Toronto LRT Information Blog

At its meeting of May 17, 2010, the City of Toronto Executive Committee recommended that Toronto City Council approve the Scarborough Rapid Transit (SRT) project with an underground service connection to the Sheppard Avenue East Maintenance and Storage Facility. Further details with a map showing the connection track are on this document.

The connection involves a single track in the middle of the tracks on Sheppard starting about half way between Washburn Way and Gateforth Drive and descending into a portal about half way between Gateforth Drive and the top platform for the connection. The converted and extended SRT will pass under Sheppard Avenue at this stop and the connecting track will form a wye with the east (northbound) track of the SRT.

Unfortunately, this connection design eliminates any possibility of future interlining between the two routes. The one thing that may be possible would be to allow out of service SRT trains to continue in revenue service along Sheppard as they head for the car-house, as they do in Melbourne.

The original concept of the Sheppard East LRT was for a surface median line from Don Mills to Morningside, estimated at $550 million in 2007 dollars. After the first round of public open houses, two substantial changes were added. The first was placing the line underground from Consumers Road to Don Mills station, and the second was an eastward extension of nearly 2.5 km to Meadowvale Road. These changes plus two years of inflation has brought the price-tag of this line up to $950 million, and this funding is secured.

One of the motions that city council will address today, is the following:

City Council request Metrolinx and the TTC to report back to the Scarborough Community Council by April 2010 on Scarborough Community Council’s position that the Sheppard East LRT will terminate at the Toronto Zoo. 

This extension makes sense. The zoo is a major trip generator that is within 2 km of the intersection of Sheppard and Meadowvale. I suspect that if approved, this would not hold up the rest of the line, but instead would be treated as a separate project that would need funding in place before it began. Hopefully, it could get such funding and be started before the current project is completed similar to the way the Bloor-Danforth subway extensions to Islington and Warden were begun before the line opened from Keele to Woodbine, and the way the Yonge North extension to Sheppard was underway when they added a further extension to Finch (though, due to delays with the initial project, it initially opened to York Mills and then to Finch).

The one thing with the current project that may be altered by an extension to the zoo is the alignment at Meadowvale. Instead of staying in a median on Sheppard all the way to Meadowvale, I can see an advantage with leaving the median a short distance west of Meadowvale and heading north to northeast towards the zoo. Considering that a maintenance facility may be built around there, having the alignment leave the median would provide a small benefit of having the connections to the facility off road.

The downside of this is that the stop at Meadowvale and Sheppard would not be there, but further west on Sheppard. Of course, there could be a separate branch to the intersection for when service does not need to go to the zoo, or when it need not go there as frequently.

End of day update: the motion before council about this extension was ruled out of order and was withdrawn. It was ruled out of order because the meeting’s purpose was to discuss funding of current city development. Thus, new proposals are out of order. This does not mean that new projects cannot happen, just that Thursday’s meeting was not the place to launch motions on them.

Construction has begun on the Sheppard East LRT. Well, no big shovels yet, but service markings have been underway for the first stages of construction, particularly relocation of some services from Kennedy over to McCowan.

An article in today’s National Post talks of this work.

The Sheppard East LRT site was updated yesterday to indicate that the recommended connection with the subway will be at platform level.

It remains to be seen how this effects the plans for connections with the Don Mills LRT given that the funding announcement for the Finch West LRT has it going as far east as Don Mills and down to Sheppard for a possible connection and through-service with the Sheppard East LRT. The announcement can be seen here.

May 16 update:

The idea of having the Finch West LRT come as far east as Don Mills and down to Sheppard was included in the April 1 funding announcement for that line. This effectively funds the piece of the future Don Mills LRT between Finch and Sheppard, and opens up east-west through-service routing possibilities, but there are a few issues that may be problematic:

• Finch Avenue is rather narrow between Bathurst and Bayview
• Having the line turn at Don Mills misses a major trip generator: Seneca College Newnham Campus
• An underground connection between Sheppard East and Don Mills would be needed (Don Mills would have been on the surface, and non-revenue surface tracks would be built between Consumers and Don Mills on Sheppard)

If the underground part of the Sheppard East line came in at the mezzanine level, it could somewhat easily connect with Don Mills, but coming in at the subway level makes this virtually impossible. The subway level is what is now preferred, as it will provide same-platform changes between the subway and the Sheppard East LRT.

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It was announced today at the TTC’s Hillcrest facility by Premier Dalton McGuinty and Prime Minister Stephen Harper that $950 million in funding, two thirds from the province and one-third from the federal government, is being provided for the construction of the Sheppard East LRT line.

While budget amounts for Transit City lines includes the cost of vehicles for these lines, the finalization of the order for 204 replacement vehicles for the legacy streetcar system is a prerequisite before vehicles for Transit City can be ordered. A funding announcement for the replacement vehicles is still pending.