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TTC: Bloor Danforth Line 2 West Extension(s)

As a cost saving measure, as opposed to a tunnel they could have the line travel in an elevated viaduct through the park strip (Stonebrook/Mississauga Valley) east of Hurontario up to Rathburn and turn west into the transit terminal then run in the hydro corridor back to the main line.

I made a map of the concept and added stations in that I would add to the line:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=204114471113008817376.0004aa2dacea7cf0697e8&msa=0&ll=43.588225,-79.626932&spn=0.057754,0.132093

Also, if the spur will be undergound or in a viaduct, it'll probably be using EMU technology which means it could essentially serve as a DRL West if it stops at Dundas West (Bloor) Station.
 
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Seeing as they're currently building a parking structure at Erindale and I believe one is planned for Cooksville as well, I don't foresee any plan happening that moves or eliminates those stations. And the path a tunnel would have to follow to connect all three stations would probably be under a lot of building, wind a lot, and be very expensive.

Until GO does a study to determine the optimal endgame for the Milton line vis-a-vis a possible diversion to Square One, I don't see it as a replacement for a Bloor extension.

Transferring at Kipling isn't exactly helpful for many people either. How many people live close to the GO stations? Especially if a Milton diversion to MCC causes the loss of other GO stations?

At the very least, an extension to Sherway in the meantime should be in the works.
 
Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
Seeing as they're currently building a parking structure at Erindale and I believe one is planned for Cooksville as well, I don't foresee any plan happening that moves or eliminates those stations. And the path a tunnel would have to follow to connect all three stations would probably be under a lot of building, wind a lot, and be very expensive.

Until GO does a study to determine the optimal endgame for the Milton line vis-a-vis a possible diversion to Square One, I don't see it as a replacement for a Bloor extension.

Transferring at Kipling isn't exactly helpful for many people either. How many people live close to the GO stations? Especially if a Milton diversion to MCC causes the loss of other GO stations?

At the very least, an extension to Sherway in the meantime should be in the works.
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They could run half (or whatever number) the trains down the old corridor and half via Square One. Then we wouldn't lose any stations but still gain the Square One spur.

Plus, if we elevate the spur line, it'd be cheaper than to extend the subway there and could be an interim solution until that happens.
 
As much as I'd love to see elevated bilevels trundling through the MCC/Cooksville area, doesn't sound very viable to me. Unless we spend billions upon billions to upgrade GO into an S-bahn to properly serve Mississauga. Even then I doubt it'll serve all of Mississauga's needs, just some of them.
 
Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
As much as I'd love to see elevated bilevels trundling through the MCC/Cooksville area, doesn't sound very viable to me. Unless we spend billions upon billions to upgrade GO into an S-bahn to properly serve Mississauga. Even then I doubt it'll serve all of Mississauga's needs, just some of them.
Click to expand...

The S-Bahn like service I think is the key to serving Mississauga. With that type of service, the need for a Bloor-Danforth subway extension drops dramatically. With that type of service in place, I think that a combination of LRT and BRT on select corridors (connecting to the GO service) would do wonders.

You could electrify the entire Milton line from Union to Milton for the same cost as extending the B-D subway from Kipling to MCC, and the former would benefit a hell of a lot more people.
 
gweed123 said:
The S-Bahn like service I think is the key to serving Mississauga. With that type of service, the need for a Bloor-Danforth subway extension drops dramatically. With that type of service in place, I think that a combination of LRT and BRT on select corridors (connecting to the GO service) would do wonders.

You could electrify the entire Milton line from Union to Milton for the same cost as extending the B-D subway from Kipling to MCC, and the former would benefit a hell of a lot more people.
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I agree. Maybe the only thing that is better about the subway is that's it's cheaper.
 
Why would an S-Bahn-style system in the corridor cost billions upon billions? I'm sure Anglo-American transit planners will find a way, but it's a pretty simple project. Upgrade signalling for high frequency service. Acquire at least two tracks of the corridor. Electrify the line. Acquire new, more modest rolling stock. That's pretty much it. There's no tunnelling involved, other than the diversion from Cooksville to MCC itself. If we follow global best practices, there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to build it for less than $1.5 billion at most--excluding the cost of the diversion.

Erindale could easily be served by a station on the north side of the 403 at Creditview, which also could be an interchange point with the 403 busway. Cooksville would be served with an underground station, and MCC would be served with two stations: one on the northwest side of Square One and one just south of Hurontario and Burnhamthorpe.
 
There is a need for a new tunnel/fly-over and bridge at the Humber, which will cost ~$500m without any other improvements. The 2009 Feasibility Study, showed a cost of $1.5 billion just to have all-day service on the line, let alone electrifying or replacing the whole rolling stock. I'd say $4 billion is a more realistic figure for the Milton corridor.
 
unimaginative2 said:
Why would an S-Bahn-style system in the corridor cost billions upon billions? I'm sure Anglo-American transit planners will find a way, but it's a pretty simple project. Upgrade signalling for high frequency service. Acquire at least two tracks of the corridor. Electrify the line. Acquire new, more modest rolling stock. That's pretty much it. There's no tunnelling involved, other than the diversion from Cooksville to MCC itself. If we follow global best practices, there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to build it for less than $1.5 billion at most--excluding the cost of the diversion.

Erindale could easily be served by a station on the north side of the 403 at Creditview, which also could be an interchange point with the 403 busway. Cooksville would be served with an underground station, and MCC would be served with two stations: one on the northwest side of Square One and one just south of Hurontario and Burnhamthorpe.
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Disagree on a number of things.

The cost to take the line to MCC would be over $500 million and that has to be added to the current cost of $1.2B if you are tunneling and that based on a short section. The longer the section, more it will cost. Even to get to the 403 ROW you will need either a bridge over the 403 or a tunnel.

Where are you going to put a station north of the 403 that has next to no access to that area, but most of all, it has no transit connection? No Transit connect is a huge NO, NO considering what Erindale Station see today.

Electrifying the line, you are looking a $4 million per km for 2 tracks alone. Add in the cost of the rolling stock at $3 million per car. You need a few sub stations at $5-$7million each.

I just shot your $1.5B price tag to shit.

I have no issue now of taking a branch line off the mainline to MCC, but it has to be an addition to the existing line.
 
There needs to be ban on high density development in Mississauga, especially in MCC. It's bad enough they allowed so high density along Hurontario that it legitimized $1.2 billion for an LRT - money that arguably should be spent downtown, where it is needed - but billions more spent on a subway or underground S-Bahn diversion of the Milton would just be insult to injury for downtown residents.
 
doady said:
There needs to be ban on high density development in Mississauga, especially in MCC. It's bad enough they allowed so high density along Hurontario that it legitimized $1.2 billion for an LRT - money that arguably should be spent downtown, where it is needed - but billions more spent on a subway or underground S-Bahn diversion of the Milton would just be insult to injury for downtown residents.
Click to expand...

You must be on some kind of new unknown drug because that is *by far* the most idiotic thing i've ever heard on these forums...

Please tell me that is some kind of twisted sarcasm joke?
 
I will add to the 'could you come up with a stupider idea' sentiment that is currently going around. That has to be the most backwards thinking I have seen in this forum. Has Rob Ford taken over Doady's account?
 
drum118 said:
Disagree on a number of things.

The cost to take the line to MCC would be over $500 million and that has to be added to the current cost of $1.2B if you are tunneling and that based on a short section. The longer the section, more it will cost. Even to get to the 403 ROW you will need either a bridge over the 403 or a tunnel.

Where are you going to put a station north of the 403 that has next to no access to that area, but most of all, it has no transit connection? No Transit connect is a huge NO, NO considering what Erindale Station see today.

Electrifying the line, you are looking a $4 million per km for 2 tracks alone. Add in the cost of the rolling stock at $3 million per car. You need a few sub stations at $5-$7million each.

I just shot your $1.5B price tag to shit.

I have no issue now of taking a branch line off the mainline to MCC, but it has to be an addition to the existing line.
Click to expand...

I agree that it would take much more than $1.5B. I also don't think that diverting the Milton line to MCC is a cost-effective idea. From a density perspective, it would be much better to simply grow the high density development at MCC south towards Cooksville. Have the Eglinton LRT and the Hurontario LRT run along the stretch of LRT between Cooksville and the 403, in order to handle the increased passenger volumes along that corridor.

While I don't believe that it will be cheap, I still think that electrifying, or S-Bahnifying* the current GO network should be the top regional priority. The only local projects that should be proceeding at the same time as this are the DRL, Eglinton, and Hurontario. That's it. Anything else can go AFTER the electrification is completed.

It may take ~$10B (just pulling a rough number), but I think it's the best $10B we can spend at this point. I think we'd find that it would make a lot of the local transit projects we're currently proposing redundant, or at the very least reduce their capacity requirements.

*Trademarked to gweed123
 
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