Sheppard East LRT (TTC)

The Sheppard East LRT is a proposed light rail line in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, as part of the Transit City proposal announced March 16, 2007, to be operated by the Toronto Transit Commission. It is expected to cost approximately $555 million. With construction to begin in 2009, the line is expected to open in 2012, the first of the seven Transit City lines to be complete.

Route layout

The Sheppard East LRT line would run for 13.6km, estimated to account for 17 million trips in 2021. The western terminus of the line would be built at Don Mills Station at Don Mills Road in North York. The line would run along Sheppard Avenue East, where the formerly proposed Sheppard East subway extension would have been built. The line would continue east until it terminates at Meadowvale Road in Scarborough. After the line is built, a future extension east into Durham Region may be considered.

For passengers travelling between downtown North York and downtown Scarborough, a transfer between the Sheppard subway and the Sheppard East LRT at Don Mills station would be required if the LRT line were built. A transfer would also be required between the Sheppard East LRT line and the Scarborough RT, which is proposed [cite web | url=http://www.toronto.ca/involved/projects/scarborough_rapid_transit/index.htm | title=Proposed Extension of the Scarborough Rapid Transit (SRT)| accessdate=2008-03-30] to meet the LRT line at Sheppard Avenue and Markham Road.

Transfer with the Sheppard Subway

The TTC has investigated several options for the transfer at or near Don Mills road with the existing Sheppard Subway. The main obstacle is the Don Valley Parkway which the LRT may have to tunnel under, and the fact that the subway is located 18m below grade. The two most likely options are:

*Extend the subway one stop east to Consumers Road (just east of the Don Valley Parkway) where a new station would be located just under street level. Transfers would be made with an LRT station located directly above the subway. There are two issues with this option. Firstly, it is expensive because it involves subway construction (two tunnels as opposed to one tunnel for LRT). Also, by extending the subway in the first place, the TTC runs the risk of re-opening the debate as to whether the entire line should be LRT or subway. The chief advantage of this option would be to serve present and future developments at Sheppard/Consumers Road with a transfer-less trip to Yonge Street.

*The other option is to extend the LRT to Don Mills station. Just east of the Don Valley Parkway, it would enter a tunnel and dive down to meet the subway. The LRT station would be a continuation of the existing subway platform. This provides two main benefits. Firstly, there are no stairs or elevators involved to transfer from one mode to another because passengers would walk down the platform. Secondly, this allows for the TTC to potentially convert the existing subway into LRT for a seamless connection to Yonge Street, or to re-use the LRT tunnel in any future subway extension.

Proposed stops

The TTC has indicated that stops will be spaced on average 460 m apart. The distances between these stops varies, but they are likely candidates, from west to east:

On Sheppard Avenue East

* Don Mills Road - Don Mills Station (connection to Sheppard subway and future Don Mills LRT line)
* Consumers Road/Brian Drive
* Victoria Park Avenue
* Pharmacy Avenue
* Palmdale Drive
* Warden Avenue
* Bay Mills Road/Aragon Avenue
* Birchmount Road
* Alanford Road
* Kennedy Road
* Agincourt GO Station (connection to Stouffville GO train line)
* Midland Avenue
* Brimley Road
* Brownspring Road
* McCowan Road
* 4725 Sheppard Avenue East
* Shorting Road
* Massie Street
* Markham Road
* Progress Avenue/Malvern Street (connection to future Scarborough RT extension, exact location to be determined)
* Washburn Way/Lapsley Road
* Midblock Stop between Washburn Way and Neilson Road
* Neilson Road (connection to future Scarborough Malvern LRT line from Neilson Road to Morningside Avenue)
* Murison Boulevard
* Brenyon Way/Breckon Gate
* Morningside Avenue
* Water Tower Gate/Grand Marshall Boulevard
* Rouge River Drive/Dean Park Road
* Idagrove Gate
* Meadowvale Road

Proposed Transit City LRT lines

* Eglinton Crosstown LRT
* Jane LRT
* Etobicoke-Finch West LRT
* Don Mills LRT
* Scarborough Malvern LRT
* Waterfront West LRT
* Sheppard East LRT

ee also

* Transit City
* Toronto Transit Commission
* Toronto streetcar system
* Toronto subway and RT
* Sheppard (TTC)

References

External links

* [http://www.ttc.ca/ Official TTC site]
* [http://transitcity.ca/ Transit City website]
* [http://www.toronto.ca/involved/projects/sheppard_east_lrt/index.htm Proposed Sheppard Avenue East Light Rail Transit (LRT) Class Environmental Assessment Study website]