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:
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.
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.
At yesterday’s Commission Meeting of the TTC, the current state of the Sheppard LRT project was discussed. As reported on Steve Munro’s website, TTC staff reported that the EA document is now being considered by the Ministry of the Environment who had sought clarification on whether the Sheppard Subway was to be extended. Staff will formally recommend later in April that the LRT line come into Don Mills Station rather than ending at Consumers Road.
Whether the plan to take the LRT line all the way to Don Mills involves having it arrive at the same level as the subway, or at the mezzanine level remains to be decided. Given that the plans for the Finch LRT now involve coming east to Don Mills and going down Don Mills to the subway station, I suspect that a mezzanine level would be more conducive to a through-service for both the Finch and Don Mills lines.
The TTC has released a notice of study completion on the Sheppard East LRT for Transit City. You can view the document here. The decision about whether to have an LRT connection with the subway at Don Mills or to extend the subway to Consumers for the LRT connection has yet to be made.