would get much business.
 
From Transit Toronto:

Will trains soon link airport and downtown Toronto?

Yesterday, Wednesday, January 21, Metrolinx announced a revised version of the proposed rail link between Toronto Pearson International Airport and Union Station. The link appears in a package of other measures to improve GO Transit service to Bolton, Bradford, Brampton, Georgetown, Guelph and North Etobicoke.

The “Georgetown South service expansion and Union - Pearson rail link†projects will add 28 kilometers of new track for rail passenger service and significantly improve the current rail corridor.

The projects include:

* Upgrading the current GO train service between Union Station and Georgetown so that trains operate in both directions all day;
* Upgrading the current GO train service between Union Station and Bradford so that trains operate in both directions all day;
* Introducing all-day express GO train service between Union Station and Brampton;
* Introducing rush-hour GO train service between Union Station and Bolton;
* Introducing rush-hour GO train service between Union Station and Guelph; and
* Introducing all-day passenger rail service between Union Station and Pearson, using the Georgetown line.

Metrolinx will host a series of public consultation meetings in early February as part of the environmental assessment process before finalizing the project. It expects that the projects will cost about $875 million to complete.

Expanding the south Georgetown rail corridor

Details include:

* Building about 25 kilometers of new rail between Malton and Union Station, with three new tracks north of Dundas Street West in Toronto and four new tracks between Dundas Street West and a point just east of Strachan Avenue.
* Widening 14 bridges, eliminating all street-level road crossings and building new grade separations at Strachan Avenue, Denison Road and Carlingview Drive;
* Moving the Weston GO Station southward from John Street to Lawrence Avenue West and upgrading the station to serve both GO and Union - Pearson trains;
* Protecting the Weston community by maintaining links between both sides of the railway tracks and building a railway tunnel. GO and Union - Pearson trains will pass through the tunnel after leaving Weston Station. The tunnel will allow Church and King Streets to remain open, resulting in fewer rail-crossing delays for pedestrians and motorists. The project would eliminate the current street-level crossing at John Street and close John to motorists. A new overpass will help pedestrians walk between both parts of John.
* Modifiying GO’s Bloor Station (east of Bloor and Dundas Streets West) to accommodate GO and Union-Pearson trains. (Metrolinx’ media backgrounders and webpages also suggest — but don’t specifically spell out — that upgrading Bloor Station would also include a link to the TTC’s 2 Bloor - Danforth subway at Dundas West Station.)
* Designing a future station where the line crosses Eglinton Avenue West in the Mount Dennis community to allow passengers to connect with the TTC’s Eglinton - Crosstown light rail Transit City line.
* Designing a possible future station at the Woodbine racetrack and future entertainment complex. (This station may also allow passengers to connect with the TTC’s Finch West - Etobicoke light rail Transit City line.)

Building the Union - Pearson rail link

Details include:

* Building a 3.3 kilometer-long rail spur from GO’s Georgetown Line to Pearson’s Terminal 1 with seven grade separations;
* Building a a new passenger station at Terminal 1 (Depending on the final Transit City routes, this station may also allow passengers to connect with the TTC’s Etobicoke - Finch West and Eglinton Crosstown light rail Transit City lines.)
* Revising the original Blue 22 proposal so that the line includes stops at Weston and Bloor Stations. This will allow passengers from areas other than downtown Toronto to travel more easily to and from the airport;
* Designing, and possibly building, a new yard for repairing and maintaining Union - Pearson rail link trains;
* Modifiying GO’s Bloor Station (east of Bloor and Dundas Streets West) to accommodate GO and Union - Pearson trains. (Metrolinx’ media backgrounders and webpages also suggest — but don’t specifically spell out — that upgrading Bloor Station would also include a link to the TTC’s 2 Bloor - Danforth subway at Dundas West Station.)
* Designing a possible future station at the Woodbine racetrack and future entertainment complex. (This station may also allow passengers to connect with the TTC’s Etobicoke - Finch West light rail Transit City line.)

Depending on the outcome of the public consultations and the environmental assessment, Metrolinx expects that construction could start as early as this fall, with some service starting in 2014.

The Toronto Star reports that Infrastructure Ontario — the provincial agency that supports renewing major infrastructure projects in Ontario is negotiating with SNC-Lavalin to finance and operate the Union - Pearson rail line. (Lavalin was the proponent of the earlier Blue 22 proposal to operate express trains between the airport and downtown Toronto.)

The operator of the link — whoever that may be — will convert and refurbish old Budd rail diesel cars to provide the service. Metrolinx, however, proposes electrifying the service within 15 years.

According to Metrolinx, Georgetown GO trains will carry as many as 34,000 passengers during morning rush hours by 2031. Building the Union - Pearson link will eliminate as many as 1.2 million car trips each year from Greater Toronto Area roads, Metrolinx says.
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They're building it in a tunnel through Weston?? And they will be diesel trains for sure (at least until 2025)?? I'd like to see how they vent out the exhaust fumes. And wouldn't it be sooo much easier to build it in a trench, instead of a full tunnel?? This is really starting to annoy me! The lack of logical transit planning in this city is apalling!
 
Its been mentioned elsewhere that they are just building a trench through weston, just decked over somehow, therefore it's called a tunnel. I think the recent proposal is a good plan so far, it seems to take into account all the uses for this corridor, instead of just the old blue 22 scheme.
 
Voltz said:
Its been mentioned elsewhere that they are just building a trench through weston, just decked over somehow, therefore it's called a tunnel. I think the recent proposal is a good plan so far, it seems to take into account all the uses for this corridor, instead of just the old blue 22 scheme.
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I agree. Besides, venting fumes from the massive spiral tunnels in the rockies doesn't seem to be problem. The only things I would change is additional study to see if the express stop should go at Lawrence or at Eglinton (I just want to see the rationale), and to have the woodbine station built right away. Local service passengers could use either an extended people-mover or the finch LRT to reach the terminal from Woodbine, while Express passengers get a one-seat ride to the terminal. It's all about co-existence.
 
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With all these new trains ridership will explode on this line.

Stations like Brampton and Bramalea are maxed out though.

No land for more parking and not well situated for transit.
It is an untapped line like the Milton one.
 
According to that detailed report, this is not just about a $20 Union-Pearson express link, but will also include upgraded all day GO service as well, which is what Westonites wanted. I don't really see a problem with this plan. And with extra tracks being laid, a future DRL subway could become part of the picture as well.
 
Easy way for GO to grow is just add more service on the those two Train lines.
 
jks said:
The lack of logical transit planning in this city is apalling!
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Boston is notorious for spending oodles of time and money producing a whole lot of nothing but, yeah, Toronto is starting to give Beantown a run for its money in the apalling transit planning department.
 
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