Toronto Ontario Line 3 | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx

We should put transit lines underground in the dense, urban environments that high-capacity underground transit was designed for.

1) This is not a CBD with office towers and narrowish streets

2) There is *a rail corridor*

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Someone tell Hong Kong THEY are doing transit wrong!
 
We should put transit lines underground in the dense, urban environments that high-capacity underground transit was designed for.
You always had a strange view of transit. You put transit lines underground in environments where there isn't enough room for transit. Ontario Line isn't such a case, Eglinton West isn't such a case. Sometimes you can get away with building overground in a CBD, sometimes you can't. Sometimes you can get away with building overground in suburbs, and sometimes you can't. There are cities that put their rail above ground in their CBDs such as Melbourne or Tokyo, and sometimes you have cities that build subways in suburbs such as Moscow. It has absolutely nothing to do with "density of the environment" and has everything to do with circumstances specific to each line that makes statements like "you put transit lines underground in dense, urban environments" absolutely meaningless.
 
Just for reference, the SkyTrain Broadway extension is under construction and one of the current items is demolishing
the back of an existing in-use warehouse building that they need for the elevated right-of-way (901 Great Northern Way shown on the aerial photo).
So they aren`t squeezing it in super-close to the building, but removing a bit of the building to make more room.

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Jimbo604;9236771 said:
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Photo Source: Google Maps - https://www.google.ca/maps

"901 Great Northern Way

In preparation for construction of the elevated guideway portion of the Broadway Subway Project, a portion of the building located at 901 Great Northern Way
is being removed and replaced with a new foundation and façade.

A temporary construction hoarding wall has been installed to separate the construction area from businesses.

Work on this building is expected to be finished by summer 2021."
 
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Just for reference, the SkyTrain Broadway extension is under construction and one of the current items is demolishing
the back of an existing in-use warehouse building that they need for the elevated right-of-way (901 Great Northern Way shown on the aerial photo).
So they aren`t squeezing it in super-close to the building, but removing a bit of the building to make more room.


Wait wth. I had no idea Broadway extn was so far along. Feel like only recently I checked and it was in the discussion phase. They move quick in Vancouver.
 
Wait wth. I had no idea Broadway extn was so far along. Feel like only recently I checked and it was in the discussion phase. They move quick in Vancouver.
They've been discussing the extension to the University for years. Lots of disagreements on routing, particularly west of Alma. They finally compromised, by only extending it about 5.5 km to Arbutus, leaving the more controversial remaining 7 km to UBC unbuilt.

As far as I know, most of this new extension is in underground subway - which makes it no example for the Ontario Line. If it was comparable, they'd have followed the existing railway alignment, that goes most of the way to Arbutus to Burrard and then elevated it down one of the laneways near West 4th.
 
Wait wth. I had no idea Broadway extn was so far along. Feel like only recently I checked and it was in the discussion phase. They move quick in Vancouver.
Sounded like you were sleeping under a rock for a year. The subway would be done in 2025. It would only take 5-6 years to build it while the TYSSE took 8 and the crosstown is taking 11. Now we wonder what's wrong with TO. Are they just less capable or corruption that is feeding these construction company money???
 
On that note, I'd really urge the feds to review the Ontario Line BCA with a fine tooth comb before making any funding decisions.

That's why it's impossible to get transit built in Toronto. Let's analyze it to death - propose a different plan, study it - then analyze it to death - propose a new plan, study it - then analyze it to death - over and over and over.
 
1) This is not a CBD with office towers and narrowish streets

2) There is *a rail corridor*

View attachment 309851

Someone tell Hong Kong THEY are doing transit wrong!

I'd say Leslieville counts as an urban environment - it's certainly more connected than the neighbourhoods in the suburbs the government is investing huge sums to not disrupt.

Yes it's a rail corridor - a GO rail corridor that needs as much capacity as possible for GO services.

This is a subway line that requires as much capacity as possible. The Yonge Line is already over capacity. The previous plan was far superior in accomplishing that goal.

Those are the two main reasons we should be building this underground. It's a no-brainer.
 
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They've been discussing the extension to the University for years. Lots of disagreements on routing, particularly west of Alma. They finally compromised, by only extending it about 5.5 km to Arbutus, leaving the more controversial remaining 7 km to UBC unbuilt.

As far as I know, most of this new extension is in underground subway - which makes it no example for the Ontario Line. If it was comparable, they'd have followed the existing railway alignment, that goes most of the way to Arbutus to Burrard and then elevated it down one of the laneways near West 4th.
What are you smoking?

The Ontario Line never suggested taking a laneway, there are no grade-separated rail corridors west of Clark in Vancouver that can be used, and Broadway is relatively narrow for an elevated alignment (but not impossible) and a study(p26) found it would limit development potential close to stations among other issues making it less favorable than tunneling in this corridor.

The Ontario Line dives undergrown after Gerrard the same way the Skytrain dives underground after it needs to leave the rail corridor after VCC-Clark.

And before you say it, Overlea Road is 10m+ wider than broadway.
 
Leslieville certainly counts as an urban environment - it's certainly more connected than the neighbourhoods in the suburbs the government is investing huge sums to not disrupt.

Yes it's a rail corridor - a GO rail corridor that needs as much capacity as possible for GO services.

This is a subway line that requires as much capacity as possible. The Yonge Line is already over capacity. The previous plan was far superior in accomplishing that goal.

Those are the two main reasons we should be building this underground. It's a no-brainer.
Yes, building stations that take 4-5min to from street level to platform level were a no-brainer...

And the plan was so great especially the distance between Queen and Osgoode stations being 250m. That is clearly superior station spacing!

And finally, I couldn't wait until more info about the RLN would come out to debate it for another 20 years and then build it 100 percent underground all the way to Downtown Markham.
 
Yes, building stations that take 4-5min to from street level to platform level were a no-brainer...

I don't hear any complaints whatsoever about this being an issue in Scarborough.

4-5 minutes is probably a stretch - deep stations don't seem to be an issue in other cities with major subway systems.

And the plan was so great especially the distance between Queen and Osgoode stations being 250m. That is clearly superior station spacing!

Not sure what you're talking about. Both the OL and DRL have stops at Osgoode and Queen...where Yonge/University Line stations already exist.

And finally, I couldn't wait until more info about the RLN would come out to debate it for another 20 years and then build it 100 percent underground all the way to Downtown Markham.

I've always found this line of reasoning rather strange.

Ford said he would use the power and financial wherewithal of the Provincial government to build transit and subways faster and more efficiently than before.

Why couldn't he have simply done that with the DRL and DRL North? Would would he need another 20 years to get it done?




I can't help but notice no one actually addresses the capacity issues (for both GO and the OL) that have been brought up by myself and others. People want to fixate on NIMBYs, deep stations and things taking too long. None of which should really matter here, as they don't seem to be a problem for supporters when it comes to any of the lines Ford is trying to fast track.
 
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Yes it's a rail corridor - a GO rail corridor that needs as much capacity as possible for GO services.
4 tracks provide plenty of capacity for GO services in the shared stretch for at least the next 100 years.
 

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