motion passed in Legislature to disentangle GO from Blue 22

[Prometheus The Supremo]

^^exactly.

 

[Hipster Duck]

The city will never build a Transit City line down the rail corridor, as they've said that all new LRT routes must be down streets to make them close to to the communities that they serve.

That is why the "Transit City" project will be a failure and, at best, a pyrrhic victory for bean counters. It'll just be a bunch of Spadina ROW streetcars trying to traverse immense suburban distances at 9 km/h. It'll be cheaper than a subway but not much cheaper than an S-bahn.

Call me a cynic but I believe the first "rail link" that will reach Pearson airport will be a pathetically slow LRT (read: streetcar) along Eglinton that will be ready by 2025.

 

[dowlingm]

If Dorval can have VIA right into PET Terminal then dammit we can have it at Pearson too.

Air Canada runs multiple daily flights to Kingston and London (ON, obviously). From an environmental standpoint this is scandalous. Those should be VIA services.

I really need an early morning train to K-W for work and one day VIA might be running a Predator Express out that way!

 

[AnarchoSocialist]

I finally came across a map on the Georgetown EA site (in the Project Background setion) that shows exactly what is being investigated.

For some reason I was always under the impression that the rail link was going to spur off of the Weston sub, enter Pearson and then re-enter the Weston sub somewhere around the Malton station. It is surprising to see this is not the case at all and that it simply be a stump line terminating at the airport.

At first I thought this was rather strange, and even a poor decision since it means that having VIA and GO trains use the Pearson becomes an undesireable option. But after thinking about it a while it is actually not a bad choice. It would give Pearson rail service in the interim (something it needs), and since the upgrades required to increase GO service and offer frequent Pearson-Union rail service could begin as early as Spring 2008, it would allow service to start in a reasonable amount of time.

As far as a higher capacity line from Union-Pearson that would allow GO, VIA (both in its current form or in HS form) and an airport link to drive in/drive out of a Pearson rail station and continue on to Kitchener-Waterloo, or other parts of Ontario, there are actually better options than the Weston sub and at least once that is underway then a longer term solution can be explored while still bringing much needed transit upgrades to the GTA.

 

[EnviroTO]

I totally disagree that there is anything good about Blue22. The cost prices it out of the realm of the thousands of people that work there on a daily basis. It is a spur line not even oriented in a fashion where it could become a through route on the weston corridor thus providing opportunities for GO or VIA service. It provides service only to Dundas West and Union, great for people from out of town and those heading to the airport after work and who happen to work downtown but useless for the majority which is the rest of the people who don't live or work anywhere near Dundas West station or Union Station because as a private entity there would certainly not be fare integration to take you anywhere else. Lastly, the traffic and distance from downtown to Pearson may seem bad but compared to many cities our airport is located relatively close and outside of rush hours the time to drive isn't that high and once past the Ex traffic usually isn't that bad even when it is really busy.

 

[AnarchoSocialist]

A Pearson-Union rail link does not mean Blue 22. Blue 22 was a specific, public money for profit private scam that had zero benefits for GO and would have essentially handed over monopoly usage of track space that should be accessible by all. Now an airport rail link operator will not have those monopoly rights and the scope of the plan has changed. Most of the money being spent will be used to upgrade the Weston line, to the benefit of GO as well as a rail link.

The EA for the Georgetown Corridor and rail link are still underway so it is still too early too say how the airport rail link will be structured in terms of ownership. It could be a private operator, or GO, or a combination of both.

It may not be perfect, but, I don't see it as being all that bad. If the small spur line can be done at a reasonable cost (and if a private operator is invovled, at their cost primarily) then this option is better than taking another 5 years, or more, to develop a plan that will allow all stakeholders to use the station and have trains able to enter from the south or north end of a Pearson station.

I see a rail link, as proposed on the above map, as an interim solution, not as anything else. A real solution willl be far more costly and complex and take some time to develop. For the moment, you at least make Union-Pearson connections easier which will have its benefits.