a) What density? Most of Queen is rather low density in comparison to streets like Front or Wellington or the waterfront.
b) Current road congestion will be significantly alleviated with the induction of the new streetcars. Beyond that, we don't need a multi-billion dollar subway to fix congestion. Simply re-designing the streetcar cracks could achieve the desired effect. For example, St. Clair style ROW would work just fine.
c) Not too far from the Bloor line means you are wasting money duplicating service. And it means you won't divert that many riders from Yonge-Bloor, the whole point of the project in the first place. As for not being too far from the CN Rail corridor...you can't be serious? It's way too far. And it gets even further away on the fringes of the core, making travel to/from current and future priority areas like Liberty Village, Bayfront, Don Lands, etc. more difficult.
I think real world practicality (cost, impact on operational considerations like speed, etc.) would exclude putting a kink like that in a line. Furthermore, most passengers are not necessarily destined for Union station. They are more likely travelling to destinations along Front or Wellington and could be better served by a subway dropping them off along that route, closer to their destination.
Good Feedback, thanks
Now, I'm admittedly NOT a Toronto resident; but more of a 'Weekend' resident as my partner lives in Torotno and I have spent the better part of the last 3-4 years in and out of Toronto (on avg, about 2-3 days/week in your awesome City).
My 'Queen Line' would also double as the 'Downtown Relief' line, which is why it connects to the Bloor & Danforth Lines in their respective areas.
I would argue that Queen, especially West, is very dense with population (maybe not tall buildings)--kinda like Montreal's Plateau, which I believe is Canada's most dense neighbourhood despite lacking any really tall residential buildings.
Also, it would serve the West Donlands/Corktown/Distillery areas which is just waiting to explode with population. Maybe not directly, but very close to. Hell, why not have the 'Queen Line' dip down a bit to serve the area better, then come back up? A lil compromise?
The Queens Quay/Lakeshore East strip could be serviced by the Malvern-Kingston Rd LRT.
I would also argue, as a Union Station Commuter/Anti-Commuter (meaning travelling
to Hamilton from Toronto in the AM... terrible idea, ps!) that commuters who get off at Union do indeed work in other parts of Toronto, not just the Downtown Core. So a stop @ Union would be necessary for two reasons;
i) Would give Commuters who work outside of the Core a chance to access the rest of the City, while not having to deal with the shoulder-to-shoulder BS (if you can even get on) we deal with now in the Central 'U';
ii) Would act as a general Downtown Relief Line, easing pedestrian/commuter-congestion at stations like Yonge/Bloor & St George (which is the whole reason for a DRL, no?)
If people want a Line along along the CN corridor, they can use the Lakeshore West LRT or Queens Quay/Lakeshore East LRT (in theory).
Edit: ALSO
b) Current road congestion will be significantly alleviated with the induction of the new streetcars. Beyond that, we don't need a multi-billion dollar subway to fix congestion. Simply re-designing the streetcar cracks could achieve the desired effect. For example, St. Clair style ROW would work just fine..
I'm not sure if vehicular congestion is the only problem in this area... infact on Fri night, while I was taking the Queen Streetcar, the driver had to get out of the streetcar about 3 times to get PEDESTRIANS out of the way. (not to mention the laying-of-the-horn the whole route).
If the Streetcar has ROW, that doesn't stop people from walking across it... especially in Parkdale where people are, well, let's just say a lil less 'obedient' or 'cognizant'of what's going on around them.
