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Re: Mon. Jan. 16th-ALL CANDIDATES DEBATE-ARL vs. PUBLIC TRAN

Regardless of what technology is used, how many stops there are, whether or not there is grade separation or not, the thing that matters most to me is that it is run by either GO or the TTC and has fares equal to the GO or the TTC. I don't know why there is resistance to grade separation for LRT or subway since unlike railway lines which have serious restrictions on slope gradients, these technologies could handle steeper gradients and dip under the level crossings that exist now and run underground past Weston without disturbing the landscape that exists there now (i.e. tunnel rather than culvert). The LRT or subway could run above ground except at Weston. What about sinking the whole railway line at Weston and recouping part of the cost by putting houses on top? It would mean the east and west parts of Weston would be even better connected than they are now. There is a housing price boom in Toronto... build new houses as part of the project in a nice area with easy access to a subway downtown and I think that would be quite marketable.
 
Re: Mon. Jan. 16th-ALL CANDIDATES DEBATE-ARL vs. PUBLIC TRAN

you can't sink the corridor because CP can't sink their tracks.

i think the corridor actually gives weston some charm. i think it was constructed in 1854. i'd like to see it preserved to a certain degree i.e - telegraph poles, etc.
 
Re: Mon. Jan. 16th-ALL CANDIDATES DEBATE-ARL vs. PUBLIC TRAN

When 30,000 people per hour start passing through Weston on the way to work downtown, to work near the airport, or to catch a flight... there is going to be some changes felt in Weston. The question is what is the minimum sacrifice that needs to be made. My understanding is that in order for GO to provide all day service to Brampton there should be three CN tracks so that a VIA or CN train doesn't impede operations. My understanding is that two tracks are needed on the CP line so trains can pass each other. My understanding is that an LRT or subway would run much more frequently than a GO train to the airport (i.e. 3-8 minute intervals versus 15 minutes or more). How do you balance these realities? If the all the trains/subways/LRTs run above ground there will be noise, if they all cross tracks there will be lights, gates, and probably bells, if they all go underground there will be quiet but also the railway will be gone, and if they run at grade and underpasses are created houses are lost. Noise vs street availability vs loss of railway character vs loss of homes.

A buried subway/LRT with no change to the railway corridor in Weston seems to strike that balance of minimizing change in the corridor.
 
Re: Mon. Jan. 16th-ALL CANDIDATES DEBATE-ARL vs. PUBLIC TRAN

you make some good points enviro. the only problem is that to bury the LRT it would be expensive. it would be the best solution through weston but it might run into problems at lawrence avenue or probably not since they can travel at steeper grades than the blue 22. i guess it can travel north over the lawrence brige where a station can be located and then dip under john street, proceed underground to about where the CN & CP tracks fork and then travel above ground over weston road and to the humber.

where the corridor is tight north of church street, new GO transit trackage can be installed without track relocation since the LRT will be underneath it.

but why triple track the CN? if you got a northbound and southbound, can't GO and CN frieght share tracks since they each got their own direction?
 
Re: Mon. Jan. 16th-ALL CANDIDATES DEBATE-ARL vs. PUBLIC TRAN

Three tracks are required because VIA would catch up to a GO train on the line. I'm not sure where the CN traffic is going along the Weston corridor but usually CN trains off the mainline are much slower than GO or VIA. Basically you have VIA going fast, GO going fast but stopping a lot, and CN probably going a medium speed. With a middle track you have a flexible passing track so trains have a way to pass one that is stopped at a station or shunting cars. Two tracks is probably fine on the CP line because frequent GO service is a long ways away considering they don't have any rush hour Bolton trains yet. If service on GO or VIA is kept at current levels than 2 tracks are probably fine on the CN tracks as well but improvements to the VIA schedule or all day GO service would probably create a need for three tracks.
 
if you are in the downtown area you can also take the Airport bus. stops at most hotels, holiday inn, etcs.
 
Air Rail Link Update from WCC

Weston Community Coalition

Air Rail Link Update


Dear Neighbours,



Since the Federal Election, very little has happened on the Air-Rail Link issue, but we thought it would be timely to remind you of what we are now waiting for.



Last May, as a result of your attendance at the Faith Sanctuary meeting, the powers that be (GO Transit, encouraged by the provincial transportation minister) decided to change the environmental assessment from a class B to class C (full). Also SNC Lavalin stepped down as consultant for GO.



GO hired a new consultant, McCormick-Rankin, in October of 2005. McCormick-Rankin will be conducting the full Environmental Assessment, with full public input. We were advised that notices of the commencement of the study would be out in January, then February, but there has still been no notice. We are advised by GO that they still plan to go ahead, but we are unaware of the reasons for the delay.



Meanwhile the federal election has meant that there is a new Prime Minister and a new transportation minister, Lawrence Cannon, from Gatineau, Quebec. He was previously a Minister in the Bourassa Liberal Government in Quebec, and more recently a city councillor, president of Société de transport de l’Outaouais in 2002 and in 2004 he was named president of the Association du transport urbain du Québec. Stephen Harper has also combined the role of the Transportation ministry with ‘Infrastructure and Communities’. We have written to the minister but do not yet have a reply.



What can you do?



Obviously public meetings are still sometime down the road. But the pressure should continue. You should phone or write to your MP, MPP, the mayor, the ministers, the premier and the prime minister to express your concerns. Among the concerns of the Weston Community Coalition are the use of a significant amount of public money (up to $300 Million from all three levels of government) to fund a private railroad; whether this line should be a TTC subway line, rather than a private railroad; failure to study other options or methods, such as the 427 corridor or the Eglinton Subway or electrified trains; the ownership of public transit; and whether this study should spark a full public discussion of the use of rail corridors throughout the GTA for public transit and bikeways. We are obviously also concerned that Toronto, with its serious budget shortfall, should be on the hook for millions of dollars for this project, which will in turn mean tax hikes for residents to fund a private railroad for business visitors.

For further info see our website: www.westoncommunitycoalition.ca

Mike Sullivan, Chair, Weston Community Coalition

HOW TO HELP: Who to call or write a short letter (sample is on our website) to:

DAVID MILLER:
416 397-2489
mayor_mlller@toronto.ca
Mayor David Miller,
Toronto City Hall,
2†Fl, 100 Queen St. West,
Toronto, On M5H 2N2

DALTON MCGUINTY
416 325-1941
dalton.mcguinty@premier.gov.on.ca
Hon. Dalton McGuinty,
Rm281, Legislative Building,
Queens Park,
Toronto, On M7A 1A1


HARINDER TAKHAR MPP (Minister of Transportation, Ontario)
416 327-9200
minlster@mto.gov.on.ca
Hon. Harinder Takhar, MPP
Minister of TransportatIon,
77 Wellesley St. W.
3rd Floor, Ferguson Block,
Toronto, ON M7A 1Z8



Lawrence Cannon (Minister of Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities, Canada)
Tel: 613 991-0700 Fax 613 995-0327
mintc@tc.gov.ca
The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, M.P.

Transport Canada

Place de Ville

330 Sparks St

29th Floor, Tower C

Ottawa, ON K1A 0N5

Stephen Harper:
Fax: 613 9416900
pm@pm.gc.ca
Hon. Stephen Harper,
Office of the Prime Minister,
80 Wellington St,
Ottawa K1A 0A2

GERARD KENNEDY (Minister of Eduction, Ontario)
Te1 416 325-2600
minister@edu.gov.on.ca
Hon. Gerrard Kennedy,
22 Fl, Mowat Block,
900 Bay Street, Toronto, ON M7A 1L2


PLEASE SEND COPIES OF YOUR LETTERS TO

JOE CORDIANO, M.P.P. York South- Weston,
Fax; 416 243.0327
Jcordiano.mpp.co@iberal.ola.org
2277 Keele St. Unit 3, Toronto, ON
M6M 2Z6

ALAN TONKS M.P. York South - Weston,
Fax 416 656-9908
tonksa@parl.gc.ca
2534 Keele Street, Toronto, ON M6L2N8

Frances Nunziata, Councillor, York South –Weston
Fax: 416-392-4118
councillor_nunziata@toronto.ca
100 Queen Street West, Suite C49
Toronto, M5H 2N2

And of course to the Weston Community Coalition
info@westoncommunitycoalition.ca
C/O
72 Church St.
Weston,On M9N 1N3
 
Airport Rail Link - back to square 1

Go Transit's EA for the Georgetown Corridor has had a change of scope. Instead of Blue22 (Union-LBPIA rail link) being assumed, all options are being considered for providing "express" service to the airport.

Fun details can be found at this page www.georgetownpearsonstud...tsNew.asp, but the range of options being considered are:

The range of Planning Alternatives to be considered for the provision of express or rapid transit service between Union Station and Pearson International Airport (LBPIA) include the following:
i. The “Do Nothing†Alternative;
ii. Express bus service between Union Station and LBPIA using the Gardiner Expressway and Highway 427;
iii. Rapid transit service from the Long Branch GO Station on the Lakeshore West line north to Highway 427 and along the Highway 427 corridor to LBPIA.
iv. Surface rail service within the CN Weston corridor with a connection into the airport (including several sub-options);
v. Bus service within the CN Weston corridor with a connection into the airport;
vi. Rapid Transit service within the Eglinton corridor and a connection to the airport;
vii. Rapid Transit service utilizing the north-south hydro corridor between the Kipling Subway Station and the Airport.

Descriptions of the alternatives to be considered are included below.

i) The “Do Nothing†Alternative maintains the status quo and does not add additional services between Union Station and Pearson Airport. Current transportation services to the airport include private vehicle, taxi and public transit (TTC).

ii) Express Bus service between Union Station and Pearson Airport would include direct service from the GO Bus terminal, using the Gardiner Expressway and Highway 427 for travel to the airport. The existing roadway configuration would be maintained.

Opportunities for dedicated lanes will be reviewed to improve travel time and reliability.

iii) This service would provide a bus rapid transit connection from the Long Branch GO Station generally along the Browns Line / Highway 427 corridor with a connection into LBPIA.

iv) With respect to surface rail service there are three potential options that might be considered:
1) Express rail service (Air Rail Link as proposed by Transport Canada) within the CN Weston Corridor would include direct service from Union Station to the end of the Terminal 1 within Pearson Airport.

2) Express rail service supplemented by additional community based stations.

3) GO train service with a shuttle into the airport.

v) Bus service within the Weston Corridor would include dedicated bus lanes adjacent to existing railway tracks.

Service would be provided from the Union Station Bus station to the Strachan Avenue railway crossing of the Weston subdivision and then along dedicated bus lanes within the CN rail corridor.

vi) Rapid Transit service within the Eglinton Corridor would involve connections to the existing Yonge/Spadina Subway system at Eglinton Avenue. Service would run either at-grade or below grade to the Renforth/Eglinton intersection and access the airport from this point. Existing TTC subway services would be used between Eglinton
Avenue and Union Station.

vii) Rapid Transit service within the Kipling/Hwy 427 hydro corridor would commence at the TTC Kipling subway station and utilize the existing north-south hydro corridor and access Eglinton Avenue. From Eglinton Avenue service would access the Airport from the Renforth/Eglinton intersection. Service between Union Station and Kipling would be existing TTC subway service. Within the hydro corridor service would be either at-grade or below grade.
 
Thank God. Blue22 was a ridiculous idea to start with.
 
I consider any bus proposal to be no proposal.

Expand the cable car to the nearest GO station. Then I don't care what they have to do, ie., expropriate the rail line, but just do it. Or do some kinda of per person fee that each passenger has to pay that goes directly to CN.

Subway, too expensive, won't benefit enough passengers considering the cost.
 
I can't believe it, so is Blue22 dead now, or is it likely to be the preferred option?
 
I think the most likely outcome is some form of GO Transit service to the airport which gets rid of my biggest beef with the original plan. Blue22 was going to be a privately owned but to some degree publicly supported system that bypassed a whole bunch of people requiring better transit access and charging a price that made it usless as a commuter service. If GO provides the service or the TTC provides the service then it is more affordable and serves the people who commute to work at the airport or surrounding area or who live in Northern Etobicoke and Malton. The fact that GO has a need for expansion to Brampton sort of steers the whole process in one direction. As long as the private and commuter unfriendly plan doesn't come back I will be happy. A subway along the route would be nice but totally unexpected.
 
I believe that SNC Lavalin already has a 53-year contract signed with the Federal government, so that any option that runs rail into the airport will either have to be Blue22 or we'll have to pay a very hefty penalty to them to break the contract. The GO Transit option will probably be taking people to a newly constructed Woodbine station, and then either busing people from there, or having the APM extend out to there. Also, GO probably wouldn't want to run trains off the Milton line and into the airport, as it would slow down the commute for all the people coming into and returning to the burbs, which is their bread and butter, after.

Greg
 
Ultimately I would love to see the Eglinton West subway line be brought back from the dead and seen as a worth cause to pursue in order to link the airport with the rest of the city. It may not provide “express†service per se, but it would utilize an extensive ROW for most of the route between the 427 and just east of Jane St. Not only would it finally bring reliable and adequate rapid transit to the airport, but it would also be a great step in bringing rapid transit to thousands of people in the former cities of York and Etobicoke.

I may be dreaming here given the price tag of such a project. Nevertheless, I do believe an LRT or subway along this corridor to the airport could be strongly justified.
 
Money aside, I'm kind of partial to a three prong approach:

(1) extend people mover to the GO tracks and a new GO station at Woodbine. Run GO service all day for downtown service.

(2) Eglington RT to get people from the airport to mid-town, or, baring that, how about some manner of running a train from the (new) Woodbine GO transit cross-town to Scarbourgh with stops at Dupont subway and Summerhill subway?

(3) Something to run people north. The Finch corridor makes sense here. Or perhaps VIVA can provide this service?

An Eglinton RT and the Finch corridor could run from a new transit mall at Renforth and Eglinton, and perhaps the people mover could be extended down to that intersection as well.

Frankly, I don't think there's that many people who'll take the train from the airport, and they'd be fine grabbing a people mover to the train. It happens in a lot of places around the world.
 
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