If the proposed RL tunnels are so deep, why does it have to follow surface streets outside the core? I’m thinking in particular of the 90 degree turn at Queen and Carlaw. Other cities don’t seem to constrain their subway lines to follow the streets above.

Queen and Carlaw is supposed to be part of the new core, also, they want to build the subway there because it's supposed to be an incentive for redevelopment.

We constrain them in the suburbs to follow streets to allow for streamlined surface connections. If the subway didn't follow Bloor and Danforth Avenues, or Yonge, many transfers would be impossible or extremely out of the way for many routes.

If DRL long is like a Spadina line then it could go diagonally in a straight line from the Danforth to Eglinton and Don Mills.

A major station in the middle could stop on Overlea at East York Centre and and an actual East York downtown could be built up around it.

I believe that's planned, and quite simply because they're tunnelling under the Don Valley.
 
All of which are about as bad as each other, and also, the distance between Eglinton to St Clair is about 3 km; one of the longest, if not, the longest section of uninterrupted subway line on the TTC.
You mean Eglinton West and St. Clair West? Yes.

It's always a great time to invest in noise-cancelling headphones. However, not all commuters can afford them.
 
When is that supposed to happen?
Assuming all goes to plan and they want to open it by 2025, 3 Years for tunnelling, 2 for station construction, so 2023-2024 ish. However, I think they’d start sooner. The DRL if I remember correctly won’t be as deep as the SSE and will use twin tunnels instead of a single bore, so potentially sooner.
 
Realistically, when can we expect shovels in the ground for the first phase?
I am going to say- when the dust settles after the general election in June of this year. I suspect that the relief line will figure prominently in the campaign. And if two parties are going to support it, then one way to differentiate yourself is to get the job done sooner.
 
Realistically, when can we expect shovels in the ground for the first phase?

My cynical view....given that subway construction is an exercise in politics, I'd predict it will only really become a political priority after they've built the extension out to Richmond Hill, crippling the existing lines and the whole system becomes a NYC style crisis. The problem with the DRL is that it doesn't generate votes as it goes through safe political territory, unlike extensions out to the edges. Once the politicians have truly broken the TTC, only then it will become a political priority as they run the risk of losing votes. Until then they'll simply continue to make themselves look like they're doing stuff with studies and EAs, but no actual money will get committed to construction.
 
My cynical view....given that subway construction is an exercise in politics, I'd predict it will only really become a political priority after they've built the extension out to Richmond Hill, crippling the existing lines and the whole system becomes a NYC style crisis. The problem with the DRL is that it doesn't generate votes as it goes through safe political territory, unlike extensions out to the edges. Once the politicians have truly broken the TTC, only then it will become a political priority as they run the risk of losing votes. Until then they'll simply continue to make themselves look like they're doing stuff with studies and EAs, but no actual money will get committed to construction.
It’s broken. We are there I have been losing employees for five years due to commutes they can’t take on a daily basis. Their complaints are delays and crushes on the subway. Women more often than men.
 
Last edited:
My cynical view....given that subway construction is an exercise in politics, I'd predict it will only really become a political priority after they've built the extension out to Richmond Hill, crippling the existing lines and the whole system becomes a NYC style crisis. The problem with the DRL is that it doesn't generate votes as it goes through safe political territory, unlike extensions out to the edges. Once the politicians have truly broken the TTC, only then it will become a political priority as they run the risk of losing votes. Until then they'll simply continue to make themselves look like they're doing stuff with studies and EAs, but no actual money will get committed to construction.

As someone who takes the University line downtown daily, wait times have doubled on most of my trips due to the Vaughan extension. Crowding has also worsened at St. George station. I fear for the day that the Yonge line extension (which people will actually ride on day 1, unlike the Vaughan one) opens, because the entirety of Line 1 will swamped at rush hour.

God have mercy on subway commuters in this city if the politicians don't get behind the Relief Line.
 

Back
Top