Toronto Ontario Line 3 | ?m | ?s

[Neutrino]

"Overall, I really like this house. It's not our dream house but it's pretty great.
The biggest hole I see is that our salaries are only enough to cover 40% of the mortgage..."

Close enough, that's how many Canadians have been buying houses for the last decade

 

[robmausser]

Extending the line to Ontario place is dumb. As is trashing years of design work. Glad it has a funding commitment up to Eglinton, though

Apparently, and of course who knows the truth, the new technology will use the existing planned route for Osgoode to Pape that the previous government did studies and plans for. If this is true, then all is ok. That design work isnt dead.

The other portions of the DRL were never very far along, just lines on a map.

 

[robmausser]

So, to clarify, the DRL will be cheaper because it won't be tunneled in part downtown, and the Eglinton and Scarborough extensions in the suburbs will be tunneled. That seems backwards.

No, the Ontario/DRL will be tunnelled for the Osgoode/Pape route, thats already planned. The Minister of Transportation clarified this. Watch the reports.

 

[robmausser]

A 90 degree turn from queen to bathurst... and another one around bathurst / lake shore... thatll be fun to see how that works

If it uses Light Rail as they are proposing like the REM it will be easily possible. Thats the advantage of using lighter rolling stock than the current subway tech

 

[interchange42]

It will be a huge improvement, even with a walk, to take that walk to a transit line that can get you all the way up to Eglinton in short order....versus taking that walk today to a streetcar that takes you to the Bloor subway (eventually). I still would worry about the tie ins to other lines.

The alignment from Osgoode to the CNE grounds will be interesting. I'd argue for straight west on Queen to a hard left turn at Strachan. If there were a station at Strachan and King, that might serve Liberty Village well enough. The right alignment and location could let a future Waterfront West LRT loop at Dufferin without extension to Bathurst, that would be money saved.

- Paul

Along Queen with stops at Spadina and Bathurst, then curving south to Strachan with a stop - north entrance at King, south entrance at Liberty, then curving again somewhere into Exhibition Place, maybe along the north edge of Lake Shore, maybe with the streetcar loop relocated there, could make sense.

I also would not be against snaking from Osgoode down to Spadina and Front for the new station, then Bathurst, then Strachan, then into the Ontario/Ex Place grounds.

Whatever happens, the terminal at Ontario/Ex Place would be extendable west and north again in the distant future.

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[interchange42]

Why not? Assumption is tunnel portal on the West side by Corktown Common. Lots of room there?

Why would that be cheaper? You have to dodge underground infrastructure and buildings on the way up and down again, and buy land for the above ground section, and build a pair of tunnelling launch sites on either side of the Don. The only place it makes sense to go over the Don is where the land is way higher than the Don, as it is up by Thorncliffe Park.

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[steveintoronto]

Hate to say it again but Sydney Metro and REM are exactly whats likely. Fits the description perfectly.


Still lacking a lot of key info though

I agree, it's madness to do anything less. As to the "Ontario Place" destination, that could much more readily be served by an extension to this:
Google firm to develop Canadian light rail scheme
19 FEBRUARY, 2019 BY CONNOR IBBETSON
Google’s parent company is planning to build an extension to Toronto’s light rail transit (LRT) system.
https://www.newcivilengineer.com/la...p-canadian-light-rail-scheme/10040117.article

I think Ford is just 'throwing this out there' to see what bites on his plan.

 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

Yonge Extension: As long as it opens AFTER the Ontario line, it's fine and Toronto gets extra stations at Cummer and Steeles.

Further discussion is probably better for that thread but:
-Ford said it would be after
-Steeles station is a lock and Cummer was dismissed during the prelim design work (rightly, since it's so close to Finch, IMHO)

 

[Neutrino]

So the future DRL West will be a branch from Osgoode?

 

[Allandale25]

Thanks for sharing. This is fantastic. Ford prioritizing transit in Canada’s biggest city.

What’s not to like?

Rather than looking at it through the lens of like or don't like, I prefer to note the challenges:
1. getting federal and municipal funding per ""While earlier this week the premier billed the plan as an $28.5 billion investment, the government clarified that Ontario would contribute just $11.2 billion, which it said exceeded its election pledge to spend $5 billion on Toronto subways. The federal government, Toronto, and York Region would be asked to make up the rest of the $28.5 billion." (from the Star article)
2. time to do design and EAs.

On 1., the Ford said he may go in alone on this. On 2., he could amend various pieces of legislation to speed up the study process/EAs. I think @alexanderglista mentioned the Quebec gov did this for REM.

 

[robmausser]

Heres what I have to say about some of the discussion here:

Had they shown stops on the "Ontario Place" portion of the Line, people might not be speaking so negatively:

Potentially it could stop at:

1. New Spadina Station for GO, taking relief for Union. GO trains in the west no longer have to terminate at Union.

2. Liberty Village. Definitely in need of mass transit.

3. Ontario place includes exhibition place as well.

Now, another thing to consider, that this side of the line was never funded or planned, so its not like we were promised the DRL West to Dundas West station, and are getting this instead: A spur line could always be built that splits off and goes north to Dundas West in the future. Nothing is stopping that from being built later on, which, was always in the provinces 2040 plans anyways.

Same goes with the North extension to Sheppard. I think some people see lines on maps too often here and think that it means they were solid plans with funding that were going to be built tomorrow. They werent. They were barely plans. And nothing is stopping a future government from continuing that work. 2040 is still a long way away.

 

[robmausser]

Nobody knows right now honestly

It very well could be a possbility though.

Phase 2 could be branch to Dundas West or Dufferin station in the West and an extension to Don Mills station in the east/north.

 

[robmausser]

It's not light rail in the Toronto context.

It's much more similar to current subways -> Sydney Metro

I understand that, but it can still be much more nimble than our system that was designed in the 1950's.

 

[innsertnamehere]

one of the big benefits of a Sydney Metro/REM type technology is that it is a much faster technology with much higher top speeds - meaning it may be able to outperform the Yonge and Bloor Lines even more in terms of time savings and therefor ridership attraction. Even an average speed of 45km/h instead of 38km/h would result in a 4 minute time savings across the 15km line. Imagine going from Exhibition Place to Don Mills and Eglinton in 20 minutes - that's about as fast as driving in no traffic today.

 

[interchange42]

I guess my assumption was following the LSE alignment from there to close to Pape. Will have to see.

Would require a lot less tunneling which would save a lot of money, you are right that the extra portals would cost more.

There's not unlimited width to work with on that alignment… anyway there's no "will have to see": the map is clear that the old Relief Line South alignment is the new Ontario Line alignment through that area.

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