Transit Fantasy Maps

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Made this map of a possible line along the 407 railway corridor. I call it the North Toronto Line and would essentially be a cross region route connecting Durham, York, Peel, Halton, and Hamilton as well as every GO Line. Since the line crosses multiple boundaries and is so long it would be part of the GO network. What rolling stock it would use would be up for debate as I have seen some on here propose such a line use OL rolling stock and not GO EMU stock. I also included the Bolton and Midtown lines to show where a connection to them would be made if they were to be created before or after this line would be.

I view this line as being Toronto's version of the Musashino Line in Tokyo. It to is a long line that wraps around the northern periphery of the city connecting the various suburban communities outside of the core. It also connects various rail lines sprawling out of the city together in the suburbs and utilizes the JR Freight main line which freight trains use to get around the city since they are not allowed into the core anymore.

View attachment 401228

I have a similar plan, however I feel that it would be a mistake to not make the short detour to stop at the Pearson intermodal Hub. And I think you can safely split the line E/W at the airport and have the western portion interline with the Kitchener line.

 

[Bureaucromancer]

I have a similar plan, however I feel that it would be a mistake to not make the short detour to stop at the Pearson intermodal Hub. And I think you can safely split the line E/W at the airport and have the western portion interline with the Kitchener line.

The thing is that to make it work the way it really should you’d be looking at a 6 track row requirement all the way across given CN and CPs lack of enthusiasm for either each other or intense passenger service. At that point building in the 407 ROW and dedicating the railway lands to freight is probably cheaper, even setting aside that just 4 tracks for independent CN / CP is going to be physically difficult.

 

[ErieHall]

This map is actually by ericmacm, which he posted to Windsor's subreddit a few years ago. I don't think he's shared it here, but I stumbled upon it recently.

Windsor is pretty well laid out to benefit from a good rapid transit line or two. LRT is probably too much to ask, but even just a Tecumseh BRT could be pretty transformative.

Personally I would start with a Tecumseh line and rezoning all of the businesses along Tecumseh to allow for mixed use 5-over-1's.

 

[44 North]

Since we're on the topic of SW ON, I made this years ago. Basically took their official ugly-as-sin map and straightened it out, made it more real looking. Was quick so there's some naming errors.

 

[Bureaucromancer]

View attachment 405363

This map is actually by ericmacm, which he posted to Windsor's subreddit a few years ago. I don't think he's shared it here, but I stumbled upon it recently.

Windsor is pretty well laid out to benefit from a good rapid transit line or two. LRT is probably too much to ask, but even just a Tecumseh BRT could pretty transformative.

Personally I would start with a Tecumseh line and rezoning the all of the businesses along Tecumseh to allow for mixed use 5-over-1's.

I have thought more than once that a tunnel DMU service turning back to the airport at Walker Road could make a lot of sense, particularly if Detroit ever got it's shit together enough to start running theastoundingly obvious Michigan Central - Pontiac DMU + Michigan Central streetcar extension.

 

[Bureaucromancer]

A Niagara Falls streetcar/LRT came up in the GO thread earlier, and it actually doesn't look too bad to me if done on the cheap using mostly existing ROW:

Even taking it all the way to Chippawa doesn't look too bad, though it's definitely not quite as spectacular at hitting everything you might want to as on the north end:

 

[11th]

A Niagara Falls streetcar/LRT came up in the GO thread earlier, and it actually doesn't look too bad to me if done on the cheap using mostly existing ROW:
View attachment 413667
Even taking it all the way to Chippawa doesn't look too bad, though it's definitely not quite as spectacular at hitting everything you might want to as on the north end:
View attachment 413668

Seeing how it's mostly off-street, and considering the passenger volume, this is the perfect route for high floor LRVs.

 

[Bureaucromancer]

I'm not necessarily in love with high floor given the additional station infrastructure on what could be, for rail anyway, an incredibly low cost and impact project but this definitely looks like a pretty unique confluence of short length low cost and high (albeit very peaky) ridership.

 

[duffo]

Based on a recent official future TTC rapid transit map posted in the TTC (Other Items) thread, it is easy to imagine how the system might expand in the future to fill the gaps...

 

[JasonParis]

In a perfect world, I'd also interline Line 4 with Line 1 to York U. Plus take Line 6 east of Yonge to Seneca's Newnham campus. The western leg of the Ontario Line is also quite debatable, but everything else here is very realistic I'd say.

 

[duffo]

What started as an idea of how to connect three major growth areas (Humber Bay, Six Points, and North York Centre) turned into somewhat of an Ontario Line extensions visioning exercise...

 

[macro]

Behold, the Halton LRT. The route would make use of the already existing hydro corridors through downtown Burlington and along Upper Middle Road. A new bridge would span across Bronte Creek, connecting both sides of Upper Middle. Route begins at Maple & Lakeshore in Burlington, and terminates at the 407 Trafalgar GO bus station. Trafalgar extension too because why not.

 

[Sunnyside]

Behold, the Halton LRT. The route would make use of the already existing hydro corridors through downtown Burlington and along Upper Middle Road. A new bridge would span across Bronte Creek, connecting both sides of Upper Middle. Route begins at Maple & Lakeshore in Burlington, and terminates at the 407 Trafalgar GO bus station. Trafalgar extension too because why not.
View attachment 420294

I like it. Do you see this as a more local service or a more well thought out version of the 407 regional “LRT”? With the way we plan transit here, Halton could certainly be a viable region for expansion in the coming decades so deciding what kind of transit it needs is a worthy discussion point.

 

[macro]

I like it. Do you see this as a more local service or a more well thought out version of the 407 regional “LRT”? With the way we plan transit here, Halton could certainly be a viable region for expansion in the coming decades so deciding what kind of transit it needs is a worthy discussion point.

Definitely more of a local service. Upper middle is so wide and runs through all the burl/oak suburbs north of the QEW so I’ve just always seen those corridors as wasted potential for people moving. The intersections at Maple/Lakeshore, Appleby/Upper Middle, and Trafalgar/Dundas are starting to become very dense with development and they are all pretty walkable. Connecting them all to the Lakeshore West line this way would link them to Toronto & Hamilton, while the 407 @ Trafalgar station would link them to Mississauga via the transitway.

 

[macro]

Here’s an example showing the corridor at Upper Middle & Appleby Line. Seems like a no brainer to use it eventually.