Historicist: "The city that nobody loves"
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
We've been following Metrolinx's Georgetown South Service Expansion and Union Pearson Rail Link project (GSSE/UPRL) since the beginning of the summer. For those unfamiliar, GSSE/UPRL is a major transit initiative that will result in the addition of several new sets of tracks to the rail corridor between Union Station and Malton for freight and commuter use. That's the GSSE part. The other part of the project, the UPRL, is exactly what it sounds like: a new rail link between Union Station and Pearson Airport (to be operated for profit by a private carrier). The reason we've been paying so much attention to this project is that it has been fraught with controversy for months—controversy that is now poised to come to a head.
Opposition to the GSSE/UPRL project originated with individuals and community groups from the many neighborhoods along the rail corridor in question. These entities united under the common banner of an organization known as The Clean Train Coalition, just in time to use what remained of the project's provincially mandated, 120-day public comment period to wage what has been, by all accounts, a concerted and effective campaign against some of the plan's less desirable aspects.
The Clean Train Coalition's main bone of contention with GSSE/UPRL has always been the fact that all the locomotives riding the new rails—on opening day, nearly seven times as many as before, by Metrolinx's own estimates—will be exclusively diesel-burning, as opposed to electric. From its inception, the group claimed that these new trains would pollute the air around the tracks with harmful chemicals from diesel exhaust and that the only solution was for Metrolinx to agree to immediately "Go Electric." Metrolinx (which, to its credit, did carefully review all public input throughout the public consultation process) responded that doing so would be costly and time-consuming, that the rail service improvements could not be delayed, and that, in any case, they had always been planning on electrifying the lines as part of their fifteen-year plan.
The Coalition, unsatisfied, wrote a protest song we still can't get out of our heads, spearheaded a letter-writing campaign, held press conferences, attended community meetings with Metrolinx brass, and even wheeled their children into Queen's Park so the media could see the tiny lungs that would be forced to inhale the diesel exhaust. Metrolinx agreed to launch a study of electrification (they did this after the song, but before the stroller parade), but has never considered immediate electrification.
Presently, the anti-diesel campaign is at a crucial junction on its long chug-a-lug to a conclusion, because the GSSE/UPRL project's 120-day public comment period ended last Friday. This means that Metrolinx is no longer obligated to entertain public input. The project is currently in the midst of a 30-day public review period, after which its fate will be in the hands of Ontario's Minister of the Environment, who will have a scant thirty-five days to review objections to the plan and decide whether or not it can go ahead as-is. The Minister can refer the project for further consideration, or he can approve it without further conditions. If the plan is approved, and it also passes its concurrent federal environmental assessment, the result will be diesel trains for the west end of the GTA and lots of them.
The other interesting thing to come out of the conclusion of the GSSE/UPRL project's public comment period is Metrolinx's final Environmental Project Report. This report is required by the Ontario Transit Project Assessment Process (to which GSSE/UPRL is beholden), and it contains detailed information on projected levels of most of the pollutants protesters are concerned about.
The short version is this: the environmental consulting firms hired by Metrolinx to carry out air quality and human health evaluations are of the opinion that while, yes, more diesel locomotives will mean significantly more airborne pollutants from diesel exhaust, these chemicals will, in almost every case, remain below federally and provincially set threshold levels for human safety. They say their assessments are based on worst-case scenarios, drawn from the most polluted points along the corridor.
The few chemicals that will exceed safety thresholds, the environmental consultants say, would still be excessively concentrated in the air around the tracks with or without the additional trains. Also, these excess concentrations will only be present in particularly vulnerable locations and on particularly bad days, when background concentrations from other sources contribute to the total. The consultants also say that only sensitive individuals (including asthmatics and children) will be at risk for acute effects like wheezing and respiratory disease, that the risk will be minimal, and that the exhaust fumes will have virtually no effect on air quality in locations more than three-hundred metres away from the tracks. Beyond that distance, the new smog will simply blend with the old smog, for a negligible contribution to an already compromised atmosphere.
Notably, the consulting firms were unable to study one particular type of exhaust-borne pollutant, ultrafine particulate matter (basically very, very, very small grains of soot), because no established scientific method exists for doing so. Maybe next time?
More commuter and freight trains in the GTA are clearly a public good, but smog—even an allegedly acceptable level of smog—clearly is not. Those of us living more than three hundred metres away from the tracks can dispassionately weigh the pros and cons of the situation, but for those whose lungs, and whose children's lungs, are on the line, things aren't as simple.
The Clean Train Coalition summarizes their take on the Environmental Project Report as follows, in their latest press release:
Most harmful pollutants will double, greenhouse gas emissions will increase. Such groups as the Toronto District School Board, the Toronto Board of Health, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Toronto Environmental Alliance and others agree that this project will cause harm to an already poor and unhealthy part of Toronto.
In approximately two months, we find out if the province considers these objections sufficient reason to jeopardize a tight train schedule. The GSSE/UPRL project is only the first of many slated for completion under Metrolinx's twenty-five year, $50 billion regional transit plan, meaning that additional delay and cost related to GSSE/UPRL might have undesirable ramifications for subsequent projects. These additional airborne pollutants might not be concentrated enough to alarm environmental officials, but if it was our lungs? Our family's lungs? We'd be worried, too.
This article originally stated that the Georgetown South Service Expansion and Union Pearson Rail Link project "is now in the hands of Ontario's Minister of the Environment, who has a scant thirty more days to review objections to the plan and decide whether or not it can go ahead as-is"; in fact, it is currently in the middle of a thirty-day review process, and it will go to the Ministry of the Environment for a final decision only after that process ends.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
I wonder what emissions in the 427/401 area will be like without more *mass* public transit in the YYZ-Georgetown-Kitchener axis.
Ah who cares, that's only Rexdale right?
Not sure if you are trying to be funny or not. Two points....
1. The Clean Train Coalition is FOR increased rail traffic as long as it is electric.
2. The particulate from diesel trains is far more toxic than that from car traffic. That is an established scientific fact.We all want people out of cars but not if it increases pollution (including soil pollution) and concentrates it in a residential area. A residential area much much larger than Rexdale and also including the GO Barrie line on the right of the map; an expansion that Metrolinx doesn't want to show on any map because then the concentration of pollution starts to look really scary if you live in the giant triangle between the lines.
The more you read up on this the more it makes no sense to build a diesel line and then 15 years later electrify it. This is an INCREASED carbon footprint and waste of money due to building something twice. Odd when we could go electric from day 1 and take all the money saved and spend it on green initiatives.
Frankly Metrolinx never really included public input because everybody was against the plan as it stood. Metrolinx needs help to save face so we can save our lungs.
scottd - Budd railcars use Cummins truck engines. How many of those go through Weston every single day with zero regulation? Probably 140 an hour, never mind per day. How much difference is it REALLY going to make? As for the "privately run" service, I don't think anyone outside of those in government who insisted that GO couldn't bid on B22 thought that was ever a good idea, but if GO did bid on it it would have offered diesel propulsion too.
And yeah, I was being funny. I can afford to be, because I don't live in Rexdale. I do live within a kilometre of the Lakeshore East though.
also - electrification is retrofitted to lines all the time. Since it will be overhead catenary and not third rail the track level disruption should be minimal. Structures like the pedestrian bridge at CityPlace are being designed with electrification clearances in mind, as is the Union Station redevelopment. However, declaring that electrification must come first pushes back the rollout of service by years. I'm actually in favour of electrification as long as diesel service is permitted in the interim to the level that demand requires.
The real problem is that the privately operated airport train is going to charge an outrageous one way fee on the order of $40. Who's going to ride this? Would you pay $200 each way to take your family to the airport? I'm sure the taxi drivers will be happy though.
Hard to understand, given that airport trains in most other major cities charge reasonable fares. I took the train from Atlanta airport to downtown for $3. In Chicago it's $3. In San Francisco it's $5. But in Toronto, it'll be $40.
For those on an expense account (read "eHealth contractor"), they will make use of the Union Person Rail Link. For the rest of us mortals, it will be the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.
Yes, I still don't understand why they don't just turn the Eglinton Crosstown LRT into a subway and ditch this expensive Pearson Rail Link altogether.
Why must we duplicate this expensive rapid transit line to the airport? If it's really needed, put a subway in NOW and create the Rail Link later, if need be!
I've been to a metrolinx open house and talked to reps from Infrastructure Ontario, Go Transit and metrolinx and raised some of these very concerns.
Electrification: The official line is that these lines will be built to be "electrification ready" meaning that they could be upgraded to being electric some time in the future. To me though this is reminiscent of coal power plants built at "carbon capture and storage ready" which means you build the same old dirty power plant but you make sure there's an empty space beside it big enough for a CCS facility if anyone ever wants to build one. Making these train lines "electrification ready" just means having empty space, which is not exactly an overly rigorous criterion to meet.
You have to wonder too if the government is going to invest in millions of dollars in rolling stock of diesel engines are they just going to junk them a few years later to go electric? I think if we start diesel we are going to stay that way for a long time.
$$$: When I asked about the high price for the Air Rail Link, the infrastructure Ontario rep replied that you had to ask "in comparison to what." His take was that since a cab from downtown to the airport was expensive, the train should just be "competitive".
PPP: When you do any Public Private Partnership deal, what is most important is that government creates a framework and contract that is transparent and clearly in the best interest of tax payers. If you look at horrible deals like the 407 - the government created a secret 99 year contract in which the 407 consortium is able to raise rates in an almost unlimited fashion - it proves how bad these types of deals can be for the public if the government falls down on the job. When I asked what if any conditions would be placed upon SNC-Lavalin's ability to raise rates, or any other questions about the contract the standard answer as "still under negotiation."
Having said all that though, when you are expanding mass transit and public transit (aide from he air-rail link most of the expansion will be for GO Transit) whether it's electric (better) or diesel, you have to wonder - what is the alternative? What is the environmental impact of another 10,000 cars on the road? Nobody does an environmental impact assessment of not building something. It seems that it would be better to put people on a train even if it is diesel than to put them all into cars. But then you have to ask if you are putting an undue hardship on those who live next to the tracks?
OR - you could make the counter argument - Is this type of enhancement of service into the burbs just enabling sprawl? I would guess, (and it's just a guess) maybe, but it's a lot more likely that if there's no train people will take the car.
Personally I'm hoping B22 loses a sack of money and GO take it over. A bidirectional GO service to Malton ($5.30 one way) and a low-floor shuttle to the terminals would be a good start while we're waiting, especially if VIA got with the programme and started stopping at Malton too.
The difference between a limo and B22 is that the limo takes you to your door, not the train station, so a direct price comparison is rubbish, just as it is rubbish to say that subway to Eglinton and a 20-30 stop LRT ride is equivalent to express rail.
"Nobody does an environmental impact assessment of not building something." That's been the great hoodwink of Ontario infrastructure - that an EIA covers the bases when what protects taxpayers is an Alternatives Analysis.
Or you could go electric day one, save lungs, save money, and provide increased transit. Why cant it be done the correct way from day one? Why is this almost the only new diesel line being built in the world? Because the plan is out of date from the 1990's; it is not environmentally defensible in 2009.
The airport link will fail as I think its demand projections are rosy, most airport users dont come from downtown, and getting somebody to drive you there is cheaper and more flexible.The pricing is out of whack too; most people dont realize that it is a for profit situation. The same blindsightedness that still wants diesel also woouldnt make the APL a GO sysytem which makes so much sense. I am for green transit and live next to where one of the APL stops will be and frankly I will still take a limo. For the record I use Green Limousine which uses the Prius.
As a red herring I would add that the taking the cars off the 401 argument only works if you reduce the amount of lanes at the same time. Otherwise you are encouraging drivers (not just ones going to the airport).
Thanks for your jokes Dowlingm! Gotta love someone that boasts how much better they are than others on the internet huh? haha. I think you should move to Rexdale, save the money your wasting living in the Lakeshore East area and hire a new writer so you can actually make someone laugh with you instead of at you! hahahah.
"Or you could go electric day one, save lungs, save money"
When is "day one"? Can you produce a schedule which demonstrates that electric service can be delivered on the same day and to the same level as improved diesel service, with the substations and catenary installed, especially at Union? Because that's what that phrase means to me.
@ dowlingm
5 years for electrification? I say why not? If Ontario is looking to pump money into infrastructure and green jobs, shouldn't this project be one of them? It's a lot better than dumping billions of dollars into the North American car industry. Electrifying lines takes place all over the world all the time. Perhaps it might take an extra couple of years, but 15? Come on.
@ dowlingm
"Day one" is happening all over the world right now like in really exotic places like Vancouver. You have to stop perpetuating the Metrolinx myth that electric trains are some kind of exotic technology that cant be figured out for 15 years. Thats bull. Metrolinx has brought forward an outdated plan that goes back 30 years ago and cant seem to accept that the world has changed. You cant either it seems.
@Jason - did I say 15 years? No I didn't. What I was saying was that electrification work can proceed in parallel with the upgrades to the alignment but if the alignment is ready first then increase the service immediately in advance of electrification.
@scottd - Vancouver is not Toronto. Putting in Canada Line - single deck 2-unit EMUs in their own right of way (and thus not needing to prove it can take a hit from a freight train) - is not even close to the following challenge:
1. Procure FRA Compliant electric multiple unit rolling stock for Blue22 and at least FRA Compliant dual mode locomotives capable of hauling 12 coaches to run from Kitchener to Union, but full EMUs would be better. As has been pointed out elsewhere, while doubledeck EMUs do exist in North America, but not low-door ones compatible with GO Transit platforms.
2. Construct substations to provide 25,000V AC power at specified intervals along the line. If you can find a way to have Toronto Hydro not screw up the timetable (see Fleet St, St. Clair) please let TTC in on it.
3. Install the overhead and connections to the substations while minimally interfering with VIA, GO, CN and CP operations (where CP and CN run alongside each other in Weston)
4. Replace all bridge structures which are currently provide enough clearance for operations but are insufficient for safe operation of 25kV power lines. If Georgetown is anything like the Lakeshore line which has already been studied, that will not be a small ask.
Note that even with all that, VIA, CN and CP operations in Weston will remain diesel indefinitely because they have no incentive to change their long distance trains to electric outside the GO service area.
Does that sound like something that can be done fast even if you discount Ontario's budget deficit? Or is ramping up with diesel and proceeding with the bridge replacements and the Union Station refit and the more pressing need to electrify the busier (i.e. 2-way all day right now) Lakeshore West/East starting to look more reasonable?
Meanwhile, West Coast Express (Vancouver's small GO equivalent) just announced an order for more doubledeck coaches. No electric locomotives though - they use F59s and MotivePower coaches, just like GO.
I do find fault with Metrolinx on this file - they should have a regional game plan for electrification where they are essentially starting with Lakeshore and committing to eventual electrification of the entire network - as one line is complete, design work on the next one would have been done etc, all in concert with specification levels that demanded diesel on low frequency services but once a threshold was reached electrification would have to happen.
But one community - Weston - can't jump up and down and say "me first me first" when Lakeshore is seeing now the sort of traffic Georgetown will see in 5-10 years. Similarly, it would be ridiculous for people on the Stouffville or Richmond Hill to demand electrification before Georgetown.
Unless new hydro developments are in the offing, or wind and solar go through some kind of geometric improvement, surely electric trains will need to draw their juice from either coal plants or nuclear plants.
Can anyone confirm?
And if this is correct, how is it being accounted for in the planning around environmental concerns?
A significant correction, appended above: we originally wrote that the project "is now in the hands of Ontario's Minister of the Environment, who has a scant thirty more days to review objections to the plan and decide whether or not it can go ahead as-is"; in fact, it is currently in the middle of a thirty-day review process, and it will go to the Ministry of the Environment for a final decision only after that process ends.