New stations encounter roadblocks

Construction issues unresolved prior to SmartTrack funding vote

A week before council must decide whether to approve and fund at least $1.3 billion for eight new stations as part of expanded GO service, several construction issues remain unresolved.

Resolving them could come with unknown costs, which have yet to be spelled out and do not appear to be included in current estimates for the building costs. City staff provided little clarity Tuesday despite questions from the Star and at mayor John Tory’s executive committee.

The stations include six branded as part of a heavily-revised version of Tory’s campaign promise to build a separate heavyrail service he called “SmartTrack.”

In their report, staff noted one potentially significant unforeseen snag:

That one of the SmartTrack stations proposed at the former Unilever site might physically conflict with the Tory-backed $1-billion plan to rebuild the Gardiner.

In an email on Tuesday, Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said, “as part of the due diligence process for a new Unilever Station, sufficient clearance was identified between the top of road for the proposed ramps from the eastbound and westbound Gardiner to the bottom of the rail bridge.” But city staff appeared less certain. When deputy city manager John Livey was asked at committee whether it was possible to build the station at Unilever, he said: “We believe it is,” adding: “It’s more than feasible.”

But when pressed by Councillor Josh Matlow on whether staff know the station can built, Livey said: “Do we know exactly the answers? No. Do we know that it’s more than plausible? Yes.”

Clarification requested from city staff was not provided Tuesday.

“Like any project of this size, there will be detailed technical and engineering work that needs to be done, and we will work with our partners to address them,” Tory’s spokesperson Amanda Galbraith said in an email. “Bottom line, as opposed to finding ways to say no to building transit, will we use our expertise and knowhow to find ways to say yes.”

The city staff identified other construction issues in their report.

The proposed Spadina station, an addition to the Barrie GO corridor south of Front St. and just west of Spadina Ave., has the “potential to significantly impact future train operations and storage needs,” the report says.

It adds that “further feasibility analysis is required.”

Metrolinx currently uses seven storage tracks at the proposed Spadina station location to park trains that could be needed quickly for service, Aikins told the Star.

Two of those tracks would be needed to build the Spadina station, she said, and Metrolinx would need to identify an alternative storage location “in reasonable proximity to Union Station.”

Another non-SmartTrack station planned for Bloor-Lansdowne comes with the caveat that the Bloor Street West rail bridge “may require” widening to accommodate rail infrastructure.

The terms of the new deal with the province propose the city contribute $60 million to those two non-SmartTrack stations. The proposed Lawrence East SmartTrack station presents its own conflict with the city’s plans to build a single-stop subway extension to the Scarborough Town Centre.

The station can’t be built until the existing Scarborough RT station at Lawrence is decommissioned, which is unlikely until the subway is in service.

The subway was not estimated to be complete until at least late 2025, but is already behind schedule.

Staff wrote that Metrolinx and the city are considering delaying the opening of that SmartTrack station until the subway is finished.

And city staff say that a Gerrard SmartTrack station near Carlaw and Pape avenues should be shifted to better serve the local community and connect with a future subway relief line.

But that plan is different from the option studied by Metrolinx.

Staff wrote “further analysis is needed to determine potential impacts of this shift on Gerrard Square.”

As part of the $1.25 billion required to build the SmartTrack stations, staff have assumed the federal government will contribute $417.1 million in promised infrastructure funding, leaving the city alone to fund the remaining share.

Council will vote on the plan, which would commit them to fully funding the construction along with annual operating and maintenance of the six SmartTrack stations, on Nov. 8.

Some of these outstanding issues don’t appear to be covered in current cost estimates