Toronto GO Transit: Davenport Diamond Grade Separation | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx
- Thread starter vic
- Start date
smably
Senior Member
That sounds promising. Thank you @Northern Light!
Towered
Senior Member
The province really should be paying for the Lansdowne GO station.
robmausser
Senior Member
How it got roped in with Smarttrack and the city paying for it Ill never understand. It was promised in exchange for the Davenport Grade Separation being elevated instead of a tunnel.
smably
Senior Member
Big thanks to John Tory for "SmartTrack", a concept that was transparently BS from the start, but gave the province cover to saddle the city with the cost of new infrastructure that they would have built and paid for had Tory not painted the city into a corner.
Amare
Senior Member
Exactly how I view the whole thing as well, Tory essentially put his hand up and offered to pay for stations which Metrolinx may have very well explored adding to the network had the city simply requested that Metrolinx add these stations in. It's the same stupid playbook he used with the Eglinton West LRT, he offered to pay for it and took it back into Toronto's hands until the province took over again and decided to tunnel it.
Heck one could argue all of Tory's playbook was painting the city into a corner, but hey at least hey didnt put his hand up and offer to pay for the Davenport Grade separation like he stupidly did for a lot of other transit projects he didnt need to.
reaperexpress
Senior Member
The proposed station has minimal regional or provincial importance, since it's south of Bloor, two blocks from the subway station.
It would technically be possible to transfer from Lansdowne GO to Lansdowne TTC but the distance means that most people would have other more convenient transfer locations like Downsview Park, Caledonia, Front or Union.
smably
Senior Member
To be fair, it'll be about the same distance as the current transfer at Bloor GO, but without a busy intersection to cross.
Of course, Bloor GO is getting a much better TTC connection soon, but I'd say it was an important station even without the indoor connection.
Of course, Bloor GO is getting a much better TTC connection soon, but I'd say it was an important station even without the indoor connection.
facepalming_brooklynite
Active Member
And to make the Barrie line useful for trips within the city, there really needs to be a stop somewhere between Union and Eglinton!
dullturtle06
Active Member
Yes for Lansdowne you can add an enclosed walkway like they did at milikin go across blood Street and the tunnel the walkway from there connecting it to the ttc.
duffo
Active Member
I think there's strong justification with the Lansdowne GO and all the development springing up around here, for a "PATH West" underground tunneled concourse which connects Dundas West station, Bloor GO, Lansdowne GO, and Lansdowne station. It's less than 1km across!
reaperexpress
Senior Member
Yeah, and the current transfer at Bloor GO is also a severe obstacle to transfers, hence:
Yes and those are local trips. The trains stopping at Lansdowne will hopefully be dedicated local trains (e.g. all stops to Aurora) so people travelling within the city don't unnecessarily slow down trips to other cities like Newmarket, Bradford and Barrie.
Though for travel within the City I'm not sure why we'd want the Barrie line to serve that role rather than Line 1 which exists specifically for that purpose and also connects to the Barrie line at both Downsview Park and Union. There are minimal passing opportunities planned along the Barrie line, so slowing down local trains on the Barrie line also means slowing down express trains.
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facepalming_brooklynite
Active Member
To create redundancy in the system? To create a more direct North-South route in the West that doesn't force people to detour through chokepoints at St.George or Union? And how do you know that people traveling from Barrie don't want to go to points along the Western part of the Bloor line?
This all seems obvious to me from a transit system perspective.
crs1026
Senior Member
That argument holds, but only if you give Line 2 a penultimate role in the city’s transit grid. It has held that role since 1966, sure…. but that is changing with Crosstown, Finch LRT, Spadina, and (if it were better) St Clair and (if weever extend it) Sheppard. Quite possibly, Downsview Park and Caledonia may be sufficient to give the Barrie Line east-west TTC connectivity. And Barrie Line riders may be reluctant to join the crowds on Line 2 once alternatives exist.
Commuter or regional rail lines elsewhere do not stop at every point where they cross higher order transit lines…. the transfer points are selective.
I’m not arguing against a Bloor station, I’m just pointing out that this particular station was justified as a concession to the local community so that they had access to the RER network (in consideration of the sacrifices they were making to that network’s construction - by absorbing the Davenport flyover - they deserved to benefit from it). That community already has access to Line 2, and making this a transfer point is irrelevant to that local community’s transit needs. Let’s remember why we are building it.
- Paul
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smably
Senior Member
And yet there has been a GO station there for 40+ years.
Also worth noting that the station won't just serve transfer traffic to Line 2. There's already over 10m sq ft GFA of development in the pipeline within a 1 km radius of the station. Plus another ~4m sq ft between the Galleria redevelopment and 980 Lansdowne. This isn't a station serving a sea of single family homes. The area is becoming a major node. East Harbour is ~12m sq ft, just as a point of comparison.