kylemacmac

Have you ever been to Toronto? The 401 is 20 lanes out by Pearson...and it still backs up almost every day. A Highway with 3 lanes each direction is more than enough if demand is managed so that people have other options than a personal vehicle to get around.

Has anyone looked at the idea of through-running the DM line trains out of Gare Centrale to the airport on the VIA/CN Line? It could run on existing tracks, and would allow for new stations in Griffintown, Point St Charles, St. Henri, Lachine and Dorval as part of an improved commuter train network...one that could be increased in frequency to rival a metro service. I know the idea of a surface metro via the Mont Royal Tunnel has been around for a long time , but this would be ideal timing to catch the current wave of metro-expansion fever and finally get a train to the airport. Also, through-running trains via Gare Centrale could help solve any capacity issues as the downtown station would essentially just become a regular station, without trains sitting idle for very long, plugging up the station. (Congestion issues will only increase when the Repentigny-Mascouche Line starts to use the tunnel.) By short running some trains on the DM line to Roxboro (Or even Bois Franc), frequencies on this combined line could be quite high. Kinda like an RER train in Paris. This would also answer many West Islander's complaints about lack of high quality transit service, as the line could provide quality service frequencies. The shape of the line would be somewhat of a reverse "C" via downtown. The costs would be minimal: -Building a spur from Dorval Stn to the airport. -Electrifying the line from downtown to the airport. -Provisions for future complete grade separation on section of track between Downtown and Turcot. (this would also benefit VIA riders.) I'm sure there's some other hurdles (VIA trains need to do a 180 before entering Gare Centrale, cabbies, etc.), but this idea could be a major winner all around, as everything's kinda already in place. The idea's already been proposed for Penn Station in New York, and I think it could work well here too: Here's a link to a cool article outlining this way of thinking: http://www.humantransit.org/2009/08/why-isnt-throughrouting-more-common.html Anyhow, have a good one. Kyle