GO and Smarttrack are one and the same service, says Metrolinx

The CEO of the provincial agency has told the city that a separate SmartTrack brand would be "unaffordable and unworkable."

Thestar.com
Oct. 17, 2015
By Tess Kalinowski

Metrolinx has finally answered the question that has confounded transit watchers since Mayor John Tory campaigned on his $8-billion signature transit plan. SmartTrack and GO's regional express rail plan are the same thing - at least for now - says the head of the provincial agency.

"An independent and parallel service would be unaffordable and unworkable," Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig wrote to city manager Peter Wallace in a letter dated Oct. 6.

Both SmartTrack and GO propose running electric trains at 15-minute frequencies on the GO tracks surrounding the city, connecting Markham and the west end through Union Station.

The mayor has been vague on how his service will be distinguishable from GO. Now, Metrolinx has a clear answer: At this point, there is no difference.

But it’s not clear what, if anything, that will mean for the future of SmartTrack.

In McCuaig’s letter, a response to a draft of the city's report on SmartTrack, he suggests the mayor's plan won't operate as a separate brand from GO.

"Metrolinx and the province believe that the (city report) should reflect the scenario where SmartTrack is an incremental increase in RER (regional express rail) service, rather than an independent and parallel service that co-exists with RER," he wrote.

"The risk of creating unmet expectations is too great," said McCuaig.

The letter also suggests the city stop referring to SmartTrack as a "surface subway" since federal rail regulations would prohibit TTC-style subway trains from operating on GO tracks.

Toronto also needs to clarify how it intends to fund SmartTrack, said McCuaig. He notes that SmartTrack could entail "considerable" expense over and above the GO plans, "depending on the service concept and design."

The provincial Liberal government has offered some funding for SmartTrack, and all three campaigning federal parties have offered support. But there is doubt that Tory's plan to raise the city's one-third share through tax increment financing (TIF) would work. TIF would require borrowing against future development near the transit line.

"Understanding how the city intends to make its contribution to the program, including the timing of investments, will be important as part of the discussions between the city and the province," said McCuaig.

A Toronto staff report, released late Thursday, said "SmartTrack is different from GO RER in terms of vision and objectives."

While SmartTrack would use the GO lines to provide more local urban service, GO would provide more frequent service to longer-distance commuters, said the report.

"Reconciling the different objectives of SmartTrack and GO RER, and identifying the optimal service concept and infrastructure plan to best serve Toronto's transit needs will take several phases of analysis," it said.

SmartTrack does have two obvious distinctions from GO. It envisions more stops in the city and a western rail spur that would carry commuters to the Mississauga airport corporate centre.

Metrolinx is studying the feasibility of SmartTrack's suggested stations, among others. But running trains to the airport-jobs hub will be an expensive and complex endeavour likely to require tunneling and bridges, said the city report.

Asked Friday about the difficulty of building a connection to the western employment hub and the need for Toronto to invest in transit the province is already building, Tory said it would be "premature" to consider curtailing his transit vision.

The city and province are looking at a series of transit solutions that would connect people to jobs and also be in the best interest of taxpayers, he told a press conference in advance of a trip next week to England, where he will have a look at London's Crossrail train construction.

"I've said from the beginning that I've put forward a concept. I said (that) very clearly during the election campaign, where I wasn't able to hire a squad of engineers and architects and other people to allow me to sort out every detail. Now we're having professional, objective people do that."

A draft of the city report obtained by the Toronto Star said the city might be interested in incorporating the Union Pearson Express (UPX) train into SmartTrack if ridership to the airport doesn't materialize. But that passage did not appear in the publicly released version. Metrolinx denied it had discussed any change in the business model of UPX.