Portion of West Toronto Railpath to close for new track project
Metrolinx also needs portion of land to build fourth track
NEWS NOV 29, 2017 BY
AARON D'ANDREA BLOOR WEST VILLAGER
A partial closure of the West Toronto Railpath near the Bloor GO Station to accommodate construction of a pedestrian tunnel extension late next year “is insane,” according to Adam Charlesworth.
“Without question, it (the Railpath) is the number one neighbourhood improvement,” the Junction Triangle resident told
Metroland Media Toronto. “The whole community uses (it).”
The work is part of the provincial transit agency’s plans to install a fourth track on the Kitchener GO line, which runs through the west-end neighbourhood, as part of its Regional Express Rail project.
“We’re taking the existing tunnel and extending it out underneath the Railpath to Randolph Avenue,” said Joel Dempster, the project’s manager. “So when we’re connecting it under where the track will go, we’re going to have to install some shoring (building supports) and open excavate that, so there’ll probably have to be a detour around that construction area for six months to a year.”
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He added there won’t be room to install a temporary path, so trail users will be diverted along Randolph to Perth Avenue, then to Bloor where they will be able to access the path again.
“Not only is it a drag about people getting to the train station, but a lot of people use it to get to Dundas,” resident Richard Mongiat said. “It’s a major route for people from our neighbourhood to get to Dundas and downtown.”
On Monday, a concept design was unveiled to the public at a meeting.
From Wallace to Dundas Street West, Metrolinx will have to take a portion of the land to build the fourth track, Dempster said.
“In between Dupont (Street) and Wallace, we don’t need to take any property because we have found enough space within the rail corridor,” he said. “Where things really widen out is at the station because we need to fit in the platforms that are there … at Bloor, between Dundas and Perth, there’s so many buildings there that we can only fit so much within the rail corridor so it’s that balance of trying to find enough room for our tracks without having an impact on the Railpath.”
Local Coun. Ana Bailao said negotiations are ongoing between Metrolinx and the city for the exact amount of land needed and how much land the city would take from Metrolinx in return for the city's expansion of the Railpath to just south of Queen Street West.
“Whatever land were losing, it’s going to count towards the land we need to acquire in the south,” she said. “We’re also going to start detailed design next year, so we will know the exact measurements that we need south.”
Furthermore, more noise walls of the same material would be put in place, Dempster said. However, the plan for the current walls that have been
plagued by graffiti is to include greenery to cover the surface, which is what the community asked for before installation in 2015.
“With this plan, they’re just fixing something they messed up before,” said Kevin Putnam of the Junction Triangle Rail Committee. “Very grateful they’re doing it, but it’s a mess that they created.”
Dempster said they did a pilot project with green walls previously, and it ended up not being feasible and required a lot of maintenance.
Vines will be planted and murals for the upper portion of the walls are in consideration, he added.
“Those vines are fairly self-sufficient,” Dempster said. “If we can plant mature vines and have them trained onto this wire-mesh system, then they should take off fairly quick and be self-sustaining.”
Metrolinx staff will now work on a detailed design which could be ready in the spring.
