Ontario Province to fund entire Hurontario LRT
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
Canada’s Ontario Province will be covering the entire cost of a 14.2-mile, $1.6 billion light rail line connecting the Port Credit (Mississauga) and Brampton GO Transit regional/commuter rail stations, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca confirmed on April 21, 2015.
According to a report in Toronto’s Globe & Mail, construction is slated to start in 2018 for a planned 2022 service start-up of the “Hurontario” LRT. Though funding is now in place, “hurdles remain—the route through downtown Brampton remains contentious and will require [city] council approval,” the paper reported.
The mayors of Mississauga and Brampton joined Del Duca in announcing the provincial government’s plan to foot the entire bill. The new LRT system “will become that north-south spine of a regionally integrated transit system,” said Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie. “Today’s announcement is a real game-changer for the city of Mississauga’s promising future.”
When added to a $13.5 billion GO Transit expansion plan announced last week, the LRT’s cost “means that almost all of the $16 billion earmarked for transit over the next decade is spoken for,” the Globe & Mail reported, adding that Del Duca “took umbrage at the suggestion Toronto’s needs were being marginalized, [as he listed] projects proposed or under way as proof of the province’s commitment to the city. ‘The people of our province want us to put progress ahead of politics,’ he said.” The paper also noted that “LRT is not the dirty word here that it has become for much of the Toronto city council.”
According to Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig, 33 million people will be riding the Mississauga-Brampton LRT annually by 2031—about half the total carried now on the entire GO Transit network. The GO Transit service expansion announced last week, which includes electrified Regional Express Rail (RER), is expected to double ridership when it’s completed in 10 years.
