Hopkins123
Senior Member
Well then.
Do you guys think heavy rail from the airport to UTSC would have worked? Or the Eglinton Line heavy Rail from the Airport the Scarborough Center, where it links with Sheppard? Anyone want to take a wack at this?
Considering the pricetag for underground LRT section (~$400 million/km) and the fact the Etobicoke alignment will likely be grade separated, we probably did not save that much money going the light rail route over heavy rail and will face capacity issues if things like grade-separating the eastern section are not inevitably done.
The transitions from Kennedy Stn to Danforth Rd, Eglinton East to Kingston Rd, access to Guildwood GO Stn, Kingston Rd to Morningside, and access to UTSC campus should all be grade-separated ideally.
A fully grade-separated, 1000 riders per trip service is what we should have gotten with the minor stops (Ferrand, Pharmacy, Lebovic and Ionview) omitted. Big mistake what we are doing and if it weren't for cancelling contract fees I'd say we ought to push forward with a subway instead. Furthermore, it was always my understanding that this line would be designed to be upgradable to heavy rail if need permits.
If Crosstown as is costs $9.1 billion as is, add another $5-6 billion to the cost for full grade separation from Pearson to UTSC. $15 billion to never have to worry about capacity issues in the corridor again sounds reasonable to me.
So we can either act now while there's still time before the tracks and platforms are laid; or act later and risk shutting down an active line for over a two year period to do upgrades. But is the government even listening to transit advocates or are they still fantasizing over SmartTrack as some sort of DRL proxy?