Options weighed as Scarborough RT nears end of shelf life
Posted February 18, 2015 5:51 am.
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The aging Scarborough Rapid Transit (SRT) was crippled by mechanical problems this week, just the latest example of the unreliable service commuters in the east end have become used to.
Launched in 1985, the line was built to last 30 years, until the fall of 2015, but the alternatives are expensive and far from perfect.
“The SRT is definitely at the end of its shelf life,” said transit advocate Steve Munro.
“It has been at the end of its shelf life and nursed along just to keep it running. It’s actually the cheapest option for the next 10 years.”
The Scarborough subway extension is due to replace the SRT in that time, so the TTC has no choice but to keep the SRT operating at a cost of $13 million a year.
Also, starting this spring, upgrades will begin to extend the life of the system another 10 years.
The other options were to replace the six trains with 60 buses or the now-dead light-rail transit (LRT) line backed by David Miller’s administration in 2007 and quashed by Rob Ford’s in 2013.
If the original LRT plan had survived, the line would be almost complete.
“Politics absolutely played 100 per cent into that decision,” said Jean-Pierre Boutros, senior advisor to former TTC chair Karen Stintz.
Boutros is concerned there won’t be enough riders to warrant the added cost of a subway, which includes $75 million for wasted studies and broken contracts.
There was no service on the SRT on Tuesday because a “fatigue fracture” disabled a train near Midland Station during the morning rush hour.
