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http://network.nationalpost.com/np/...-rail-plans-as-part-of-6-billion-project.aspx
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TTC to unveil light-rail plans as part of $6-billion project
Posted: August 14, 2008, 9:07 PM by Barry Hertz
City, TTC, Politics
By Allison Hanes, National Post
It’s not the new subway line that was once started and then cancelled, but proponents think a proposed partially buried light-rail line along Eglinton Avenue would be the next best thing.
In a series of public meetings over the next week, the Toronto Transit Commission is unveiling its plans to build a light-rail line between Kennedy subway station in the east to Martin Grove Road in the west, and possibly all the way to Pearson International Airport. It is part of the city’s $6-billion Transit City plan, announced in March, 2007, which also includes light-rail lines on Don Mills Road, Jane Street and Sheppard Avenue.
The $2.3-billion Eglinton line includes a significant portion through midtown Toronto — from Laird Avenue to Old Weston Road — that will be below ground.
The underground portion won’t be a subway in the traditional sense, said Stephanie Rice, the TTC’s project co-ordinator for the Eglinton LRT, but it won’t operate all that differently.
“I would describe it for lack of a better term as a mini-subway,†she said. “There’s an advantage that we don’t have to contend with any traffic at all. Where we’re underground we’re on a fully segregated right of way and we can operate at higher speeds.â€
Councillor Joe Mihevc (St. Paul’s), who serves as vice-chairman of the TTC, said the full subway line that was killed by then-premier Mike Harris in 1995 would be optimum if cost were no object.
“In this particular case, the cost of burying the whole thing and having a full subway would at least triple the price,†Mr. Mihevc said. “What we’re trying to do there is stretch the transit dollar as far as we can.â€
However, he pointed out that the buried tunnel will be dug with dimensions that would allow Toronto to transform the light rail line into a subway in the future.
The big question mark hanging over the Eglinton project, scheduled to start construction in 2009, is financing.
“We as a city cannot afford to pay for the capital costs of it,†Mr. Mihevc said. “What we’re relying on and what the province has actually supported, is that Transit City would actually come out of provincial dollars and the province is looking to have the feds pay a third of the cost as well.â€
So far the federal commitment to the Transit City plan isn’t as solid.
“How do I put this nicely? They’re not transit enthusiasts,†Mr. Mihevic said of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, although it has loosened the purse strings lately on infrastructure funding.
But the city is not waiting. Although the project construction isn’t budgeted for, the design, engineering and environmental assessment work has been and is well underway.
“We can hit the ground running once we do have the money,†Mr. Mihevc said.
The main difference between a subway and light rail underground, Ms. Rice said, is the amount of infrastructure and the design of the stations.
Instead of paying at a collector’s booth and going through a turnstile, passengers would simply walk down the stairs and board the train as they would a streetcar.
The exact design is still up for discussion, she said, but a good comparison is the Queen’s Quay stop at Harbourfront leading to the Toronto Island ferry, where people can even cross the tracks.
Mr. Mihevc said light rail, which once dominated public transit before falling out of favour three decades ago, is making a huge comeback.
Not only does it not consume expensive fuel, it most often avoids traffic gridlock and provides a much more “elegant†and comfortable ride.
“Now, what transit authorities are finding, not just across North America but across the world, is that people are coming back to light rail in very, very big numbers,†Mr. Mihevc said. “Every single time tat they’ve put in light rail, not only do they meet their passenger objections, but they
always exceed passenger projections.â€
