I think this has been brought up before, but whats the cost differential between:
- elevating the Eglinton line between Laird and Kennedy + building the SLRT, vs
- Scarborough subway extension
A rough analysis:
According to Neptis, elevated LRT costs approximately $175 Million/km. The distance that would need to be elevated (Laird to Kennedy) is 8.5 km.
Elevated (Laird to Kennedy): 175 M * 8.5 km = $1,487.5 Million
The at grade portion of ECLRT is $55m/km. Since this structure will no longer be built, we need to subtract it from the total.
$1,487.5 M - ($55 M * 8.5 km) = $1,020 M
Finally, add the $1,800 M price of the SLRT.
$1,020 M + $1,800M = $2,820
The additional costs to elevate the ECLRT from Laird to Kennedy is approximately $2.82 Billion
The additional costs to build the Scarborough Subway is $3.52 Billion, $700 Million more than the Eglinton elevation option.
Of all the comparable alternatives that I've seen, including RER and SLRT + ECLRT elevation, the Subway has always come out as the most expensive option, at best providing an insignificant improvement in travel times, and at worst being slower than the more economical alternatives.