SmartTrack could delay plans for downtown relief line

WATCH: Mark McAllister has the details on how Mayor Tory’s SmartTrack plan could delay the much anticipated downtown relief line.

TORONTO – John Tory’s $7 billion SmartTrack rail plan could delay plans for a downtown relief line (DRL).

The city of Toronto is beginning a series of public consultations Tuesday to gather opinions on where possible stations for the DRL could be built.

But a presentation on Reliefline.ca website suggests SmartTrack, which Tory says will be completed in just seven years, could delay the need for what was ‘Torontos number one transit priority.’

“That gets at really the question about ‘what is the priority’? From our perspective at this point in time we feel that there’s a good argument for all of these lines, for all of this, there’s a need for transit infrastructure in the city of Toronto. The question is, just what is the timing of it?” Tim Laspa, the city’s director of transportation planning said in an interview Tuesday.

Laspa admitted there could be a delay in the relief line if SmartTrack is built but the city is moving forward with studies to make sure the line is “shovel-ready.”

Options for possible DRL stations would be from Broadview Avenue to Coxwell Avenue along the Danforth line and any connection to the Yonge-University line south of Queen Street.

According the TTC’s Downtown Rapid Transit Expansion Study done in 2012, future transit demand into the downtown core is expected to increase by 55 per cent from 155,000 to 236,000 morning peak-period trips.

Tory’s SmartTrack plan includes over 50 kilometres of express rail beginning near Pearson Airport in the west, running east through the city to Union Station, and then east and northeast through East York and Scarborough before turning north to Stouffville.

City council recently approved $1.65 million to study the proposed line, a small section of which crosses through the heart of the area where the DRL could be built.

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“It’s seen as competition for the province’s scheme and the mayor’s scheme,” transit advocate Steve Munro said. “Until we have more information on all of these lines, nobody can really make an informed decision on what we should build.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's seen as competition for the province's scheme and the mayor's scheme," transit advocate Steve Munro said. "Until we have more information on all of these lines, nobody can really make an informed decision on what we should build."

Metrolinx had been involved in a Yonge Relief Network Study but that has since been put on hold for discussions surrounding Regional Express Rail (RER) and the addition of SmartTrack.

All of the above projects will inform the study and development of each other, CEO of Metrolinx Bruce McCuaig said in an interview Tuesday.

“So we have made adjustments as we do our analysis on the regional relief line of how does Regional Express Rail fit in to that? What are the implications and the impacts of that? And that modelling work is underway now,” McCuaig said.

A joint committee has been formed involving Metrolinx, the City of Toronto and the TTC with a report on SmartTrack expected in the Fall 2015.