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Light rail in Canada

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Light rail in Canada

Light rail in Canada entails light rail systems in Canadian urban areas. Canada has three light rail systems—in Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa—and one streetcar system in Toronto.

Contents

This article also gives a brief overview of light rail projects both proposed and under construction in Canada. Waterloo Region's Ion rapid transit and Ottawa's Confederation Line will open in 2018.

Existing light rail systems

The following table lists average weekday ridership figures for the four Canadian light rail systems, using Third Quarter 2014 figures (from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA)) wherever possible:

List of future light rail lines by city

The following table lists light rail lines either planned or under construction:

Calgary

Calgary Transit claims that the Calgary CTrain network, which started operation in 1981, now has the highest ridership of any light rail transit system in North America, carrying over over 320,000 passengers per weekday. This is higher than the 155 year-old Toronto streetcar system and is also higher than the Boston Light Rail system, which is the busiest light rail transit system in the United States. There are 45 stations in operation in the 60-kilometer (37 mi) CTrain light rail system, After starting by running on one leg in 1981, the system has expanded and now has four legs radiating out into Calgary's suburbs in different directions. The legs have been organized into two routes (identified as the Red Line and the Blue Line) that connect the four legs via shared tracks in a downtown transit mall. The existing four legs of the system, as built in chronological order, are the South leg (1981), the Northeast leg (1985), the Northwest leg (1987), and the West leg (2012). The segments of the system are:

  • Downtown - the transit mall where the Red and Blue lines share common tracks at street level along 7th Avenue South;
  • Route 201 - the Red line connects the South and Northwest legs via the downtown transit mall;
  • Route 202 - the Blue line connects the Northeast and West legs via the downtown transit mall;
  • Route 203 - the planned Green line will add about 40 kilometres (25 mi) and 28 stations to the system by connecting a North leg to a Southeast leg, probably in a tunnel underneath the existing downtown transit mall. Construction on it is expected to start in 2017.

    • Edmonton

    Until 2015, the Edmonton Transit System operated only one light rail line, the Capital Line. In 2015, the new Metro Line becomes the first new line in Edmonton that is not an extension of the existing Capital Line. The under construction Valley Line will use low-floor vehicles.

  • The Capital Line runs roughly north-south, between northeast Edmonton and the Century Park community, with a mix of tunnels and at-grade track. Six stations are underground, while the remaining nine are at-grade.
  • The new Metro Line which opened on 6 September 2015 extended the light rail system by 3.3 km (2.1 mi) adding three new stations. It interlines with the Capital Line sharing seven stations and services northwest Edmonton to central Edmonton.
  • The Valley Line is a under construction 27 km (17 mi), low-floor urban line running southeast to west from Mill Woods to Lewis Farms, crossing through downtown. The line will be constructed in two phases, with phase 1 being the portion between Mill Woods and 102 Street (downtown) connecting with the Capital Line and Metro Line at Churchill.

    • Hamilton

    Hamilton, Ontario's B-Line route, part of the region's BLAST rapid transit network, is a proposed light rail line to run east-west along King and Main streets, with McMaster University and Eastgate Square as its termini. However, in announcing the financing for the line, the Province of Ontario changed the eastern terminus to Queenston Circle instead of Eastgate Square but added a branch to the new West Harbour GO Station.

    Ottawa

    In 2001, to supplement its Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, Ottawa opened a diesel light rail pilot project, (the O-Train), which was relatively inexpensive to construct (C$21 million), due to its single-track route along a little used freight-rail right of way and use of diesel multiple units (DMUs) to avoid the cost of building overhead lines along the tracks.

    With the construction of the Confederation Line, the O-Train brand has been extended to both rail transit services and the diesel line has been renamed as the Trillium Line.

  • The Trillium Line is an 8 km (5.0 mi) diesel light rail line running north to south from Bayview Station to Greenboro Station connecting with a transitway at each terminus. There are three passing sidings along the single-track line.
  • The Confederation Line is a light rail line under construction to run east-west from Blair to Tunney's Pasture connecting to a transitway at each terminus and with the Trillium Line at Bayview. With the exception of three underground downtown stations, the line will run on the surface.

    • Peel Region

    The Hurontario LRT is a proposed 17.6 km (10.9 mi) light rail line largely financed by the Province of Ontario to run on the surface along Hurontario Street from Port Credit GO Station in Mississauga to Steeles Avenue in Brampton. On October 28, 2015, Brampton City Council cancelled the proposed 5.6 km (3.5 mi) section of the line along Main Street in Brampton to Brampton GO Station.

    Surrey, B.C. (Suburban Vancouver)

    The City of Surrey has proposed to build a 27 km (17 mi) network containing 3 light rail lines radiating from Skytrain stations in Surrey. The proposed lines are:

  • Surrey City Centre to Guildford Town Centre on 104 Avenue (travel time: 10 minutes).
  • Surrey City Centre to Newton Town Centre on King George Boulevard (travel time: 15 minutes).
  • Surrey City Centre via Fleetwood Town Centre to City of Langley along on Fraser Highway (travel time: 24.5 minutes).

    • The lines on 104 Avenue and King George Boulevard would be built in 7 years while the Surrey-Langley Line on Fraser Highway would be finished 5 years afterward. A report (Economic Benefits of Surrey LRT) was produced by a consulting firm in May 2015.

    This project (among others including a new subway line in Vancouver) was dependent on approval by referendum of a tax increase to pay for new public transit. The electorate voted against the tax increase leaving the project unfunded.

    Toronto streetcar system

    Most of the 11 routes of the Toronto streetcar system operate in mixed traffic, but three of them have similarity to light rail in that there is a high degree of separation from road traffic by using reserved lanes with some track in tunnels. There is also a proposal to build a fourth such line. The lines are:

  • 510 Spadina running between Spadina Station and Union Station.
  • 509 Harbourfront running between Union Station and Exhibition Place via Queens Quay West.
  • 512 St. Clair running along St. Clair Avenue West between St. Clair Station and Gunns Loop via St. Clair West Station.

    • Light rail in Toronto

    When completed, the Toronto Transit Commission will operate three light rail lines with vehicles that will be incompatible with the streetcar system as they will use a different track gauge (1435mm for LRT, 1495mm for streetcars). The three light rail lines will operate independently of each other as there will be no interconnecting tracks between them. The TTC considers the light rail lines to be a part of its subway system along with the subway lines and the Scarborough RT and has numbered the light rail lines accordingly.

  • The Eglinton Crosstown (line 5) is a light rail transit (LRT) line under construction that will run across Eglinton Avenue between Mount Dennis (Weston Road) and Kennedy Station. This 19-kilometre corridor will include a 10-kilometre underground portion, between Keele Street and Laird Drive.
  • The Finch West LRT (line 7) is a proposed 11-kilometre light rail transit line that will run along the surface of Finch Avenue from the new Finch West Subway Station on the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension at Keele Street to Humber College.
  • The Sheppard East LRT (line 6) is a proposed 13-kilometre light rail transit line that will run along the surface of Sheppard Avenue from Don Mills subway station to east of Morningside Avenue.

    • Victoria region

    In August 2011, Victoria Regional Transit System announced that light rail transit was recommended as the preferred technology to connect Victoria to Saanich and West Shore communities.

    Waterloo Region

    The Waterloo Region, Ontario has approved plans for a light rail transit system from Waterloo to Cambridge, which will be constructed in two phases. The first phase of the LRT system is under construction and will run from Conestoga Mall in Waterloo to Fairview Park Mall in Kitchener. Extension to Ainslie St. Transit Terminal in Cambridge will be implemented in the second phase. During the first phase, the Kitchener to Cambridge segment will be operated as adapted bus rapid transit. Currently, the iXpress system, a limited stop express bus service, is operating as a precursor to rapid transit. The Region of Waterloo received funding from the provincial government.

    References

    Light rail in Canada Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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