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SmartTrack (Proposed)

Metrolinx is clearly going to balk at spending such an obscene amount of money to tunnel through suburban Etobicoke. I bet the extension of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT from Mount Dennis to the airport is going to get bumped up in the timeline instead.
 
Adjei said:
1.3 billion for extending the Eglinton LRT vs 3 to 5 billion for this boondoggle....What should we choose?
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I'd like to see how they got $1.3 billion for extending the Eglinton LRT on the surface only 8 km to Renforth. Metrolinx priced this at $467 million in 2010$ when they deferred this to Phase 2. Their option on extra vehicles is $4.3 million per car, and an 8-km extension of the 19-km line would require 32 more cars if you assume that they'll have the same number of cars (despite the much lower ridership west of Jane) - so another $137 million.

That's about $600 million in 2010$. What's the other $700 million for? That's a lot of inflation!
 
nfitz said:
I'd like to see how they got $1.3 billion for extending the Eglinton LRT on the surface only 8 km to Renforth. Metrolinx priced this at $467 million in 2010$ when they deferred this to Phase 2. Their option on extra vehicles is $4.3 million per car, and an 8-km extension of the 19-km line would require 32 more cars if you assume that they'll have the same number of cars (despite the much lower ridership west of Jane) - so another $137 million.

That's about $600 million in 2010$. What's the other $700 million for? That's a lot of inflation!
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Maybe its for an enhanced option like Metrolinx was floating to Smarttrack, aka, elevated or trenched.
 
robmausser said:
Maybe its for an enhanced option like Metrolinx was floating to Smarttrack, aka, elevated or trenched.
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That must be the case. This would be shorter than Finch or Sheppard, with no carhouse. No way could it cost that much unless they are looking at something vastly different from the approved version. Let's remember the whole St. Clair project including scope creep was 100 million.
 
John needs to give up his little pony dream and let Metrolinx build out RER; it's like the guy is in-denial with himself. I'm curious to know how he's going to spin this once the true details are released to the media.
 
Amare said:
John needs to give up his little pony dream and let Metrolinx build out RER; it's like the guy is in-denial with himself. I'm curious to know how he's going to spin this once the true details are released to the media.
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My view is that this is all part of the dance, and that Tory knew full well his ST West plan didn't work. He wanted a Crosstown West extension re-prioritized (for reasons unknown), improved upon (i.e more grade-separation), and for TO to study/finance it (even though it should be the Prov). But he also didn't want to be seen as the candidate endorsing LRT or anything related to Transit City. This is part of the reason why he gave us a plan that didn't work or make much sense...so that we could ultimately support Plan B (an improved upon Crosstown West extension, which was really Plan A all along).

At the end of the day, SmartTrack really seems to be Toronto helping to support/finance a Crosstown extn to Sauga and Stouffville RER to Downtown Markham. IOW no unified cross-city line, no different service level. Just these two separate projects.
 
44 North said:
My view is that this is all part of the dance, and that Tory knew full well his ST West plan didn't work. He wanted a Crosstown West extension re-prioritized (for reasons unknown), improved upon (i.e more grade-separation), and for TO to study/finance it (even though it should be the Prov). But he also didn't want to be seen as the candidate endorsing LRT or anything related to Transit City. This is part of the reason why he gave us a plan that didn't work or make much sense...so that we could ultimately support Plan B (an improved upon Crosstown West extension, which was really Plan A all along).

At the end of the day, SmartTrack really seems to be Toronto helping to support/finance a Crosstown extn to Sauga and Stouffville RER to Downtown Markham. IOW no unified cross-city line, no different service level. Just these two separate projects.
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That's generous. My view is that Tory (or his handlers) was handed the SRRA report by his corporate buddies that wanted to connect their lands in Mississauga, South Riverdale, and Markham and branded it SmartTrack. Tory is stubbornly sticking with SmartTrack, like he stuck to police carding until many of his fellow privileged white people spoke out against it.

But hey, if it does end up giving us a beefed up Crosstown LRT extension that's faster than what was originally planned for west of Mount Dennis, I'd be happy.
 
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ShonTron said:
That's generous. My view is that Tory (or his handlers) was handed the SRRA report by his corporate buddies that wanted to connect their lands in Mississauga, South Riverdale, and Markham and branded it SmartTrack. Tory is stubbornly sticking with SmartTrack, like he stuck to police carding until many of his fellow privileged white people spoke out against it.
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Yup. Steve Munro talked about this many times, including today on twitter. This man truly tells it like it is.

@SwanBoatSteve: . @JohnTory Fact: SmartTrack's original purpose was to improve access to suburban land for development outside TO.


And I bet his Gardiner hybrid preference that he so desperately wanted had a lot to do with butt-kissing developer First Gulf, who is supposed to help enable his cockamamie Tax Increment Financing scheme for Smart Track by developing the Unilever site.
 
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