Three things I have thought about regarding ECLRT.
1. How can they award the contract for tunnelling when they have not decided what to do with the fill? I assume the General Contractor will have to do the tunnelling, lining and removal of fill. I guess none of those fancy plans are in consideration (fill in Allen, Islands in Humber) and the contractor will have to haul it outside of Toronto.
2. The cost of the extension to YYZ seems rather expensive. According to the One City plan – which the TTC Chair was involved with so I imagine may be somewhat accurate – the cost is $1.9B for 11 km ($170M/km). This is for a line that is 70% in the median and 30% elevated. The Canada Line in Vancouver was $110M/km (maybe $140M including inflation) for a line that was 60% buried and 40% elevated. Is that large cost all related to the station at YYZ?
3. The costs of the interchange stations seem very high since they are built under the existing subway lines. Maybe is would save money if a station was built immediately West of Yonge/Eglinton and another one immediately East of it. Passengers could go to the one terminal station and transfer by walking through the mezzanine level of the existing Yonge/Eglinton station to the other terminal station to continue their crosstown trip. In reality, most will probably transfer to the subway. This could be repeated at Eglinton West and Kennedy.