Toronto Eglinton Line 5 | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

[Edward Skira]

News Release

Ontario Reducing Emissions on Eglinton Crosstown LRT
February 15, 2018

New Energy Storage Facility Will Also Increase Reliability for Commuters and Families
Ontario is partnering with Toronto Hydro to build an innovative energy storage system that will provide back-up power to the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit (LRT) line, which will increase reliability, lower operating costs and reduce emissions.

Arthur Potts, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation, and Laura Albanese, MPP for York South-Weston, were in the Mount Dennis community today to announce that Ontario and Toronto Hydro have awarded the contract to design and build the new facility.

The facility will be located at the site of the future Mount Dennis Station and LRT maintenance and storage facility, currently under construction. It will store energy generated at night during off-peak hours and supply energy the following day to reduce peak energy use and lower the Crosstown's overall emissions and operating costs. The facility will also provide emergency power to the Crosstown in the event of a power interruption, creating a better experience for transit riders.

The 19-kilometre Eglinton Crosstown LRT will include 25 stations and stops that will link to 54 bus routes, three subway stations, three GO Transit lines and the UP Express. The line will be completed by 2021, connecting Mount Dennis in the west with Kennedy Station in the east, with a 10-kilometre underground portion between Keele Street and Laird Drive.

Building public transit is part of Ontario's plan to create fairness and opportunity during this period of rapid economic change. The plan includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25 through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Around the world (outside of North America) they include reusable power sources with their transit stations. From this link, for example, they use solar panels on top of a metro station in Tokyo.

Metrolinx and Toronto Hydro should look into installing solar panels on top of all the station roofs, including bus bays and at the light rail stop shelters.

 

[Streety McCarface]

Around the world (outside of North America) they include reusable power sources with their transit stations. From this link, for example, they use solar panels on top of a metro station in Tokyo.

Metrolinx and Toronto Hydro should look into installing solar panels on top of all the station roofs, including bus bays and at the light rail stop shelters.

they would only really gain enough energy to power lights at the station and maybe the presto gates. Trains require a lot of power for traction. Also, the panels wouldn't do much in built-up areas as they'd only see the sun a few hours a day.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

they would only really gain enough energy to power lights at the station and maybe the presto gates. Trains require a lot of power for traction. Also, the panels wouldn't do much in built-up areas as they'd only see the sun a few hours a day.

Tell that to New Delhi. See link.

...Officials at the national conference on 'Green Metro Systems' at Metro Bhawan on Friday said the stations are currently generating about 7MW. "About 30-40% of our total operational expenditure is on power. There is enough reason for us to move to renewable energy. DMRC consumes about 3% of Delhi's total energy," said an official.

The on-ground stations can meet most of their energy needs with solar, but the underground stations need about 1.2MW each for lighting and other needs...

 

[Rainforest]

The facility will be located at the site of the future Mount Dennis Station and LRT maintenance and storage facility, currently under construction. It will store energy generated at night during off-peak hours and supply energy the following day to reduce peak energy use and lower the Crosstown's overall emissions and operating costs. The facility will also provide emergency power to the Crosstown in the event of a power interruption, creating a better experience for transit riders.

That's cool, and begs the question if the same approach should be used for GO electrification.

Instead of researching "hydrogen" trains, that need no catenary but have to carry heavy metal tanks with compressed hydrogen, should Metrolinx proceed with the conventional catenary system, and add storage facilities to accumulate the energy generated off-peak?

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

eglinton centre being locked down kinda sucks.

 

[Streety McCarface]

I don't see why not though? If we could eliminate the need to pay for that energy on an ongoing basis that would be worthwhile.

I feel like the roofs should be green roofs or something if we want to have an environmental impact. The solar panels should be put up, but in places where they receive adequate sunshine. Hydro corridors come to mind. There's no sense putting valuable technology in areas of underutilization.

 

[Streety McCarface]

Tell that to New Delhi. See link.

The sun doesn't shine as much here in Canada and we have a lot of tall buildings that would block solar panels for much of the day. It somewhat makes sense in open areas like Crosstown East or Crosstown west, but not in core areas. I only say somewhat because the slant of the panels on North side and south side platforms would severely limit their usage potential. It's not like you can track them with the sun making a diagonal pattern across the panels.

 

[crs1026]

That's cool, and begs the question if the same approach should be used for GO electrification.

Instead of researching "hydrogen" trains, that need no catenary but have to carry heavy metal tanks with compressed hydrogen, should Metrolinx proceed with the conventional catenary system, and add storage facilities to accumulate the energy generated off-peak?

The case for hydrail is built around avoiding the capital expense for catenary and power supply, as opposed to the cost of energy per se. Once you string wires, grid power (nuclear and hydro, so low-carbon) is likely cheaper than hydrogen power.

Ontario still has a hefty base generation surplus, meaning cheap, low carbon overnight power is still available. Anything you can power by storing a trickle charge overnight for use in the day is inherently green and low cost.

I wonder about a base storage system for peak traction power. Transit energy demand coincides with existing demand peaks so it is inherently uneconomical as a draw on the grid and at present is met by burning natural gas. So build up the energy for use at rush hour overnight via wind, and/or during midday using wind and solar.

The electric bus projects coming in Peel, Vaughan, and Toronto apparently include mass storage - store up the charge slowly overnight, then transfer it to each bus rapidly during layover at the ends of the route. No reason rail can't apply this principle.

- Paul

 

[Streety McCarface]

The case for hydrail is built around avoiding the capital expense for catenary and power supply, as opposed to the cost of energy per se. Once you string wires, grid power (nuclear and hydro, so low-carbon) is likely cheaper than hydrogen power.

Ontario still has a hefty base generation surplus, meaning cheap, low carbon overnight power is still available. Anything you can power by storing a trickle charge overnight for use in the day is inherently green and low cost.

I wonder about a base storage system for peak traction power. Transit energy demand coincides with existing demand peaks so it is inherently uneconomical as a draw on the grid and at present is met by burning natural gas. So build up the energy for use at rush hour overnight via wind, and/or during midday using wind and solar.

The electric bus projects coming in Peel, Vaughan, and Toronto apparently include mass storage - store up the charge slowly overnight, then transfer it to each bus rapidly during layover at the ends of the route. No reason rail can't apply this principle.

- Paul

To not invest in Hydrarail for lines between Kitchener and Guelph (Midday), The Richmond Hill Line, the Bowmanville extension, and the Niagra extension would be quite illogical considering our off-peak surplus of power. Also, the extra oxygen that results from hydrolysis could be bottled and sold as a means of gaining extra revenue.

Diesel needs to stay on the Milton line because of the number of people that use that line, hydrail would work really well on lower demand lines, especially in the off-peak. I envision the Barrie, Lakeshore, Stouffville, and Kitchener lines all having trunk sections that are electrified by overhead catenary, and EMUs running along those lines at all times. However, on sections of the system that are fully isolated from the trunk mainlines, especially off-peak, hydrail has a place. These types of routes (Kitchener to Guelph, Hamilton to Niagra Falls, Oshawa to Bowmanville, etc) would really benefit from off-peak regional services even if they don't connect to the mainlines and they don't have to use DMUs. Finally, the usage of dual-mode locomotives would be in place for transportation between these non-electrified areas and the cores (ie Kitchener to Union). Only time will tell what Metrolinx decides to go with.

 

[Neutrino]

How many buses will ECLRT free? Enough to relieve some of the overcrowded bus routes?

 

[rbt]

How many buses will ECLRT free? Enough to relieve some of the overcrowded bus routes?

Great question. Hard to calculate.

1. There's the obvious routes which run along Eglinton which would have a few dozen buses free'd
2. We don't have a bus order other than the hodge-podge of electric vehicles (that I'm aware of) and buses will retire due to old age around the time Eglinton opens; all those vehicles in #1 may simply be scrapped.
3. North/South routes intercepted by Eglinton may see their peak ridership point move north. Riders transferring to Eglinton leave space on a previously occupied vehicle. So, a single trip might move 2 people (one from Lawrence to Eglinton, and a second from St. Clair to Bloor) in the same space that previously moved 1; meaning fewer vehicles necessary for North/South service. It's very difficult to determine this ridership shift in advance so I have no idea whether it'll free up 1 bus or dozens.

 

[MisterF]

The sun doesn't shine as much here in Canada and we have a lot of tall buildings that would block solar panels for much of the day. It somewhat makes sense in open areas like Crosstown East or Crosstown west, but not in core areas. I only say somewhat because the slant of the panels on North side and south side platforms would severely limit their usage potential. It's not like you can track them with the sun making a diagonal pattern across the panels.

Classic Canadian can't do attitude. Sorry if my response comes across as a tad abrupt, but I grow tired of Canadians constantly making excuses about why we can't do things that the rest of the world takes for granted. The example given was Tokyo. Toronto gets an average of 2066 hours of sunshine every year compared to Tokyo's 1877. Needless to say Tokyo also has many, many tall buildings. As far as Eglinton goes, most of that corridor is dominated by low and mid-rise buildings. The only place where they're really tall is at Yonge Street.

Another example is London, where the new Blackfriars Station has solar panels built into its roof. London not only has less sunlight than both Toronto and Tokyo (1633 hours), but it's at a higher latitude as well. Same story with the solar tunnel on the HSR line between Antwerp and Amsterdam.

Solar panels are built into a lot of buildings in Ontario, both public and private. I wouldn't be surprised to see them start popping up on top of transit stations too.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

How many buses will ECLRT free? Enough to relieve some of the overcrowded bus routes?

It will free 164 buses. I’m not sure whether the TTC plans to retain or retire those buses following the opening of Line 5.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

On average, the life span of a transit is about 12 to 18 years. However, electric buses (including trolley buses) have a life span of 30 years. Since we don't have trolley buses (or electric buses at the moment), the TTC will still have to order replacements buses by the time the Crosstown LRT opens.