SmartTrack (Proposed)

[Nadnev]

Wow - looks like there might be some life still left in St Clair-Old Weston Station. An open house is happening in a couple of weeks.

 

[nfitz]

If it's now only a UP station, is it Smartrack anymore?

 

[Jonny5]

Apparently the City spent almost $100 million to design stations that will no longer exist.

In confidential documents seen by the Star shows that roughly $97 million has been spent on stops at King-Liberty and Finch-Kennedy that were indefinitely deferred in 2024.

Metrolinx and the city spent millions on SmartTrack stations that may never be built, documents reveal

In confidential documents seen by the Star shows that roughly $97 million has been spent on stops at King-Liberty and Finch-Kennedy that were indefinitely deferred in 2024.

www.thestar.com

 

[TwoWheelPoli]

Apparently the City spent almost $100 million to design stations that will no longer exist.

Metrolinx and the city spent millions on SmartTrack stations that may never be built, documents reveal

In confidential documents seen by the Star shows that roughly $97 million has been spent on stops at King-Liberty and Finch-Kennedy that were indefinitely deferred in 2024.

www.thestar.com

And to think there are rumours of John Tory announcing his bid to return to the Mayor's office as early as this week! He needs to be grilled constantly over SmartTrack which has to be the biggest transit scam in Toronto's history!

Since Bloor-Lansdowne was never part of the original SmartTrack alignment and St Clair-Old Weston becoming UP only, that leaves East Harbour as the only true SmartTrack stop remaining.

 

[crs1026]

I am increasingly worried that too little is being spent at Liberty - not from the perspective of delivering that station quickly, but just futureproofing the site now for eventual construction - before all the work on the Kitchener and Barrie corridors gets done.
I can foresee that just when GO is ready to really perform on those lines, the money will finally be found for Liberty and that project will be a choke point with weekend closures, tracks out of service for long periods, etc.
I wonder if an extra $50M spent now, while other parts of the line are being worked on, might grease the eventual effort.
Alternatively, maybe the project should simply be declared abandoned and we move on.

- Paul

 

[innsertnamehere]

With Exhibition getting subway service now I admit that Liberty is less valuable than it once was - but it would still be useful to improve access to the large amount of employment in Liberty Village for commuters.

 

[adys123]

With Exhibition getting subway service now I admit that Liberty is less valuable than it once was - but it would still be useful to improve access to the large amount of employment in Liberty Village for commuters.

I'm thinking it would be great at getting people out of the City, as it would have a direct interface with the King Streetcar. I know it would be useful for me to get to Brampton that way without further detours.

 

[Northern Light]

I am increasingly worried that too little is being spent at Liberty - not from the perspective of delivering that station quickly, but just futureproofing the site now for eventual construction - before all the work on the Kitchener and Barrie corridors gets done.
I can foresee that just when GO is ready to really perform on those lines, the money will finally be found for Liberty and that project will be a choke point with weekend closures, tracks out of service for long periods, etc.
I wonder if an extra $50M spent now, while other parts of the line are being worked on, might grease the eventual effort.
Alternatively, maybe the project should simply be declared abandoned and we move on.

- Paul

This news item was also posted in GO Construction, and I commented there.....

GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

That isn't what the notice says... Don't think they are burying the 230 kV lines from Pickering NGS. There are local lines in the area (pictured below). The notice also states they will bring the lines to the rail corridor. Again, this has nothing to do with the high-voltage feeder lines from...

urbantoronto.ca

 

[robmausser]

Apparently the City spent almost $100 million to design stations that will no longer exist.

Metrolinx and the city spent millions on SmartTrack stations that may never be built, documents reveal

In confidential documents seen by the Star shows that roughly $97 million has been spent on stops at King-Liberty and Finch-Kennedy that were indefinitely deferred in 2024.

www.thestar.com

This frustrates me on multiple angles because I actually think the stations that they did spend the money on are super useful and a good idea. I'm more pissed that 1. The city is paying for them, and 2. They were planned to cost so much for a simple outdoor station, and 3. They were deferred.

These should have been paid for by the province and they shouldn't cost so much in the first place. But apparently a 3km bike trail will cost $250 million now, so what do I know.

 

[Bojaxs]

I'm ready for the smoke.

Toronto needs to build more subways/ metros that offer better & more connections to exisiting GO stations in Toronto.

Not adding more GO stations in Toronto and extending people's commutes on the GO trains.

Electrification of the GO lines isn't happening anytime soon.

EDIT: It definitely sucks that millions of our tax dollars have already been squandered on this foolish transit proposal.

 

[Amare]

This frustrates me on multiple angles because I actually think the stations that they did spend the money on are super useful and a good idea. I'm more pissed that 1. The city is paying for them, and 2. They were planned to cost so much for a simple outdoor station, and 3. They were deferred.

These should have been paid for by the province and they shouldn't cost so much in the first place. But apparently a 3km bike trail will cost $250 million now, so what do I know.

I agree with all 3 of your points.

But unfortunately when you have the worst negotiator in John Tory, who literally put his hand up and offered to pay for his idiotic Smarttrack fantasy, this is the end result. Let's not forget, this is the same clown who offered and took the Eglinton West LRT extension off the province's hands to pay for it in full (until the province reversed it).

Our politicians dont know what the hell they are doing, and they one of the prime reasons for all these unnecessary cost escalations.

 

[Vortex112]

I'm ready for the smoke.

Toronto needs to build more subways/ metros that offer better & more connections to exisiting GO stations in Toronto.

Not adding more GO stations in Toronto and extending people's commutes on the GO trains.

Electrification of the GO lines isn't happening anytime soon.

EDIT: It definitely sucks that millions of our tax dollars have already been squandered on this foolish transit proposal.

I don’t understand this point of view. What this amounts to is no matter how good the GO network gets and how much Toronto expands its subway and streetcar network everyone MUST transfer at Union station to circulate into downtown. Union is already problematically choked.

How is a few extra minutes travel time not worth the huge ridership growth of another station within downtown? We should be doing everything possible to encourage ridership growth of GO. Not making sure every commuter from Barrie an KW have the fastest commute possible.