Ontario on the move

Metrolinx, the umbrella agency that oversees most public transportation capital projects in the region (with the exception of the Toronto Transit Commission, which prefers to remain mostly independent), has launched “The Big Move: Transforming Transportation in the GTHA.” Encompassing new projects that amount to about $50 billion over the next 25 years, Metrolinx plans to build more than 700 miles of rail transit, more than triple what exists now.

“The Big Move’s scope is staggering,” says Jeff Levy, President and CEO of RailWorks, whose Canadian subsidiary, PNR RailWorks, has been Metrolinx’s track and signal prime contractor since 2001. “There’s money to spend, and the political will to spend it. It’s a well-planned, progressive development program—something that’s unusual to see. GO Transit is evolving into a full-fledged railroad, with major right-of-way acquisitions (from CN), redoing Toronto Union Station’s interlocking plant (a joint Alstom/PNR initiative), building four- and six-track corridors with grade separations, and transferring all train dispatching from CN.”

Metrolinx late last year issued a Request for Information spanning a range of propulsion options for future GO Transit equipment, including electric multiple-units, and electric and dual-power locomotives. The RFI sought responses by March 6, 2015. The agency has been criticized for not committing to electrification of the expanding GO Transit system, including a decision to initiate DMU Union Pearson Express service linking Toronto Union Station and Lester B. Pearson International Airport, instead of electrifying the new line, set to open this year with Cummins-powered Sumitomo/Nippon Sharyo DMUs. Any commitment to electrifying GO Transit lines, a 10-year endeavor, is estimated to cost at least C$1.8 billion. Dual-powered locomotives could be used if GO Transit electrifies portions of its rail network, similar to the approach taken by NJ Transit with its Bombardier-supplied ALP45-DPs.

Metrolinx says its goal is to electrify GO lines to provide all-day, two-way service across the network, with 15-minute frequencies in core areas, a component of the C$13 billion Regional Express Rail (RER) project. At the heart of RER is the SmartTrack proposal, which involves using GO Transit’s Kitchener and Stoufville lines to create a 33-mile, 22-station east-west electrified route providing express service across the GTHA. The project could be completed within seven years using $C2.5 billion in funding from the city of Toronto; Mayor John Tory—unlike his train-wreck predecessor, the troubled Rob Ford—is an ardent supporter of the plan, campaigning for it in his election bid last fall.

In February, the Toronto City Council approved an additional C$1.65 million to study SmartTrack, which would be delivered and operated by Metrolinx using the Toronto Transit Commission fare collection system.

Changes under way at TTC

Toronto Transit Commission CEO Andy Byford has seen his career transition from the London Underground to the TTC, with a stopover in Australia.

The TTC is at a crucial point in its 94-year history. Although ridership is at an all-time high (an estimated 540 million in 2014) and the farebox recovery rate exceeds 80%, major challenges face the TTC, which operates 11 streetcar lines, four rapid transit routes, and 141 bus lines served by 247 LRVs, 732 rapid transit cars, and 1,851 buses.

Byford, a native of Britain, joined the TTC in November 2011 as Assistant Chief General Manager (CGM). “It was a golden opportunity to be part of the team that modernizes the TTC,” he says. He believes the TTC needs to become more customer-focused, its procedures and policies updated, less inward looking, to regain its standing as a great transit system. His 2012 Five Year Corporate Plan outlined a comprehensive overhaul of the system “to renew our culture, our equipment, and our processes.”

In 2011, the TTC was struggling to operate in a difficult environment, partly the result of years of government under-funding. As well, Toronto’s then-Mayor Ford had minimal interest in public transit, and held an intense prejudice against streetcars and LRT. Shortly after Byford’s arrival, the CGM departed abruptly. Byford was appointed to the role, whose title was subsequently changed to CEO.

Byford is a hands-on operations executive, reflecting his background, in the manner of former CGM David Gunn. One of his first accomplishments was to significantly improve subway cleanliness. Another Byford goal has been to significantly reduce subway delays: “We have to lower the incidence of paper fires in the tunnel; these are not especially serious in themselves but they hold up service. We’re considering buying a vacuum service car to help tackle the problem.”

Many delays also stem from the increasingly unreliable signal system, much of which is 50-60 years old. This problem should be fixed by 2020 on the Yonge-University-Spadina line when a communications-based automatic train control system, the TTC’s first, is implemented. It will also increase capacity by about 25%. The YUS has been facing critical capacity issues for a number of years, partly due to a tremendous growth in the city core. Union Station, the main interchange with GO Transit commuter trains and buses, is being rebuilt to increase capacity, with completion nearing.

New vehicles, new lines

Bombardier’s new Toronto Rocket subway cars, an articulated six-car unit, provide 6% additional capacity compared to the old two-car married pairs (1990s-vintage T1 cars, which will be on the property for about another decade).

A seven-mile extension to the YUS subway is due to open by 2017, serving the northwest area of Toronto, including York University, and the adjoining and rapidly growing suburb of Vaughan.

The Toronto City Council recently approved an extension to the Bloor-Danforth Subway, running northeasterly about five miles from Kennedy Terminal to Agincourt. This is expected to open by about 2025. It will replace the mainly above-ground automated Scarborough Rapid Transit, opened in the mid-1980s with 40-foot cars utilizing a linear induction propulsion system. “It will take a lot of work on our part to keep that line running another decade,” Byford observes.

Scarborough is the only heavy rail project currently on the drawing board in Toronto. However, a cross-town LRT is presently under construction along Eglinton Avenue, a major east-west thoroughfare, extending about 12 miles from Kennedy Subway Terminal to Weston Road. This line is about two-thirds tunnel and one-third surface, and will utilize a double-ended version of Bombardier’s Flexity Freedom LRV. Opening is scheduled for 2020.

Eglinton Crosstown will be the first Toronto transit project not designed and managed by the TTC, except for two transfer connections with the YUS. Instead, the agency responsible is Metrolinx. Eglinton will not have a track connection with the existing streetcar system as the track gauge will be standard gauge, rather than the TTC’s 4 feet, 10-7/8 inches. A separate yard and shop will be built on a former Kodak property. TTC may operate and maintain the line.

Metrolinx is also planning to build two additional LRT lines, primarily surface, on Finch Avenue West and Sheppard Avenue East. They will interchange with the YUS and Bloor-Danforth subways, with free transfers. The projects have been approved; construction may begin within two years.

Consideration has been given by the City to extending the existing Harbourfront LRT eastward along Queens Quay, along which considerable high-rise development has occurred or is planned. However, funding has not been approved.

In mid-2015, the TTC will open a half-mile streetcar extension on Cherry Street to serve a high-density development area on former industrial lands. It will be operated as a branch of the 504-King route from Broadview Station, and may ultimately link up at the Queens Quay extension.

There are no other plans for LRT lines in Toronto in the near future. However, Byford has recommended that an additional 60 low-floor Flexity streetcars be ordered from Bombardier. The first of 204 are undergoing testing and qualification.

Integrated fare collection

The TTC has recently begun implementing automatic fare collection, first in the subway, then on surface routes. The system is the PRESTO card, developed by Metrolinx in association with the TTC and other properties. The goal is to have it adapted by all Ontario transit systems, providing seamless transfers. In Toronto, this will ease the numerous transfers between GO Transit, the TTC, and adjoining operators. PRESTO utilizes a farecard into which patrons load value, which is then debited from bank accounts. In time, PRESTO will represent millions of dollars in savings to the TTC by eliminating the production, sale, and processing of traditional printed fare media and metal tokens.

“We need to establish an affordable budget that will permit a state of good repair,” Byford says. “One way is to either sell or lease land or air rights at TTC properties.” This applies, basically, to land bought by the TTC for subway or other projects prior to the 1960s, such as the Eglinton Garage and bus terminal, which will likely be redeveloped after the Crosstown LRT is completed, or the Danforth Garage. “This would result in windfalls in the millions of dollars,” he says.

ION Kitchener and Waterloo

When its first stage opens in 2017, the Region of Waterloo’s Kitchener-Waterloo ION LRT system will be among the first to open in Ontario since the 1970s. The C$818 million two-stage project will bring light rail to the Waterloo Region, which includes the cities of Cambridge, Waterloo, and Kitchener. Stage 1 is a 22.4-mile corridor that features 11.8 miles of LRT linking the growing urban cores of Kitchener and Waterloo, plus 10.6 miles of “adapted bus rapid transit” (aBRT) connecting the southern terminus of the LRT system in Kitchener to Cambridge. In Stage 2, aBRT service will be converted to LRT.

Following Vancouver’s Canada Line, ION (which is Greek for “going”) is Canada’s second DBFOM (Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain) P3 (public/private partnership) project, and the fourth in North America, with NJ Transit’s RiverLINE diesel LRT and Denver’s FasTracks Eagle P3 regional/commuter rail. Grandlinq, a consortium of P3 developer Plenary, infrastructure investor Meridiam, construction companies Aecon and Kiewit, and operator Keolis, have ION’s 30-year DBFOM contract.

The Region of Waterloo (which, like TTC, is not part of Metrolinx) has exercised a three-year option to extend its existing general engineering contract with Parsons Brinckerhoff and its Montreal-based parent company, WSP. Parsons Brinckerhoff and WSP are responsible for developing the output specifications for procurement, supporting the public-private partnership procurement process, and for managing the overall program, including construction management services. Construction on ION commenced in August 2014.

“This is not a revitalization project,” explains Paul Bakas, Parsons Brinckerhoff’s General Engineering Consultant. “The region is growing in terms of both transportation need and land use. ION’s design and service plan goes 30 years out. We’ll start service with one-car trains on eight-minute headways, but we’ve designed the platforms to accommodate two-car trains operating on six-minute headways. The system will fit within the urban landscape.”

ION’s 14 100%-low-floor LRVs come from the same batch of 28 Bombardier Flexity Freedom vehicles ordered for Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown LRT (ION gets the first 14).

Stage 1 of ION will use a combination of dedicated LRT new construction and, at each end, shared use with CN’s Huron and Waterloo spurs, light-density industrial leads.

The shared-use arrangement with CN incorporates two different operating concepts. On the Huron Spur, which has a CN/Canadian Pacific interchange, 28-foot track centers separate, with a fence, dedicated freight and LRT tracks; freights are limited to 25 mph. There is no shared track or temporal (time) separation.

The Waterloo Spur utilizes shared track for a limited time overnight, with train separation enforced by track-circuit-based cab signals and ATP on LRVs. The double-track line operates LRT-only between 5:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m., at which time it switches to single-track LRT operation until 1:00 a.m. A single CN local, limited to 15 mph, uses the other track northbound between 11:00 and 1:00 to access an industrial switching district, where it services customers and then returns southbound, clearing the line prior to LRT start-up at 5:00. This is similar to the NJT RiverLINE’s arrangement with Conrail in the Camden area.

ION stations in shared-used territory will be equipped with gauntlet tracks for freights. Among other track accommodations to ensure freight/LRV compatibility are No. 10 turnouts with moveable-point, non-flange-bearing frogs with 25mm flange depth; 115-pound rail; zero curve superelevation; and concrete ties with Pandrol fasteners and trap-rock ballast. Since the LRV is 100% low-floor, wheel/traction motor clearances are very tight. Therefore, an AAR 1B wheel profile is not feasible; the wheel profile is the same as the TTC LRVs. Street-running sections will use booted-block embedded track for good ride quality and gauge retention.

B-Line and Brampton

Elsewhere in the GTHA, Mississauga and Brampton recently completed preliminary design and environmental assessment for the 14.2-mile, C$1.6 billion Hurontario-Main LRT Project, extending from Hurontario Street and Lakeshore Road, at Lake Ontario, northward to the City of Brampton, and connecting with GO Transit at each end. Metrolinx gave its official support in late 2012. A Transit Project Assessment Process is under way.

The B-Line is a planned 8.3-mile, 17-station LRT line running along Main Street and King Street in downtown Hamilton, and connecting McMaster University and Eastgate Square. Part of Hamilton’s proposed BLAST network, it is a priority project in The Big Move. A Metrolinx-funded planning, design, and engineering study is currently under way.