Regional Express Rail Mitigating Impacts

NRU
June 8, 2016
Geordie Gordon

While supportive of Metrolinx’s Regional Express Rail initiative, York Region staff is concerned about the impacts that increased rail service would have on the regional road network, particularly at-grade rail crossings. Council will be considering how to ensure that Metrolinx mitigates these impacts, recognizing that increasing the number of planned grade separations is costly.

Richmond Hill deputy mayor and York Region transportation services chair Vito Spatafora told NRU that
there are financial implications for the region depending on the number of grade separations that are necessary to implement Regional Express Rail.

“We have level crossings that now are meeting traffic thresholds and where grade separations are necessary ... And grade separations cost in the millions of dollars,” he said. “Depending on the cost-sharing formula, because I haven’t seen anything coming down from either the province or the feds in dealing with this, it presents some serious concerns.”

York Region infrastructure management and project management office director Stephen Collins told NRU that the region is “thrilled” with more frequent rail service coming to the region as part of Metrolinx’s Regional Express Rail project.

“From a principle and a concept standpoint, we’re supportive of it,” he said. “[However,] we don’t think that the business case has sufficiently quantified the impacts [of increased service], and with
that, [Metrolinx] hasn’t then identified the infrastructure needed to mitigate those impacts,” he said.

In the Initial Business Case for Regional Express Rail, released to the public in March, Metrolinx explored five scenarios for the implementation of Region Express Rail over a 10-year period. [See sidebar.] The preferred scenario, “10-year Plan Optimized” entails frequent service on most inner corridors with significant electrification.

Collins said that said that while the preferred scenario identifies some of the initial infrastructure requirements to support the service increase, staff has concerns about the amount of infrastructure that Metrolinx has identified as being needed to mitigate negative impacts, particularly on the regional road system. Metrolinx has identified some rail crossing upgrades, rail-road grade separations and noise mitigation measures, but in regional staff ’s view much more is required.

“Of significant interest to us are the impacts on the effectiveness and efficiency of the arterial road system.”

Collins said that staff understands that the initial business case will be followed by additional planning studies and environmental assessments, and it hopes that some of the impacts will be identified as part of those studies. As an example, he pointed to some crossings on the Stouffville line where there would be 10 times the number of trains per day, and thus 10 times the number of interruptions to the traffic
crossing that rail line.

He said that the region is not necessarily saying that the only solution is a grade separation, but the region wants to know how Metrolinx is quantifying the impact on its roads.

“We want to work with [Metrolinx] to come up with an appropriate mitigation [measure]. One of those mitigation measures is obviously a grade separation, but they come with huge capital investments and depending on the location... could be very impactful to the community,” he said.

Spatafora said the Regional Express Rail Update transportation services report that will be considered by the York Region committee of the whole June 9 will help communicate to Metrolinx that the region doesn’t have the resources to undertake some of the infrastructure improvements that will be required.

“There has to be a better cost-sharing formula that comes up. You can’t just hand down a policy and say ‘this is it’. We just don’t have the resources to implement it,” he said.

Spatafora said that the Regional Express Rail initiative puts added pressure on the need for more east-west roads in the region, already highlighted in the York Region Transportation Master Plan. More east-west road connections will be required to get people moving and make it attractive to take rail.

“Little has been done in the last 30 years, and now we’re trying to do a catch-up,” he said.

Collins said that the report is a way to both educate council on the findings of the Metrolinx business case and to make the region’s concerns known to Metrolinx.

“We also wanted to take the opportunity to inform council that we think Metrolinx had not adequately quantified the impacts and identified the mitigation measures for those impacts in the initial business case, and that we wanted to bring that to the attention of council,” he said.

Metrolinx spokesperson Alex Burke told NRU in an email that the initial business case is not a detailed infrastructure plan. Burke noted that a Regional Express Rail working group, comprising York Region Rapid Transit Corporation, York Region and Metrolinx staff , is working to address the region’s concerns.

“The initial business case was developed as a high-level scoping document that would support decision-making for expanding the GO rail network to bring a new rapid transit option to the GTHA. It is not a detailed infrastructure or phasing plan. Those plans are being worked out now with municipalities and regional authorities,” Burke wrote.

 

Regional Express Rail Business Case Scenarios

Do Minimum-Peak-focused limited capital with no electrification. This scenario is the base scenario against which the others are measured to determine relative performance.

Two-way All-day-Enhanced diesel service on all corridors with no electrification.

10-year Plan-Frequent service on most inner corridors with limited electrification.

Full Build (Beyond 10-year Plan)-Frequent service on all inner corridors with full electrification.

10-year Plan Optimized-Frequent service on most inner corridors with significant electrification.