Elevated Rail Lines Floated As Possible Transit City Alternative
Posted December 21, 2010 3:46 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A potential transit compromise between the mayor’s office and Metrolinx is looking up, literally.
Metrolinx brass met with members of Rob Ford’s team and the new TTC Chair Karen Stinz Tuesday to discuss the future of public transit in the city after the mayor announced he wants to scrap the light-rail Transit City plan in favour of subways.
By announcing the “war on the car” is over, Ford made it clear he doesn’t want future transit projects to impede current vehicle flow on the roads. The Transit City plan called for the construction of 120km of light rail surface routes.
On Friday Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig proposed a way to save the Transit City plan by constructing the rail lines above ground in spots where roads aren’t wide enough to accommodate light rail vehicles.
The Transit City plan – which Toronto was still building as of late November – called for the construction of light rail transit (LRT) lines across the city, including priority lines on Finch Avenue West, Sheppard Avenue East, an Eglinton crosstown route and the Scarborough RT.
The mayor may reportedly be willing to move ahead with the plan to build an underground LRT across Eglinton.
Ford campaigned on a promise to complete the Sheppard line as a subway route with 10 stations between Downsview and the Scarborough Town Centre at an estimated cost of $3 billion. He also vowed to extend the Bloor-Danforth subway line to connect to the Sheppard line. He estimates that will cost $1 billion.
The cost of building an elevated rail line is cheaper than tunneling.
Earlier this month, TTC General Manager Gary Webster said a revised transit plan should be ready by about the end of January.
