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I'm getting my numbers from Metrolinx's quarterly report released this week for spending through the end of 2025.

I'm not sure where you are getting your numbers - but looking at Metrolinx's numbers, it appear you have used the cost to build what they've built to date PLUS all the O&M spending for decades into the future!

Why not use the current costs for construction, rather than all the future costs?

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I'm still in awe at how expensive SSE is...unlike crosstown that figure i assume doesn't include new trains and operation is handled and funded by the ttc i presume so wouldn't be included here either? Its only meant to have three stations that appear to be nothing special architecturally....why the hell is it so expensive, seriously
 
Are we pretending it didn't take nearly 15 years for line 5 to be built?
No, but the same level of PPP/Metrolinx incompetence can only hinder. Which is why I added 20+ for MX. For sure, we *could* do it faster, but the same people claiming the upper governments would pay for it are the same people who forget that they do things poorly.

If we want subways built quickly, it would mean the feds and the province would have to fork over money with little input and keep at arms length. And with so many photo ops and campaign stump points, that’s not going to happen in our lifetimes.
 
lol: Forest Hill residents may be wondering why the entrance on the south side of Eglinton isn’t open. That’s because it’s not even connected to the station underground yet.

Station manager says the condo developer is still negotiating about the fare gates(?) so they haven’t even broken through the wall to connect to the station. Here is the section of where the entrance is supposed to connect.

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Wow. You literally can’t make this sh*t up.
 
No, but the same level of PPP/Metrolinx incompetence can only hinder. Which is why I added 20+ for MX. For sure, we *could* do it faster, but the same people claiming the upper governments would pay for it are the same people who forget that they do things poorly.

If we want subways built quickly, it would mean the feds and the province would have to fork over money with little input and keep at arms length. And with so many photo ops and campaign stump points, that’s not going to happen in our lifetimes.
I truly do hope that Metrolinx learns from and gains some expertise in subway/transit lines building and the process of building more/extending existing improves into the future
 
On the latter, he links to a piece by Scarborough activist, past and possible future candidate for Council, Kevin Rupasinghe, here:

One note on Rupasinghe's suggestion for the southbound DVP off-ramp. If you banned/blocked left turns, I feel like it would be faster for cars to get off at the Wynford exit, rather than performing a U-turn at Gervais.

Screenshot 2026-02-10 at 7.22.17 AM.png


Screenshot 2026-02-10 at 7.23.37 AM.png

You'd save 1.1 km in distance travelled, and avoid both the Gervais light and the Wynford station crosswalk light (and the northbound off-ramp light he wants to eliminate). You'd hit the Wynford exit light, the Wynford/Concorde light and the two Wynford/Eglinton lights, but perhaps those could be synchronized so you only hit one or two.

This route is also shorter than the existing left onto Eglinton from the DVP off-ramp, though I haven't timed what the comparison is.

Screenshot 2026-02-10 at 7.43.20 AM.png


My apologies if this has been noted before. I couldn't find anything recent in a UT search.
 
I'm still in awe at how expensive SSE is...unlike crosstown that figure i assume doesn't include new trains and operation is handled and funded by the ttc i presume so wouldn't be included here either? Its only meant to have three stations that appear to be nothing special architecturally....why the hell is it so expensive, seriously

Metrolinx is responsible for the cost of net new trains for SSE, 7 of them. These are currently structured as an optional add-on to the TTC Line 2 train contracts along with 7 trains for the YNSE. I assume they are in the Mx budget, but I don't know that.
 
One note on Rupasinghe's suggestion for the southbound DVP off-ramp. If you banned/blocked left turns, I feel like it would be faster for cars to get off at the Wynford exit, rather than performing a U-turn at Gervais.

View attachment 714327

View attachment 714328
You'd save 1.1 km in distance travelled, and avoid both the Gervais light and the Wynford station crosswalk light (and the northbound off-ramp light he wants to eliminate). You'd hit the Wynford exit light, the Wynford/Concorde light and the two Wynford/Eglinton lights, but perhaps those could be synchronized so you only hit one or two.

This route is also shorter than the existing left onto Eglinton from the DVP off-ramp, though I haven't timed what the comparison is.



My apologies if this has been noted before. I couldn't find anything recent in a UT search.

There's a discussion a few pages back ( Ha!, over 1,200 posts ago, and it was only early January) noting that the interchange at DVP actually had additional clover leaves in the remaining corners that could, in theory, be revived. Those make for lousy pedestrian and cycling conditions for people crossing fast moving traffic.

***

That discussion starts about here.

 
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One note on Rupasinghe's suggestion for the southbound DVP off-ramp. If you banned/blocked left turns, I feel like it would be faster for cars to get off at the Wynford exit, rather than performing a U-turn at Gervais.

View attachment 714327

View attachment 714328
You'd save 1.1 km in distance travelled, and avoid both the Gervais light and the Wynford station crosswalk light (and the northbound off-ramp light he wants to eliminate). You'd hit the Wynford exit light, the Wynford/Concorde light and the two Wynford/Eglinton lights, but perhaps those could be synchronized so you only hit one or two.

This route is also shorter than the existing left onto Eglinton from the DVP off-ramp, though I haven't timed what the comparison is.

View attachment 714329

My apologies if this has been noted before. I couldn't find anything recent in a UT search.
I timed it using Google maps directions, which actually suggest the Wynford exit is faster, at least during the morning rush.

Screenshot 2026-02-10 at 8.27.02 AM.png
 
I've seen some decent train operations from Line 5 on the surface so far, but this video here was just bad,
  • Signals that changed to red just as the train was arriving or ready to go, even while the vehicle signals remained green,
  • Burned a green signal at Golden Mile, there appeared to be a malfunction that caused them to wait,
  • Foot prints from people walking on the tracks, and a pedestrian trying to get off the wrong end of the platform,
  • Passengers waiting at the wrong end of the platform that probably weren't able to get on in time, they need to fence off the unused ends or install railings especially if passengers enter from that end.
  • Several buses passing.

A lot of bad luck here

These issues can be fixed, it's really an issue of proper signal priority that can give each train a green light 9 times out of ten, not just "more aggressive priority".
 
This got me curious as to both stations depths. Highway 407 is 21.1m deep and Avenue crushed the record with 32m. This record will be smashed again when Queen Station opens on the Ontario Line at a depth of 45m. And like the previous record, it may not be able to enjoy being the deepest for long as Royal Orchard Station on the Yonge North extension is proposed to be 50m deep!

For reference, the deepest station in the London Underground is Hamstead Station at a depth or 58.5m and the U.S.'s record is 79m at Washington Park Station in Portland. Then there's the deepest in the world - located at Hongyancun Station in Chongqing in China at 116m.

/waste of everyone's time
The station depth conversation reminds me of the time I visited St. Petersburg, Russia. Now that is a deep metro system. Due to something to do with ground waters, they built it at astonishing depths. The deepest station there is 86 meters below the ground. Not sure if I've been at that exact station, but the entire metro system there seemed equally deep. And all the stations are served by a single continuous escalator run from the top all the way to the platform. The escalator tunnels are so long and narrow, they seem to come to a single point off in the distance. Oh, the vertigo you get there....

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image source
 
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If what they have in common is the propulsion, then they are basically the same vehicle.
???????

Have you seen a photo of the Vienna Flexities? The entire vehicle design would have had to be done up from scratch. That kind of engineering costs money and takes time and is usually (though not always) different from city to city, hence why they are considered bespoke designs, even if they happen to share propulsion systems.
 
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On Monday, there was a man waiting for the 32D Eglinton West bus on Emmett Avenue. Had to tell him that the 32D is dead, kaput, gone, no longer in service, replaced by the 73B (and Line 5), etc..

Later in the day during rush hour, also noticed people waiting on Eglinton Avenue for a bus that comes every 10 to 20 minutes as the 34 Eglinton. Don't people listen or watch the news? Don't people read the notices at the bus stops?
 

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