Eglinton Ave. West with the rail lines (RIGHT) running north west across the street. With John Tory promoting his SmartTrack Line transit plan, homeowners on Brownville Ave, in the Eglinton Ave West and Weston Rd area might have a tunnel dug underneath their homes. The street is photographed on Oct 2 2014.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
City politicians will be asked to approve as much as $1.65-million more to study Mayor John Tory's signature transit proposal, with more analysis promised on a contentious section of the route and a financing strategy expected by the fall.
Mr. Tory campaigned on a pledge to piggyback onto provincial plans to expand GO rail service, adding a number of stations and a spur in the west end, and packaging the whole thing under the slogan SmartTrack. A report early Friday evening from Toronto's top bureaucrat presented a roadmap for pushing the project forward.
Among the angles to be explored, according to the report from city manager Joe Pennachetti, are trains on this route coming more frequently than four times an hour. During the mayoral campaign, Mr. Tory promised service every 15 minutes. The province's own plans promised only "up to" every 15 minutes.
Mr. Pennachetti's report also asks council to approve up to $1.65-million in funding for studies on Mr. Tory's plan, on top of $750,000 already approved. The new stretch of track in the west end is mentioned specifically as requiring additional analysis.
This portion, along Eglinton, has long been one of the most controversial parts of the project. Mr. Tory initially said that no tunnelling would be required but later acknowledged that the train would have to go underground at least part of the way. He would not say how much digging he believed would be necessary and during the campaign brushed aside a Globe and Mail analysis that concluded the tunnel distance would be at least 8.5 kilometres.
Also, how the train will make the turn westward, in the Mount Dennis neighbourhood, from the existing GO corridor to the planned spur along Eglinton was a major issue during the campaign. Mr. Tory promised not be demolish homes or run the train on the surface through local parks or other green spaces while mayoral rival Olivia Chow painted a bleak picture of a wrecking ball going through the neighbourhood. According to Mr. Pennachetti, public consultation in this area will be done in the late spring and early summer of this year.
Mr. Tory's plan is based on an existing provincial push to electrify the GO rail network and move to more frequent service. He envisions a line running on existing GO tracks from Markham, down to Union and then up to the west, before curving toward the airport area and ending in Mississauga.
According to Mr. Tory's campaign team, cost of the entire plan was pegged at $8-billion. He proposed that the cost be split equally between Ottawa, the provincial government and the city, which would fund its share through transit-related development.
The mayor has promised his plan would be operating within seven years, and a key element will be persuading the province to move quickly on electrifying the GO lines he needs. The regional transit agency Metrolinx has said that it hopes to complete electrification of the entire GO network in a decade.
The city report issued Friday evening asked for council backing to push the province to include in its plans the prompt electrification of the tracks and the additional stations Mr. Tory has promised.
The report also points to the importance of fare integration. Separately, earlier Friday, an initial stab at co-ordinating fares between GO Transit and the TTC was announced, offering local transit riders a cheaper way to use what has been, until now, a regional service. The pilot project will run for one year and could offer insight into how to mesh the two systems once Mr. Tory`s plan is on track.
Also this year, a report should come back to city hall by the fall on high-level cost estimates, a financing strategy and a service concept and business-case analysis of Mr. Tory's plan.
Oliver Moore