Woodbridge_Heights
Senior Member
Yeah, I think Islington has the width for it but doesn't have the direct connection to the Kipling hub that Kipling Ave does.
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KhalilHeron
Active Member
Whipped this up pretty quickly so there's prob mistakes and its def messy buttt... Here's my concept of a branching, interlined Eglinton East LRT.
The majority of the line follows it's currently planned alignment, but at Neilson, one out of every three trains turns north to Malvern, but with decent frequencies, this shouldn't be much of a problem. The other trains continue along with Sheppard in their own ROW until they split in two again at Progress. The trains that head south travel along progress in dedicated lanes with a stop at Centennial college's Progress campus. They continue along Progress for a short bit until turning onto the ROW reserved for the SRT extension that never came, shortly before making its way onto the eastern leg of the SRT's corridor itself, terminating in the retrofitted McCowan RT Station at the new Scarborough Centre Station. The trains that continued along Sheppard head to Sheppard-McCowan Station to meet with lines 2 and 4
This would probably operate best as a separate service from the crosstown but for aesthetic's sake, I just made it an extension. I took the liberty of naming some stations on the EELRT and Sheppard East Subway Extension myself... which proved difficult with three different Markham Stations. There are two more branches I wanted to include but 5 branches on one line are a bit obscured and the frequencies at the ends of those branches would just be too abysmal. I wanted a branch running along Kingston and in the middle of highway 2a to port union road, and another headed for the zoo along Sheppard or the hydro corridor, and Meadowvale. My mind is currently trying to figure out how these could work and the best I've got is an lrt along Lawrence and Kingston from Lawrence East that branches up to Meadowvale from old Kingston (it'd have to be in mixed traffic), to Sheppard from highway 2a, and rouge hill go along Lawrence. There is definitely not the demand for this at all unlike the EELRT but one day. It could also use the EELRT since the interchange at Morningside. I also think it's pretty sick that this would give every centennial college campus or learning site a rail connection, most of which all being connected to line 5
The majority of the line follows it's currently planned alignment, but at Neilson, one out of every three trains turns north to Malvern, but with decent frequencies, this shouldn't be much of a problem. The other trains continue along with Sheppard in their own ROW until they split in two again at Progress. The trains that head south travel along progress in dedicated lanes with a stop at Centennial college's Progress campus. They continue along Progress for a short bit until turning onto the ROW reserved for the SRT extension that never came, shortly before making its way onto the eastern leg of the SRT's corridor itself, terminating in the retrofitted McCowan RT Station at the new Scarborough Centre Station. The trains that continued along Sheppard head to Sheppard-McCowan Station to meet with lines 2 and 4
This would probably operate best as a separate service from the crosstown but for aesthetic's sake, I just made it an extension. I took the liberty of naming some stations on the EELRT and Sheppard East Subway Extension myself... which proved difficult with three different Markham Stations. There are two more branches I wanted to include but 5 branches on one line are a bit obscured and the frequencies at the ends of those branches would just be too abysmal. I wanted a branch running along Kingston and in the middle of highway 2a to port union road, and another headed for the zoo along Sheppard or the hydro corridor, and Meadowvale. My mind is currently trying to figure out how these could work and the best I've got is an lrt along Lawrence and Kingston from Lawrence East that branches up to Meadowvale from old Kingston (it'd have to be in mixed traffic), to Sheppard from highway 2a, and rouge hill go along Lawrence. There is definitely not the demand for this at all unlike the EELRT but one day. It could also use the EELRT since the interchange at Morningside. I also think it's pretty sick that this would give every centennial college campus or learning site a rail connection, most of which all being connected to line 5
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Rainforest
Senior Member
Very cool map! Two notes:
1) Why not add a direct LRT connection between Malvern Centre and the McCowan&Sheppard subway terminus? All the tracks already exist in your map. And that direct connection will be the most popular LRT route in the north-east.
The "5C" route on your map may be useful for some riders who travel within Scarborough, but noone will ride it end to end. A short trip to McCowan&Sheppard and then a subway ride will be a lot faster, if you are heading to Kennedy Stn or past Kennedy.
2) If you want to serve Centennial College Progress campus with LRT, that's great but I would consider a more direct route that stays south of the 401. The "5B" and "5C" routes remain as is, running via Sheppard. But instead of "5A", there would be a separate route that starts at STC, serves Centennial, then continues on the south edge of the 401 corridor to Morningside, and then joins the Morningside tracks to reach UTSC.
That would create a direct and fast LRT connection from STC to Centennial and to UTSC. And the Centennial station could be placed right in the middle of the campus, although a short underground section may be required for that. (A station at Progress would be at the edge of the campus, requiring longer walks.)
In the future, it might be possible to extend the STC - Centennial - UTSC route along Kingston / Hwy 2, effectively upgrading the Durham Pulse BRT to LRT.
KhalilHeron
Active Member
Hmm definitely agree about malvern idk how my brain didnt think of that. A seperate survice on the same tracks might make things a little congested though to keep up high frequencies so maybe another alignment would be best. For the 5A though i thought of keeping it south-of the 401 but all the transit only bridges and maybe tunnels that would require inflates the cost quite a bit. If the highland creek werent right there, sure, but for realistic cost saving measures i think the slightly less direct root the 5A takes between UTSC and centennial would be adequate
KhalilHeron
Active Member
Made a second version! This one addresses some of the issues with getting between Malvern, and lines 2 and 4, as well as adding service too the zoo, and moving the station at centennial to a more central location. It is basically a combination of the Eglinton East LRT, the Sheppard East LRT, and the SRT extension.
Honestly, the hardest part of this was just deciding on colours. This is the I could come up with, though I realize it looks like the lesbian flag. I've tested it and it should be legible to most colourblind people, but if not the numbers and the letters should help with that.
The new alignment for the STC-Malvern and STC-Kennedy sections now runs parallel to the 401, and along Neilson and Military Trail to better serve Centennial and Centenary (though the stop for centenary is 700m from the hospital itself cus I couldn't find a better alignment that would also let it hit UTSC). The new alignment also prevents the section of Sheppard from Neilson to Morningside from getting too busy. I made the whole thing run as a separate service honestly just for the branding cohesiveness (Eglinton line that runs from Sheppard and McCowan makes 0 sense) but it makes sense to have it separate as it is more impacted by traffic (most of it being median running and all) so we wouldn't want it to slow down the rest of line 5. That being said I think trains from each line could easily interline and continue past Kennedy in either direction (like how lakeshore east and west interline) just not every train.
Honestly, the hardest part of this was just deciding on colours. This is the I could come up with, though I realize it looks like the lesbian flag. I've tested it and it should be legible to most colourblind people, but if not the numbers and the letters should help with that.
The new alignment for the STC-Malvern and STC-Kennedy sections now runs parallel to the 401, and along Neilson and Military Trail to better serve Centennial and Centenary (though the stop for centenary is 700m from the hospital itself cus I couldn't find a better alignment that would also let it hit UTSC). The new alignment also prevents the section of Sheppard from Neilson to Morningside from getting too busy. I made the whole thing run as a separate service honestly just for the branding cohesiveness (Eglinton line that runs from Sheppard and McCowan makes 0 sense) but it makes sense to have it separate as it is more impacted by traffic (most of it being median running and all) so we wouldn't want it to slow down the rest of line 5. That being said I think trains from each line could easily interline and continue past Kennedy in either direction (like how lakeshore east and west interline) just not every train.
Rainforest
Senior Member
Actually, the colors look great!
And I like your route from Neilson to UTSC. Originally I thought of it being placed right next to the 401, on its south edge. But now I see that Neilson + Military Trail makes more sense.
KhalilHeron
Active Member
Yea thanks i think it offers some better service than along the 401 and gets passengers a little closer to centenary even if not to its front door
ARG1
Senior Member
Extend 7E/7A to follow Ellesmere on the Scarborough RT corridor?
Rainforest
Senior Member
Certainly doable, but the destination in the west isn't obvious. If it only runs to Midland or to Kennedy and has a couple of stops serving the western edge of the STC cluster, then for sure.
If the LRT is supposed to follow Ellesmere and York Mills .. the connection to Yonge subway will be very difficult. Approaching Yonge, the York Mills Rd is very winding and goes up/down hills; I doubt the light rail trains can run there on surface. A tunneled section may be possible, but that has its own challenges fitting together with the existing Yonge subway tunnel and the West Don valley.
KhalilHeron
Active Member
I think it could work if it switches between running at grade and elevated as it approaches yonge but i dont quite see the need for a service like that. On running back to kennedy through the stc corridor i thought it best to leave the rest of the row open for recreational use instead of spending the millions it would cost to retrofit the stations and provide a redundant service. I see it maybe continuing just to midland though, stoping at the old scarborough centre station as well just to provide easier access to the mall
M II A II R II K
Senior Member
Sheppard and McCowan will end up looking more like Times Square with all that transit it gets.
KhalilHeron
Active Member
if dont right it can support high density but I mean in a year kennedy will have 3 rapid transit lines and a tonne of bus routes yet the area around it is desolate
hw621
Senior Member
The only thing is that it is just not getting them...
afransen
Senior Member
Yep. So much more logical to have the major transit interchange (BD+Line 4+LRT) in Scarborough be here:
And not here:
We will never look back on this decision and wonder what the hell we were thinking. /s
KhalilHeron
Active Member
Scarborough Centre would never have become so built up if it wasn't for the transit we built there. Development follows transit, and there is tonnes of land at Sheppard ripe for rezoning and new density. I'm not saying either option for where line 4 could go is ideal but while STC would serve residents better short term, while I think keeping it going along Sheppard is better for futureproofing the network, by springing up new development, and allowing for easier future extensions. My line 7 concept was also made to address the issue by better serving stc as well as sheppard