Toronto Transit Commission Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown
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Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown
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| Number of Branches | |||
| Distance | 19km (Kennedy Station - Black Creek Drive) | ||
| Blue Night | |||
| Types of vehicles used | Bombardier Flexity Freedom 
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| Division | Eglinton Crosstown LRV MSF | ||
| Ridership (2011) | NA | ||
The Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown (also known as simply The Crosstown) is a future light rail transit line that will run from Kennedy Station to Jane Street. The central portion of the route will run under Eglinton Avenue. The line will have connections with the Bloor-Danforth subway and the Yonge-University-Spadina subway. A maintenance and storage facility (MSF) will be located near Black Creek Drive.
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History
Introduced as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, the line was part of the Transit City Light Rail Plan introduced by mayor David Miller and chair Adam Giambrone in 2007. Under that plan, the LRT line would eventually connect Kennedy Station with Pearson Airport in its second phase. Connections would have been made with other Transit City lines: the Don Mills LRT and Jane LRT. There would have also been connections with the Mississauga Transitway in the west. The environmental assessment for this project was completed in March 2010 and was approved by the Ontario Minister of the Environment in June.
After the election of Rob Ford as the new mayor of Toronto, he quickly declared the cancellation of Transit City. Work began on revising the transit plan to fit Ford's vision. On March 30, 2011, the government of Ontario announced $12.4 billion in funding for the revised plan for LRT along Eglinton Avenue and for the TTC to extend the Sheppard subway line in both directions. The revised LRT plan would cost $8.2 billion to build.[1] However, on February 8, 2012, city council renewed their support for the original Transit City plan.[2]
Metrolinx ordered four Lovat tunnel boring machines (TBMs) at a cost of $62 million in 2010. Construction of the approved midtown tunnel (Laird Drive to Keele Street) was to begin in mid-2012. Pre-construction work and construction of the TBM launching shaft between Black Creek Drive and Bicknell Avenue took place in 2011. Premier Dalton McGuinty along with Mayor Rob Ford, MPPs, City Councillors and various officials marked the beginning of construction on the project on November 9, 2011. The boring machines were expected to be lowered in late summer 2012.[3] However due to difficulties in construction, tunneling is not expected to begin until mid-May 2013. Metrolinx anticipates completion of The Crosstown line by 2020.[4]
Route details
The first phase of the line will run from Kennedy Station 19 kilometres along Eglinton Avenue to Jane Street. This stretch will have 27 stops. Approximately 10 kilometres of the route would run underground from Laird Drive to Keele Street. It was planned to run the line down the centre of Eglinton Avenue where it is not underground. To address traffic and pedestrian concerns as well as preserving a future connection to GO Transit, a new alignment was presented to the public in July 2012. An elevated segment to Black Creek Drive from a portal west of Keele Street and an underground segment from Black Creek Drive to Weston Road is now proposed. An underground station near Weston Road would have a bus terminal and connection to a future GO station. [5]
The second phase would see an extension to Pearson Airport. The route would run along Eglinton Avenue to Commerce Boulevard where it would cross the 401 to Convair Drive and Silver Dart Drive. It would then make its way to the airport. This 14 kilometre stretch would have 16 stops.
Under Rob Ford's revised plan, the route would have ran 19 kilometres underground along Eglinton Avenue from Jane Street or Black Creek Drive to Kennedy Station and continue above ground to Scarborough Centre Station. The six kilometre portion from Kennedy Station to Scarborough Centre Station would have followed the Scarborough RT alignment using LRT technology. In total, there would have been 26 stations.
Stations
All stations will be wheelchair accessible, accept the Presto card, feature Designated Waiting Areas, and have CCTV. The platforms at Eglinton and Eglinton West will cross under the subway line and provide a connection for passengers. Kennedy Station will be rebuilt to provide connections to the subway and future LRT lines.
The design phase for stations at Keele Street, Caledonia Road, Dufferin Street, Allen Road (Eglinton West Station), Bathurst Street, and Chaplin Crescent began in early 2011. Public consultation regarding stations began at the end of the year will continue into 2012. Construction of the stations themselves is scheduled to begin in 2014.
The revised Crowstown plan under Mayor Rob Ford omitted stops at Ferrand Drive, Pharmacy Avenue, Lebovic Avenue, and Ionview Road, which were proposed in the original Transit City plan. Rob Ford pledged to bury the whole Crosstown line and incorporate the Scarborough RT route. However with city council renewing their support for the Transit City plan on February 8, 2012, the deleted stops were restored and the line will be buried from Keele to Laird as originally planned. The Scarborough RT will also remain as a separate LRT line.[6]
| Station name | Date opened | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Jane | ||
| Weston/Mt. Dennis | ||
| Keele | ||
| Caledonia | ||
| Dufferin | ||
| Oakwood | ||
| Eglinton West Station | Transfer to Yonge-University-Spadina line | |
| Bathurst | ||
| Chaplin | ||
| Avenue | ||
| Eglinton Station | Transfer to Yonge-University-Spadina line | |
| Mt. Pleasant | ||
| Bayview | ||
| Laird | ||
| Leslie | ||
| Don Mills | Proposed transfer to Don Mills LRT | |
| Ferrand | ||
| Wynford | ||
| Bermondsey | ||
| Victoria Park | ||
| Pharmacy | ||
| Lebovic | ||
| Warden | ||
| Birchmount | ||
| Ionview | ||
| Kennedy Station | Transfer to Bloor-Danforth line, Scarborough RT, GO Transit Stouffville Line, and proposed Scarborough Malvern LRT | |
| Lawrence East | ||
| Ellesmere | ||
| Midland | ||
| Scarborough Centre | ||
| McCowan |
Phase two of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT plan would see an extension to Pearson airport with the following stops:
| Station name | Date opened | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pearson Airport | ||
| Silver Dart | ||
| Corvair | ||
| Commerce | ||
| Renforth | ||
| Rangoon | ||
| East Mall | ||
| Martin Grove | ||
| Widdicombe / Lloyd Manor | ||
| Kipling | ||
| Wincott / Bemersyde | ||
| Islington | ||
| Russell / Eden Valley | ||
| Royal York | ||
| Mulham | ||
| Scarlett |
References
- ↑ Kalinowski, Tess (30 March 2011). Queen’s Park and city have a $12.4B TTC deal. Toronto Star (Toronto). Retrieved on 2011-03-30
- ↑ Kalinowski, Tess; Rider, David (8 February 2012). Special transit meeting: Council approves plan put forward by Karen Stintz. Toronto Star (Toronto). Retrieved on 2012-02-08
- ↑ Construction Progresses at the West Launch Site Press release). thecrosstown.ca. 17 february 2012. Retrieved on 2012-03-15
- ↑ (6 December 2011). SRT to close between 2015 and 2019. Toronto Star (Toronto). Retrieved on 25 January 2012
- ↑ Western Alignment & Vehicle Maintenance & Storage Facility Consultation Presentation. Metrolinx. Retrieved on 14 July 2012
- ↑ The Crosstown map as of February 8, 2012
External links
- Dedicated website
- The Crosstown information page, ttc.ca
- Eglinton Scarborough Crosstown 2011 Presentation, ttc.ca
