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SmartTrack (Proposed)

amnesiajune said:
The entire SmartTrack route (aside from the Eglinton spur) is owned by Metrolinx and freight traffic doesn't use any of it. The railway line to Unionville doesn't connect to any other rail lines and ends in Uxbridge. The railway line to Brampton is only for passenger trains within Toronto, and has two or more passenger train-only tracks almost all the way to Brampton.
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freight trains definitely use it, and there are active spurs along the Stouffville corridor.

gweed123 said:
My preferred solution, which I posted a few months ago in another thread, is basically to reduce the stress on the Union loop by partially bypassing it with a "downtown circulator" route. In order to accomplish this, three pieces of infrastructure would be required (2 of which will be built as part of the QQE streetcar project anyway):
  • Convert the south end of the Union tunnel (at Bay & QQ) into a full wye, capable of movements into and out of Union, as well as straight through.
  • Streetcar trackage on QQE to at least Cooper St.
  • Either a streetcar-only tunnel or an extension of Church St, bridging the gap between Church and Cooper. Streetcar-only would be preferable from an operations standpoint, but from a full transportation connectivity perspective, a roadway + dedicated tracks underpass/tunnel would probably be chosen.
This setup would allow for 3 routes to operate south of King:
  • Waterfront streetcar: Exhibition to Cherry (and future Sumach DRL station) via Lake Shore, QQW, Union Station, QQE, and Cherry.
  • Spadina streetcar: Spadina Station to Union Station via Spadina and QQW.
  • Downtown Circulator streetcar: Loop via QQW, QQE, Cooper/Church, King, and Spadina.
For most people within that loop, particularly people in CityPlace who work downtown, the Loop would be far more convenient than having to transfer at Union and either walk up to the CBD, or transfer to the subway. I think it would reduce the capacity crunch on the Union Loop enough to avoid having to make any major expansion to it.
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That sounds pretty reasonable. I'm looking forward to the next "Reset" report to see what ends up being shortlisted. Best case I'd say is a new tunnel that connects with the Loop and offers through service, but I also think it'd be interesting to see if we can use a standalone line for the EBF (perhaps using bidirectional Outlooks or Freedoms). Lots of potential, hopefully we don't screw it up.
 
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44 North said:
freight trains definitely use it, and there are active spurs along the Stouffville corridor.
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Yes, the wording chosen should have been: GO owns the tracks and is building a control center which will allow GO to prioritize freight traffic as they see fit.

The future of freight on GO lines is almost certainly going to be at the edges of service only (I.e. late evening).
 
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As anticipated, City Staff have found that Tory's TIF scheme to fund SmartTrack is insufficient. At a minimum, a tax increase of 3% will be necessary to fund it.
 
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TheTigerMaster said:
The City of Toronto is now on the hook for paying the costs of two Metrolinx RER stations not related to SmartTrack.
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We are also on the hook for 15% of the cost (~$62M) for 5 grade separations required for RER.

In 2014 John Tory said tax increment financing would cover $2.6B in SmartTrack costs. Said "so confident" no property tax increase needed.
 
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With the exception of Union and Liberty Village Stations, none of the SmartTrack stations are anticipated to meet 2041 targets for density around express rail stations. SmartTrack is expected to move 14,000 people per day.
 
sixrings said:
PCs good for transit. What's Miller up to and where is TC
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Miller is CEO of WWF Canada.

You'll have to ask Ford where TC is. Miller left large chunks ready to tender; but the next government failed to follow through on that. I expect we'll see a similar issue with a huge chunk of currently in progress GO work; even if it's a great idea it'll be stalled a few years for "public consultations" to ensure it's what the public actually wants instead of another GTA bypass highway this time connecting Peterborough to Barrie to Kitchener.
 
Hmm - re: TIF - I wonder what impact it will have on the DRL given the presence of Unilever and Gerrard Stations. It would probably exhaust that option when the time comes. In the meantime, just how much TIF can be expected from the other ST stations?

AoD
 
rbt said:
Miller is CEO of WWF Canada.

You'll have to ask Ford where TC is. Miller left large chunks ready to tender; but the next government failed to follow through on that. I expect we'll see a similar issue with a huge chunk of currently in progress GO work; even if it's a great idea it'll be stalled a few years for "public consultations" to ensure it's what the public actually wants instead of another GTA bypass highway this time connecting Peterborough to Barrie to Kitchener.
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I'll probably be long gone before anything gets built. In that case I'll ask the former mayor and current mayor of heaven what happened to TC.
 
TheTigerMaster said:
The City of Toronto is now on the hook for paying the costs of two Metrolinx RER stations not related to SmartTrack.
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Though it looks like those two stations are being built using funds that the City would have had to pay to Metrolinx anyway based on the presentation. (using the service growth fees that get passed onto municipalities for GO network improvements) Quite happy to see this, as it secures Spadina as a station to be built - and doesn't tie it up to SmartTrack.
 
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