Toronto Union Pearson Express | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | MMM Group Limited

The connection would be made at Martin Grove. The Eglinton line just isn't pictured.

I just had an epiphany about this, but it looks like several people have beat me to the chase. But in the first phase of this route, why bother running all the way down to the lakeshore? The Finch LRT line could lead toward the airport like CDL's proposal, run past the congress centre, and then go south a little bit under the power lines and that could turn into the Eglinton line! Transferless trips to the airport for the vast majority of LRT riders from Finch or Eglinton, and a connection to the GO at Airport parkway, AND a connection to the perenially isolated Humber North and Woodbine, and if people need to get to the airport from the west end of the BD subway, they can just get off at Jane and ride up to Eglinton or hop on the GO at Bloor/Dundas West. This is awesome. I would also take out the connection to York U, instead having passengers from there getting on at sentinel or at Finch West subway station. Do you guys have any idea how awesome this is?
 
I just had an epiphany about this, but it looks like several people have beat me to the chase. But in the first phase of this route, why bother running all the way down to the lakeshore? The Finch LRT line could lead toward the airport like CDL's proposal, run past the congress centre, and then go south a little bit under the power lines and that could turn into the Eglinton line! Transferless trips to the airport for the vast majority of LRT riders from Finch or Eglinton, and a connection to the GO at Airport parkway, AND a connection to the perenially isolated Humber North and Woodbine, and if people need to get to the airport from the west end of the BD subway, they can just get off at Jane and ride up to Eglinton or hop on the GO at Bloor/Dundas West. This is awesome. I would also take out the connection to York U, instead having passengers from there getting on at sentinel or at Finch West subway station. Do you guys have any idea how awesome this is?

Travel times. The difference between having someone travel across Eglinton and down Jane would likely be over double the travel time for a direct connection down the hydro corridor to the Bloor Line. Travel times is one thing that has been completely ignored when it comes Transit City and needs to be accounted for.
 
The idea is modelled on modern (real) LRT systems across North America, which generally means POP. All you do is not have any fare checks between the Airport and Woodbine (or wherever). This is exactly how it works in Minneapolis where their LRT system operates as the shuttle between their airport's terminals - and Minneapolis also happens to be the system that is pictured on that map. I'm sure the airport hotels could save thousands upon thousands of dollars a year as well with the stop at Carlingview.

The Canada Line in Vancouver will also serve double duty as a free airport peoplemover between YVR Station, a future terminal station, Sea Island Centre (Air Canada Hangar) and Templeton (relocated Long Term Parking and eventually car rental facilities). YVR contributed $300 million to the line to pay for the airport branch and free travel between those stations was a condition (as well as maximum travel time to downtown Vancouver or 24 or 25 minutes).
One problem I could see for Pearson is that it has already sunk money into its Doppelmayer system - and will want to see that through its lifecycle before replacing it (even though the column supports for it have been built to accommodate LRT in future).
 
For the people who wonder why the rollercoaster goes to Viscount and not Malton or a Woodbine GO - well, the car park does make money for GTAA! GO Transit won't contribute a dime to GTAA's coffers to bring a people mover.

Glasgow Airport is getting a rail link which when you think about it is fairly similar to Blue 22 - direct link from downtown and curves off from an existing line which will get some extra trackage. Some fairly major differences though:

1. The line will add to stops between Central and Paisley so it adds to existing transit rather than being segregated.
2. The line will not be operated by a sole-purpose entity, but rather a regional railway company (which might be thought of an intermediate operator between local GO and interprovincial VIA) and so will be an integrated service with the possibility of through-ticketing to elsewhere in Scotland
3. Being a Scotrail service, not much of a premium is likely over a similar length service, which makes sense since they want to get people off the M8 and out of taxis which when I lived there was the only sane way to the airport.
 
Fast Track?

From the Star

High-speed rail link to airport on fast track

Province, Lavalin work out kinks stalling proposed train from Union Station to Pearson

August 05, 2008
Theresa Boyle
Urban Affairs Reporter

The province and a private-sector partner are reworking plans for a high-speed rail link between Union Station and Pearson airport in an attempt to satisfy naysayers.

"We have heard concerns expressed about the original union-airport rail link proposal and the province is currently in discussions with SNC Lavalin to find ways that the airport-rail proposal can be changed to address a number of these concerns," Nicole Lippa-Gasparro, press secretary to Environment Minister John Gerretsen, told the Star.

The province and SNC Lavalin, the company that hopes to operate the service, began talks this summer. That, coupled with a new system to fast-track environmental approvals on transit projects, leads Mike Sullivan, chair of the Weston Community Coalition, to believe the project is a fait accompli.

"It appears to be heading toward a non-stop train ... between Pearson and Union Station," Sullivan said. "I suspect that's what we're going to be faced with."

Premier Dalton McGuinty recently joined Mayor David Miller in endorsing the plan, bolstering Sullivan's belief the rail link is a foregone conclusion.

"Both Mayor Miller and Premier McGuinty have stated that Toronto needs what most of the world's biggest cities have, which is a rail connection between the airport and downtown," Lippa-Gasparro said.

Metrolinx, the body charged with creating an integrated transportation plan for the region, is also on record saying the rail link between Pearson and Union is important.

Lippa-Gasparro acknowledged Infrastructure Ontario is participating in the talks, but wouldn't confirm a media report the province wants a tentative deal by fall.

Infrastructure Ontario is a Crown corporation that uses "alternative financing and procurement" arrangements (known as public-private partnerships) to build projects. Montreal-based SNC Lavalin, won the bid to build and operate the rail link back in 2003.

The federal government has expressed a willingness to help fund a rail link, but it's not clear what role Ottawa's infrastructure funding plan announced last week will play.

Sullivan said his suspicions that the project was gaining steam were further aroused when Gerretsen's ministry recently introduced a new six-month environmental assessment process for transit projects. That replaced a system that could take up to three years.

The rail link has been stuck in the old process since October 2006, when the terms of reference for an assessment were sent to the environment ministry, where they have since been gathering dust.

SNC Lavalin, which has until the end of next month to decide if it will abandon the old process and begin the new one, wouldn't comment.

A rail link to the airport has been in discussion for a decade. Five years ago, the federal government introduced plans for what was then dubbed Blue 22, for the 22 minutes of travel time between the airport to train station. The link would have had one stop, at the Bloor West GO Transit station, and a one-way ticket would have cost $20.

But the project, which was to be completed this year, has stayed in limbo due to a lack of consensus, regulatory hurdles and community opposition.

Sullivan's group fought the original plan because increasing the number of tracks and high-speed trains would have closed three level crossings, dividing Weston in half. A $40 million compromise proposed in 2005 would mean putting tracks in a trench, reducing noise and allowing traffic to pass unimpeded across two of those streets.

If the plan goes ahead, the group hopes to see the trains stop in their community, along with nine others.

For example, Sullivan said it would make sense if the train stopped at St. Clair Ave W. and Eglinton Ave. W., where it could hook up with planned streetcar lines. It should stop in needy communities such as Rexdale, and near Humber College, he said.

"If they're going to do it, then make it into real public transit, make it into something that serves the people of Toronto, not just the business travellers," he said.

Meanwhile, the Weston group is concerned about SNC Lavalin's involvement, arguing taxpayers could lose out in a public-private partnership, leaving taxpayers on the line for hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure spending to get the rail link in place.

"We're giving a private company ... our money to run a train that most of us will never see," he said.

He said any contract between the province and Lavalin should stipulate the cost of fares and allowable fare hikes, location of stations and frequency of service. The contract should immediately be made public once it's signed and should include penalties for violations, he said.

Sullivan also expressed concerns that the original plan calls for using diesel rather than electric trains.

"If we're going to be world-class," he said, "let's not run 55-year-old trains."

This Sullivan guy seems to think living in Weston gives him the right to dictate the details of an important piece of regional infrastructure. Community groups often adopt a tone of entitlement that make them annoying.
 
I heard that Blue22 will go in next to the new aquarium after they complete the queen subway line that will bury the overhead wires to power up the next 1000' skyscraper on Bay.
 
I think Weston residents's concern about noise and 'splitting' of their community are justified and they should have an official forum for those concerns.

But when they digress into the nature of the service or the type of train used, then they're exploiting their standing as an affected group to play armchair transit minister. And when they do that, I think they're adopting the standard NIMBY group tactic of objecting to any and every aspect of a plan - hoping that one of those objections will stick or, if none of them do, at least the delay of addressing the objections will kill it.

It's every citizens right to criticize transit plans, but the views of Weston residents on those matters are no more important than the views of other TO residents. They don't deserve special attention.
 
There is already airport express buses (private company) that stop by major hotels and union station... it costs about the same and is much more convenient. We should be funding the TTC .... Not this link
 
If this Blue 22 is a direct link and not going to service different neighbourhoods and stations.

The QEW and Hwy 427 are not going anywhere,would it not make more sense to build a new rail link up the side all the way to the airport.
 
There is already airport express buses (private company) that stop by major hotels and union station... it costs about the same and is much more convenient. We should be funding the TTC .... Not this link

I don't find the airporter to be convenient in the slightest. It is slow and unfriendly.

On the other hand, an express rail link between the Airport and Union is necessary. I personally don't like the comparison to other big cities as the sole justification but it does make some sense. You can get from Heathrow or Gatwick by rail very quick in London. Same with Paris, Toyko, Athens and the likes. I have taken all of these links as a traveller (not a business traveller, which for some reason the Weston guy seems to imply are plague-infested villians) and they all provide a much better service than the Toronto airport bus (which I use in the absense of a better option).

I agree with commentators here that the Weston Community group has no right to dictate service or train types but there are legitimate concerns over the impacts to one neighbourhood. But there are compromises to be found and the good of the city should be weighed over the good of one neighbourhood. It is short-sighted to think that this link will only serve "business men" of other people who do not live in Toronto. This is false. It will serve anyone and everyone who is connected to Union Station and who is interested in going to the Airport. Chances are these demons known as business men will just take a taxi.

For people in the East, they can easily take GO transit and switch to Blue22 (or whatever it will be called) to get to the airport. Simarily, folks living anyway on the subway grid will probably have an easier time taking the subway to Union than taking it to Kipling and getting on the rocket. But at least they'll have two options.

It is a good investment for the city. Tourism is a massive industry and Toronto, like it or not, is a hub for visitors here to conduct business and other such activities. The idea that this link is not for Toronto is as stupid as the idea the idea that all dogs are boys and all cats are girls. Both ideas are equally childish.
 
lol @ $20. Like everyone in the star's comments section said.... who in gods name is going to pay that much. Sure there's the occasional business traveller, but what about the residents of the city themselves??? Why would a family of 4 spend $80 to take this thing (plus the cost of getting to union) when they could spend less on an airport limo and ride in luxury.
 
I think a round trip of about $10 would be an acceptable fare. In Athens taking the Prostyakos from the airport; anywhere is about 6-10 euros.
 
lol @ $20. Like everyone in the star's comments section said.... who in gods name is going to pay that much. Sure there's the occasional business traveller, but what about the residents of the city themselves??? Why would a family of 4 spend $80 to take this thing (plus the cost of getting to union) when they could spend less on an airport limo and ride in luxury.

You make it sound like business travelers are a rare thing. There are a lot of business travelers going between the BCD and Pearson every day. At $20 it's cheaper than a taxi. If it's reliably quick - and 22 minutes isn't bad - then it makes sense even for 2 people traveling together. I would take it for business trips.

Obviously, it doesn't make sense for a family of 4 going on holiday.

This service will enhance downtown as a business and tourist location. It will enhance Union's importance as a transit hub. It will reduce the advantage of the island airport. I don't think it precludes better local transit options for getting to the airport in the future. I think it would be a good thing.
 

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