steveintoronto
Superstar
I've been scanning the news-stories and reports, and it's a confusing picture, not least as to who "owns them" and who "pays for them". (and how, and how much). Owning and paying for them, evidently, is not the same thing.
Until I can find better reference, this will have to suffice for now:
Edit to Clarify: [For SmartTrack to proceed, Metrolinx said the city needs to commit all necessary funding by Nov. 30.]
I'd stated "next month" in a prior post. The point still stands though, the City has yet to facilitate that funding, let alone find it, and Del Duca is not going to 'hold the bag', and warning the City he isn't.
Until I can find better reference, this will have to suffice for now:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...ocations-of-four-new-toronto-go-stations.htmlJohn Tory's SmartTrack going ahead with six new stops
The stations will be added as part of Metrolinx’s $13.5-billion initiative to implement regional express rail service.
By Ben SpurrTransportation Reporter (TorStar)
Tues., June 21, 2016
[...]
All the SmartTrack stations would be built as part of provincial transit agency Metrolinx’s $13.5-billion initiative to implement regional express rail, or RER, along five GO rail corridors in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The project will involve electrifying the rail lines to allow more frequent, two-way service.
In a report released Tuesday, Metrolinx proposed building 12 new stations as part of the RER initiative over the next 10 years. Eight would be in Toronto, including the six claimed as part of SmartTrack, and two more on the Barrie line: at Bloor St. West and Lansdowne Ave., and at Spadina Ave. and Front St.
All the new stations will be provincially owned, and it’s not clear how service to the stations deemed to be part of SmartTrack would differ from service to other stations under RER.
Tory said “the service levels are quite likely to be different,” but the Metrolinx report envisaged SmartTrack stations being served by trains running at GO RER frequencies, or every six to 10 minutes during peak periods, with travel times slightly increased for long- and medium-distance trips.
“There is still work that’s still ongoing between Metrolinx and the city with respect to exactly what the service concepts will look like,” said provincial Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca.
Transit expert Steve Munro said there is now little difference between SmartTrack and GO’s RER plan. “It’s quite clear that SmartTrack and RER are kind of merging with each other. This has been obvious for months,” he said.
Tory shot down suggestions that SmartTrack was indistinguishable from RER, however, and said his efforts had secured stations Metrolinx wouldn’t have otherwise approved.
“If SmartTrack wasn’t a reality, why did I have to go and get the money for it? Why did I have to have extensive discussions with Mr. Del Duca and (Metrolinx president Bruce McCuaig) and others about where we would get stations?” he asked. “And it was quite a long discussion, and we didn’t get absolutely everything that we might have wanted, but we sure got a lot for the people of Toronto. This is a very real project; regional express rail is very real.”
New details on the cost of SmartTrack were also released Tuesday. The province has agreed to pay for $3.7 billion in infrastructure related to RER that is considered “foundational” to Tory’s plan.
But incremental costs — including construction of the six new stations, which Metrolinx estimated at between $700 million and $1.1 billion, as well as the Eglinton West LRT line, estimated at between $1.5 billion and $2.1 billion — would be paid by the city, the federal government and other sources of funding such as development charges. The city would also have to pick up the tab for operating the Eglinton West LRT line.
During last year’s federal election campaign, then-Liberal leader Justin Trudeau pledged to contribute $2.6 billion to SmartTrack. A spokesman for federal Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi told the Star in an email: “We remain committed to the funding announced for this project during the campaign.”
For SmartTrack to proceed, Metrolinx said the city needs to commit all necessary funding by Nov. 30.
Although Metrolinx and the city have reached an agreement on some of the stations for SmartTrack, the two parties have not yet agreed on what fares to charge for SmartTrack service.
During his campaign, Tory promised that Torontonians would be able to ride SmartTrack for the same price as the TTC, and keeping the ticket price low is seen as crucial to enticing riders off of packed subway lines and onto surface rail.
Edit to Clarify: [For SmartTrack to proceed, Metrolinx said the city needs to commit all necessary funding by Nov. 30.]
I'd stated "next month" in a prior post. The point still stands though, the City has yet to facilitate that funding, let alone find it, and Del Duca is not going to 'hold the bag', and warning the City he isn't.
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