Toronto Leslie Barns | ?m | ?s | TTC | SAI

W. K. Lis said:
Not all of the ALRV's (and maybe CLRV's) will be disposed of right away. Some will be kept for rush hour service, as were the Peter Witts and PCC's at one time.
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The plan seems to be to dispose of the ALRVs first, and maintain the CLRVs, given that the TTC 2010-2014 budget is dropping the $30-million ALRV midlife overhaul, and instead adding a $20-million CLRV overhaul. The document notes that "... it has since been determined that not overhauling the ALRV’s and retiring them first, along with rebuilding all of the CLRV fleet will result in approximately a $10 million savings".

Presumably then, the ALRVs could all be out of service by end of 2014, with the CLRVs hanging on until completion of the new LRV order.
 
Not sure if I am thrilled with this site. The intersection is already busy and adding new tracks on Leslie will not help. Leslie will need to be widened up to Eastern. I thought the site on Eastern would have made better sense and more accessible to Queen.


TTC, Toronto Port Authority reach deal on land for light rail vehicle storage.

The Toronto Transit Commission's new Ashbridges Bay light rail vehicle storage and maintenance facility will be located at Lake Shore Blvd. E. and Leslie Street.

Courtesy/TTC
DAVID NICKLE
November 25, 2009

The Toronto Transit Commission's new light rail vehicle storage and maintenance facility will settle in at Ashbridges Bay in the next few years, if Toronto Council approves a complicated settlement agreement with the Toronto Port Authority at its meeting next week.

Once the deal is ratified, it will mean the TTC can go ahead with the $345-million light rail facility that must be built by the time Toronto starts to take delivery of new light rail streetcars.

It marks a relief for film industry workers and community members in Leslieville, who were fearful the TTC would have to use the old Toronto Film Studio lands on Eastern Avenue for the site.

"I think it's great news," said Paula Fletcher, the councillor for the area.

"We have a good site for the LRV, and it's what the whole community thinks is the best site. This is the first piece of good news in what is hopefully the second era of our relations with the Toronto Port Authority. People didn't think it was possible. I'm very pleased with this level of settlement, that this will be able to move ahead. It's good news all around."

The confidential agreement, a copy of which was obtained by Toronto Community News, will see the city send about $5.66 million the Toronto Port Authority's way, and settle various outstanding disputes between the federal agency and the City of Toronto.

The longest-standing dispute comes from an agreement over the ownership of about 600 acres of land in the portlands, which in 2003 the port authority agreed to turn over to the city. The agreement stipulates the city owes the Port Authority a total of $11.7 million for the consideration.

But the city in 2005 voted to withhold payments, because the city maintained the port authority owed payments in lieu of taxes to the city on other properties. Currently, that number stands at $6.42 million.

Under the settlement agreement, the city and the authority will pay what each says the other owes, and the city will pay about $380,559 in outstanding harbour user fees for the city's ferry service.

And finally, the city will, for a nominal sum, obtain the lands at the south-east corner of Lake Shore Boulevard and Leslie Street.

The site is about 18 acres, and owned by the Toronto Port Authority. The city is using it currently as part of the Ashbridges Bay Sewage Treatment Facility.

The TTC has not yet made a final decision on whether to locate at the site and will do so at a later date.
 
Update:

  • Last week council approved a land transfer agreement with the TPA for the city to buy vacant land on the southeast corner of Leslie Street and Lakeshore Boulevard east from the port authority for $1.
  • There is a short-list of three-potential sites: 1. Ashbridges Bay site at Leslie and Lakeshore; 2. Eastern Avenue just east of Carlaw Avenue and 3. a property further west on Unwin Avenue.
  • The 22.7-acre Unwin Avenue property is owned by the transitioning Toronto Economic Development Corporation.
  • The 22-acre site on Eastern Avenue has a film studio and a car dealership that would need to be relocated.
  • Ashbridges Bay site is preferred as it's close to existing tracks on Queen Street and just under 1km of connecting tracks could run down Leslie Street.
  • There will need to be an environmental assessment - the plan is to have it done by fall 2010.

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Swarley said:
The TTC just tendered a contract to remove contaminated soil at the site - $60 M dollars worth. Yikes. Does look like they're moving along with this though.
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Holy crap! It's going to cost the city almost a half billion dollars to purchase the land, remove contaminated soil and build this facility. My bet it won't be on budget and won't be built in time. It's difficult not to be a pessimist.
 
Hasn't the city owned this land for years? They are going to have to clean it up sooner or later ... so the cost of the clean-up really is independent of the cost of the new facility.
 
The city has an environmental report available here (PDF).

Also, just noticed the tender says the southWEST corner, while the site is actually the southEAST corner. Smoooooth.
 
Sheppard/Scarborough RT Light Rail Vehicle (LRV) Maintenance and Storage Facility

http://www.toronto.ca/involved/projects/sheppardlrv/index.htm

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The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is planning to construct a Light Rail Vehicle (LRV) Maintenance and Storage Facility at 8304 Sheppard Avenue East and Conlins Road. The facility is needed to service and store Light Rail Vehicles for the future Sheppard Avenue East Light Rail Transit (LRT) project and the Scarborough Rapid Transit (RT) Line. These lines will significantly enhance transit service for the community between Don Mills Station and Meadowvale Road and along the existing Scarborough RT line and its extension to Sheppard Avenue East respectively.

In February, 2010 the TTC will schedule an Open House to introduce the proposed Maintenance and Storage Facility for community feedback.

Following the first open house, the TTC will evaluate the design options and select a recommended layout. An additional open house will then be held in 2010 for residents to comment on the recommended site layout and proposed mitigation measures to effectively address any potential concerns.
 
Interesting site because it has access to McLevin via Casebridge. I wonder if they would put tracks in beyond the last SRT station on street to bring vehicles in and out of service.
 
EnviroTO said:
Interesting site because it has access to McLevin via Casebridge. I wonder if they would put tracks in beyond the last SRT station on street to bring vehicles in and out of service.
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I hope that means they could add more stops. Transit City style at grade stops at Sewells and Morningside would be nice.
 
The EA for the Light Rail Vehicle (LRV) Maintenance and Storage Facility at 8304 Sheppard Avenue East at Conlins Road has been completed. The link to the TTC's website is here. You can download and review the Environmental Project Report from there. Warning: it is in several parts.

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re: the comments above on storage - a division based at Hillcrest for 512/511 etc. might be feasible down the road, especially since Steve Munro reckons QQE, Cherry etc. will require a downtown fleet > 204 cars. This would be dependent on how many heritage cars TTC would keep and therefore whether a substantial amount of storage is feasible together with continued operation of the high-floor maintenance shop.
 
Councillor wants streetcar garage delayed

It's a carbarn or carhouse. Obviously, the reporter or editor are not very transit literate.

From The Star at this link:

Rookie city councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon (Beaches-East York) has taken up the fight to stop the TTC from running its new streetcars through Leslieville to a heavy-maintenance garage the transit commission plans to build at Ashbridge’s Bay.

She wants the streetcars stored at existing TTC locations around the city, to cut the distance cars must travel to their routes before they pick up paying customers, and eliminate the cost of trucking out contaminated soil from the site.

McMahon plans to ask the transit commission Wednesday to delay awarding a $50 million contract for the soil removal, because she believes that once that contract goes ahead the TTC won’t consider alternatives.

The TTC plans to spend about $430 million to build the 9-hectare streetcar barn for the 204 new low-floor light rail vehicles that will replace the 35-year-old vehicles running on downtown routes. They will be delivered starting in 2013.

But running 85 streetcars in and out of service across Lakeshore Rd. at Leslie St. will cause traffic “mayhem” at an intersection through which 58,000 vehicles pass every day, according to a report by McMahon’s office.

She wants the new streetcars to be stored at the TTC’s existing Roncesvalles and Russell yards and its Hillcrest complex near Davenport Rd. and Bathurst St., and suggests the TTC consider using the streetcar loop at Exhibition Place as well.

“It’s ludicrous for these light rail vehicles to traipse all the way up from the Beach to St. Clair and Bathurst,” she said.

McMahon is making her case to the TTC directly, after failing to persuade the city’s budget committee to prohibit the commission from awarding the soil-removal contract.

Although there’s some merit to considering other streetcar storage sites, says TTC chair Karen Stintz — particularly for light rail vehicles running on St. Clair — she doesn’t support delaying the soil removal.

“We need to let that contract now because the soil needs to be removed before April 1 or we can’t remove until the end of August,” she said.

That’s because about 300 trees — mostly scrub — have to be removed from the site and the Migratory Bird Act prohibits cutting them down while birds are nesting in the area.

Storing 20 or 30 streetcars at Hillcrest is a possibility but the idea needs study because at least one building would need to be demolished, said Stintz.

But fundamentally, McMahon said, she doesn’t believe a new maintenance facility is required.

TTC program manager Sameh Ghaly disagrees. Although some daily maintenance can be performed on the new streetcars at the old Russell and Roncesvalles facilities, those buildings essentially would have to be rebuilt for major maintenance work, which is difficult given their age, he said.

The new cars have components such as air conditioning, battery packs and braking systems built into the roof, so they require different maintenance facilities, he said.

As to the traffic issue, he said, most of the streetcars would be going into service between 5 and 7 a.m., before the morning rush.

“We dispatch most of our fleet in the off-peak hours — there’s no traffic in that timeframe.”
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Anyways, the soil removal would have to be done no matter what is done with the site.
 
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