Guest post by CodeRedTO volunteer Thomas Dybowski

With a goal of improving regional transportation in Ontario, Metrolinx has introduced the GO Transit Electrification project which focuses on upgrading the GO rail system throughout the entire Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). The electrification process consists of transitioning away from presently diesel-powered GO trains towards the use of direct electrical supply as a new power source.

Some of the benefits offered by the electrification process include a rail system which has improved speed while also offering services in a wait time of 15 minutes or less. This includes fewer interruptions in addition to travel being enabled both ways throughout the entire day. In addition to the improvements, a potential development of 12 new stations may take place across the region, including 8 new locations in Toronto which would serve towards improving commuter access and convenience. These positive attributes may also serve as a way of mitigating some of the effects of congestion in cities by offering alternative travel choices. Additionally, electrification directly benefits the city’s environment and health through improvements towards air quality as a result of lower emissions being produced.

Proposed electrification of corridors in the GO rail network [Source]

Additionally, on June 15 the Ontario Government has introduced another option, of using hydrogen as a potential fuel source, describing it as a potential alternative based on its popular use in other metropolitan areas of the world. Hydrogen is explained as a safe and clean alternative which serves as an improvement from current practices towards both people’s and the environment’s health. With a goal of selecting the best course of action when improving the GO rail system, consideration for the use of hydrogen as a potential source will continue during the electrification project. Studies will continue to explore the source and its benefits in the later months of 2017.

Currently, the project is in the Transit Project Assessment Process (TPAP) which identifies the impact different aspects of developing the project may have through its development, while also focusing on implementing technical approaches to provide solutions towards issues. A series of 28 public meetings have already been held in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and are entering into their third round of discussions. This involves two phases already taking place during 2016 which focused on the different physical requirements associated with implementing the changes and the influence these changes may have on the local environment. Presently, consultations are in their third phase of the TPAP, which basis a review of all the information already heard from the public as well as more feedback with the purpose of generating an Environmental Project Review (EPR) which will then undergo public review.

To accommodate the Go Transit Expansion, additional implementation of infrastructure such as barriers would be used to shield areas which are visually impacted by the project, while also providing greater pedestrian safety from the rail system in places such as overhead crossings. Additionally, the project involves replacing bridges which are unfit for the new infrastructure, which would undergo construction to accommodate the necessary height clearance and barrier designs.

Some frequent issues discussed by the public involve the concern over the requirement of clearing a 7-meter distance of vegetation from the rail corridor, which intends to prevent any hazards towards the rail system. This includes problems which arise from the required removal of trees from resident’s private properties. Additionally, a frequent point of discussion involves the noise and vibration coming from the electrified trains, including issues with the train’s impact on people’s livability; especially in areas where corridors pass residential areas. One possible strategy proposed involves the use of 5-meter tall walls as shields to prevent noise disruption coming from the trains.

The project’s next steps involve focusing on completing the study by the end of 2017, which includes a public review from October to November and a review by the Minister until December. The goal of the project is to complete the construction process by 2025, whereby then service would become publicly available. The GO Transit Expansion will transform how rail systems operate in Ontario, with electrification working towards creating an improved transportation system for the years to come.

Thomas Dybowski is a student at the University of Toronto in the Urban Geography and City Studies program.

There’s a lot going on in the transit world – today we wanted to send an update on what we’re up to, and what’s going on around our region.

See below for updates on these topics:

• Light Rail Projects in Ontario
• Subway Projects
• SmartTrack and GO Regional Express Rail
• CodeRedTO and Allies
• Upcoming Events

Light Rail Projects in Ontario

Eglinton Crosstown LRT (Line 5)
Construction continues along Eglinton with tunneling on schedule and station construction getting closer. Major road traffic impacts will intensify over the next four years, which is common to all tunneled transit projects. Major extensions to the Crosstown have been proposed in 2016, including completing the original line to Pearson Airport in the west, and extending east from Kennedy station up to UTSC. These two extensions are not yet approved and funded, but appear to have significant political support. You can stay up to date by following @CrosstownTO on Twitter or at the link below.
Learn more

The Finch West LRT (Line 6)
Preparations and procurement continue with completion of the Environmental Assessment for the Maintenance and Storage Facility (MSF) required for the light rail vehicles (LRVs) that will bring faster, higher-capacity, and more predictable transit to northern Etobicoke. Construction is expected to begin in 2017, with the line opening in 2021. You can stay up to date by following @finchwestLRT on Twitter or at the link below.
Learn more

The Sheppard East LRT 
This project began construction in 2009 (to open in 2013) but was put on hiatus in 2010 by the provincial and municipal governments, and has not resumed construction. The provincial government stated in 2015 that construction would resume after the Finch West LRT opens, in 2021 at the earliest, with the line opening in 2025 at the earliest. Several members of Toronto City Council and MPPs at Queen’s Park continue to push against this project, and recent maps from city staff now omit the term “LRT” when mentioning Sheppard East Rapid Transit.

Mississauga’s Hurontario LRT was truncated in 2015 due to Brampton City Council’s vote to reject the fully-funded provincial project. The project is currently planned and approved to stretch from the Port Credit GO station to the corner of Hurontario and Steeles. This remains an active topic of advocacy and debate in the Brampton community.
Learn more

Hamilton’s LRT will run from McMaster University to the Queenston Traffic Circle with full funding from the provincial government, and continues its planning process, with procurement beginning in 2017, and construction in 2019.
Learn more

Kitchener-Waterloo’s iON LRT continues major construction, with its partner Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line reaching Cambridge residents and businesses (to be upgraded to LRT in future). Operations are expected to begin in 2017 – the first modern light rail line in Ontario!
Learn more

Ottawa’s Confederation Line LRT upgrade to its existing east-west BRT Transitway continues tunnel and station excavation and construction, and begins track construction this year. Operations are expected to begin in 2018.
Learn more

Heavy Rail Projects in Toronto

The Scarborough Subway Extension continues to evolve, with the Chief Planner’s office developing a modified plan which includes a subway connection from Kennedy Station to Scarborough Town Centre, but adds a new extension to the Eglinton Crosstown (Line 5) along Eglinton eastward to Kingston Road, then north toward the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus (UTSC). This addition would bring new rapid transit to southeast Scarborough and UTSC, which have never had approved and funded projects for their area in recent history.

CodeRedTO is participating in this project’s “Stakeholder Advisory Group” to contribute to the quality and effectiveness of this plan. It is fully funded but is not expected to open until the mid-2020’s at the earliest.

Seven different public meetings are being held February 16 to March 22 to discuss the project and hear from residents and businesses about their preferences. Learn more

The Relief Subway Line continues the planning process of corridor evaluation and future station location evaluation, with the recommended route exiting downtown near City Hall, then heading east to Queen and Broadview, then northeast toward Pape Station. This project has been proposed multiple times since the 1980’s as the subway network has become more congested, but has no committed funding. Completing the planning process now allows a faster start in future once funding has been identified.

CodeRedTO is participating in this project’s “Stakeholder Advisory Group” to contribute to the quality and effectiveness of this future line. This is considered a high priority expansion project, but no funding has been committed by the city, province, or federal government for it yet. Once fully funded, it could open approximately in 12-15 years.

Similar to the Scarborough project, seven different public meetings are being held February 16 to March 22 to discuss this project and hear from residents and businesses and community groups about their preferences and needs. Learn more

SmartTrack and GO Regional Express Rail: The original SmartTrack proposal from 2014 has been modified significantly as it moved from campaign idea to professionally-studied concept.

The western connection along Eglinton West to the Airport Corporate Centre (not the airport itself) is no longer seen as appropriate given technical and financial difficulties, and has been replaced with a proposal to extend the Eglinton Crosstown LRT (Line 5), which was part of the original Crosstown proposal and in fact already has a completed environmental assessment.

In the east, SmartTrack may terminate at or near Kennedy station in Scarborough, with northward expansion unclear at this time. The other Scarborough proposal mentioned above makes this a busy area to consider!

Similar to the subway projects, seven different public meetings are being held February 16 to March 22 to discuss this project and hear from residents and businesses and community groups about their preferences and needs. Learn more about RER and SmartTrack.

CodeRedTO and Allies

Continuing our work with Move The GTHA, we are contributing to a report on the State of Transit in the GTHA, specifically with regard to The Big Move, the 2008 plan which is now about halfway through its initial project period. Stay tuned in the next few months for this report and other evaluations of how we’re doing as a region and whether we’re catching up to where we need to be.

We are also participating in a project to support refugees coming to Toronto in accessing the TTC, with the help of members of TTCriders and other groups. We have also learned that new residents will receive pre-loaded PRESTO cards from the province to assist in accessing transit.

CodeRedTO is also participating in the Stakeholder Advisory Groups working with the Chief Planner’s office on the subway extension from Kennedy to the STC, and on planning for the future Relief subway line.

Last but certainly not least, CodeRedTO has also been contributing support and funding for local advocates across the GTHA, including some groups listed below. If your organization is working on transit issues please let us know and tell us how we can help!

Here are some other groups involved with transit projects and advocacy across the region:

• TTCriders, at www.ttcriders.ca
• Toronto Relief Line Alliance, at www.relieflinealliance.ca
• Scarborough Transit Action, at scarboroughtransitaction@gmail.com
• Etobicoke’s Northwest Transit Action, through Richard De Gaetano at rdegaetano@socialplanningtoronto.org
• Etobicoke’s Our Place Initiative, through Murray Foster at murray@ourplaceinitiative.com
• Fight Gridlock in Brampton, at www.fightgridlock.ca
• Hamilton LRT at www.hamiltonLRT.ca
• Kitchener-Waterloo Region’s TriTAG at www.tritag.ca

Each group has their own diverse set of opinions and goals, but we are all allies in the overall push for better transit options across Toronto and the GTHA.

Upcoming Events

The City of Toronto and the TTC are holding seven days of separate public meetings on SmartTrack, the Scarborough Subway Extension and the Relief Subway Line between February 16 and March 22, to hear from our communities about their needs and preferences for these projects. Locations and schedule:
http://scarboroughsubwayextension.ca/upcoming-public-meetings.html

Environmental Defence presents Sprawl Brawl: Transit vs Highways, on Thursday February 18th at 6:30pm at the University of Toronto’s Innis Town Hall, just south of the St George subway station. Panelists will include Ryerson’s Cherise Burda, Toronto transit historian Ed Levy, Pamela Blais of Metropole Consultants, and former Deputy Minister of Transportation Carol Layton, and the panel will be moderated by journalist John Lorinc.
Click here for more information and to register

Get involved!

CodeRedTO welcomes volunteers from across the GTHA (not just TO!) to represent our communities at public meetings, contribute to “behind the scenes” planning meetings, create new infographics and messaging for improved transit debates, and more. Get in touch! Also, if you have questions, please email info@coderedto.com at any time. We’ll do our best to help!

On June 18th, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Finance Minister Joe Oliver, and Toronto Mayor John Tory announced that the federal government would provide up to 1/3 of the construction cost of SmartTrack, up to $2.6 billion in 2015 dollars, should the city choose to build it and should the current party retain control of government in the federal election this fall. Other political parties have not yet confirmed their competing funding proposals.

CodeRedTO is an advocate for all forms of improved transit, and welcomes investment in public transit from the federal government, since all levels of government need to recognize the benefit of public transit to the entire GTHA and beyond. However, it’s important for governments to provide more than election promises and deliver on consistent, predictable funds for transit expansion and operation. Yesterday’s announcement is really just a campaign promise: elect us and we will give you these funds.

We also respect the expertise of our city planners and City Council’s authority to debate and decide what to build. SmartTrack and RER will be a useful part of the overall mix of public transit in Toronto, though the TTC’s first priority is a Relief Subway Line and it is a more developed plan than SmartTrack at the moment. We would hope that federal funding would be forthcoming to support whatever the City decides is best.

Click to learn more about the planning process for SmartTrack, RER, and the Relief Subway Line.

Recent conversations about upgrading transit in the GTHA have often included discussion of Brampton’s beautiful downtown – an historic Ontario city first incorporated over 160 years ago. This got us thinking about trams, light rail, and how surface rail has been used around the world for far longer than the cars and trucks that travel through Brampton’s downtown today.

Henry Ford’s Model T automobile, the first car in North America, began production in 1896. But several surface rail systems, mostly what we would call streetcars and trams, began operation long before then:

• 1862: Geneva, Switzerland
• 1863: Alexandria, Egypt
• 1865: Berlin, Germany
• 1869: Brussels, Belgium
• 1871: Bucharest, Romania
• 1872: Barcelona, Spain
• 1877: Rome, Italy

Over 80 surface rail systems opened before the Model T began production, including several in North America such as Toronto’s streetcar network.

However, the technology of modern light rail used today is quite advanced compared to some of those ancient systems, and LRT is fast becoming the transit mode of choice for improved coverage of medium-density areas such as Mississauga-Brampton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton, northern Etobicoke and Scarborough, and others worldwide.

Since 2000, 27 cities have launched new light rail – not streetcar – lines, including:

• Valparaiso, Chile
• Gold Coast, Australia
• Seattle, WA
• Phoenix, AZ
• Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
• Bergen, Norway
• Madrid, Spain
• Bucharest, Romania
• Jerusalem, Israel

We counted, and there are over 80 cities worldwide which run light rail systems as part of their public transit networks. And many of these cities are much older than Brampton, with far less space to work with. Soon Kitchener’s historic downtown will join them with light rail as well.

But can historic cities make light rail work? In fact they do, in pedestrian-, cyclist-, tourist-, and business-friendly ways:

Reims, France (founded 80 B.C.E.)

Grenoble, France (settled ~43 B.C.E.)

Brussels, Belgium (settled ~580 C.E.)

Vienna, Austria (settled ~500 B.C.E.)

Ghent, Belgium (first churches founded ~650 C.E.) (Note the wooden bridge structure)

Amsterdam, Netherlands (founded ~1300 C.E.)

Tel Aviv, Israel

The Colosseum in Rome

Click here to learn more about the Hurontario-Main LRT coming to Mississauga and Brampton
Click here to download this report in PDF format