44 North
Senior Member
An important addition to my previous post:
Looking at Metrolinx's Order-Of-Magnitude Cost Estimate for the SRT surface alignment, Metrolinx anticipated that construction related to the relocation of Kennedy Station would cost approximately $571 Million. The TTC claims this option is too costly, and that the large loop would be more cost effective. The TTC didn't specify exactly how large the loop is, but based on the distance measured in Google Maps, and the numbers in the report, it would be between 2 km and 3.5 km large. On the low end, tunnelling on the Scarborough Subway (not including stations) will cost around $300 Million/km*. So with this loop being at least 2 km large, under no circumstance would this loop be cheaper than Metrolinx's anticipated cost of $571 Million to relocate Kennedy Station, unless Metrolinx's estimate was way off the mark. Unfortunately, the TTC provided no explanation regarding why the Kennedy relocation would be more expensive than the loop.
*At some point recently, the TTC stated the cost of building tunnels without stations. Does anyone here recall what that was?
The TTC is claiming that the Kennedy Station relocation is too pricey to justify the SRT surface alignment, yet they've provided no justification for why it's too expensive, nor have they detailed what is wrong in the Metrolinx report. They then go on to recommend we spend at least an additional $1.7 Billion on an underground alignment compared to the Metrolinx option. The numbers aren't adding up, as explained above. There's something fishy about all this.
Well done. Something definitely feels off about this. Although there may be closed-door political motivations, perhaps it's less sinister or shady than it seems. With the talk on here of the "big bend" and Sheppard, then maybe Mlinx and TTC want to preserve the SRT corridor for a Sheppard extension. Or more specifically the 2km section between Stouffville GO and McCowan. It really makes no sense to abandon this corridor, but in such a scenario the elevated section will be rebuilt/reused, and the at-grade section will be cannibalized for GO - i.e little to abandonment. 2km is fairly sizable when one considers the distance between Don Mills and McCowan. That'd save a pretty penny.
Matt Elliott@GraphicMatt
1 hour ago
Since when can neighbourhood associations direct staff to study subway alignments? https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...liticians-push-big-bend-for-subway-route.html
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The residents around Pape/Gerrard have currently gotten the City to study an alternative alignment for the RL. It might prove fruitless, and the City/TTC kinda got themselves into that pickle, but there's some similarity.