Toronto LRT Information Blog

From the recent open houses held for the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT, the project page has the display panels available. I have also placed copies on this site: Part 1 (2.5 Mb), Part 2 (2.1 Mb), and Part 3 (1.1 Mb).

Steve Munro has a good breakdown and description of the details on his site, split into three sections:

• Part 1: Introduction & Western Segment
• Part 2: Keele to Warden
• Part 3: Warden to Kennedy & Tunnelling Options

One item of note is that the TTC is considering the use of a single bore tunnel where tunnel boring is to be used.

Double bore tunnels would have two 6 metre bores for the tunnel, but cut and cover box construction would be used at stations and in places where underground storage and crossover tracks are needed. Bored portions of the TTC subway system uses this method.

With a single bore, the diameter is 13 metres and two levels are created in the bore with one direction on the top and the other on the bottom. Stations are built within the bore itself, and room for crossover and storage tracks can be accommodated with a ramp between the levels. By eliminating the cut and cover construction mentioned above, this method of construction is less disruptive on the surface.

For those familiar with the SkyTrain in Vancouver, the portion downtown was built the former Dunsmuir railway tunnel. Unlike what the TTC is looking at, the Dunsmuir tunnel did not have a wide circular bore, but was only one track wide with high vertical clearance. This allowed a superstructure to be built to carry the westbound SkyTrain track. The Burrard and Granville Stations are located on the tunnel section and both have westbound (towards Waterfront) platforms on an upper level and eastbound on a lower level.

Another round of open houses for the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT will be held on:

• Monday June 15 at William Lea Room, Leaside Arena, 1073 Millwood Rd
• Wednesday June 17 at Eglinton Public School, 223 Eglinton Avenue East
• Thursday June 18 at Richview Collegiate, 1738 Islington Avenue
• Tuesday June 23 at York Memorial Collegiate, 2690 Eglinton Avenue West (at Keele Street)
• Wednesday June 24 at Beth Sholom Synagogue, 1445 Eglinton Avenue West (at Allen Road)
• Thursday June 25 at Don Montgomery Community Recreation Centre (formerly Mid Scarborough CC), 2467 Eglinton Ave East

The announcement for these can be read here (1.1 M file).

August 19 update: the presentation materials are are now available. Click here to see them (1.5 Mb).  I stopped by the open house in Leaside tonight and there was a good turn out. Steve Munro has written a good summary of the materials on his site, so I won’t post a repeat of what he had to say.

I did hand in comments encouraging flexible connections with the other TC lines (Jane, Don Mills, and Scarborough-Malvern) as eventually usage patterns will make certain interlining possibilities a necessity, at least during rush hours.

I also encouraged careful consideration of potential connections with GO transit near Weston Road (Georgetown line), Caledonia (Barrie line), and east of the 404 (Richmond Hill line). I strongly suspect that some, if not all, potential GO stations may become reality even before the LRT construction is completed.

Original post  and other update follows…

The first-round open houses for the EA on the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT will be held on:

• August 14 (Forest Hill Memorial Arena, 340 Chaplin Crescent)
• August 19 (Leaside Arena, 1073 Millwood Road)
• August 25 (Humber Valley United Church, 76 Anglesey Boulevard)
• August 27 (Don Montgomery Community Recreation Centre [Formerly the Mid Scarborough Community Centre] 2467 Eglinton Ave  East)

August 8 update: the city has added a fifth open house for this line. It will be held on:

• September 4 (Richview Baptist Church, 1548 Kipling Avenue, just north of Eglinton Avenue W.)

There has been a lot of buzz lately about what will happen with this Transit City line. Discussions on whether this line should have its tunnelled section built to subway standards have occurred, including on this blog (in this post about building the Sheppard East line to Don Mills).

Though their report has been delayed to the fall, Metrolink is pushing for some sort of metro line, either a full subway, or possibly an east-west crosstown extension of the Scarborough RT line (upgraded to ICTS ART Mark II cars). Steve Munro posted an entry on July 24 regarding these two views. In response to discussions around the ridership levels proposed for Eglinton, he posted another entry on July 27.

Now, in today’s Globe and Mail, John Barber writes today about how this bickering is getting us nowhere towards getting some form of rapid transit on this important line.