Type Light rail Locale Toronto, Ontario | System Toronto subway and RT | |
 | ||
Status Cancelled (but revived as an eastern extension of Eglinton Crosstown line) Termini Kennedy Station
Sheppard Avenue Operator(s) Toronto Transit Commission | ||
The Scarborough Malvern LRT was a proposed light rail line in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was part of Transit City, a plan to develop new light rail lines along several priority transit corridors in the city. In January 2016, the plan for this light rail route was revived and rebranded as the Crosstown East extension of the Eglinton Crosstown line.
Contents
History
The Scarborough Malvern LRT was part of the Transit City proposal announced on March 16, 2007 to be operated by the Toronto Transit Commission. It was expected to cost approximately $1.26 billion including vehicles, property, escalation and an apportioned cost of the Maintenance and Storage facilities. With construction originally to begin in 2014, the line was expected to open in 2019 as the last of the seven Transit City lines.
The Scarborough Malvern LRT was approved by Toronto City Council on September 30, 2009, and the environmental assessment received a notice to proceed from the Government of Ontario on December 15, 2009. However, it was cancelled by Rob Ford on December 1, 2010 when he announced the cancellation of Transit City. While LRT lines on Sheppard East, Finch West, and Eglinton were revived through a new agreement between the City of Toronto and Metrolinx, the Scarborough Malvern LRT was not included.
The Scarborough Malvern LRT is still included in Metrolinx's regional transportation plan The Big Move under the 25-year horizon. Aspects of the Scarborough Malvern LRT were then incorporated into the new 198 U of T Scarborough Rocket express bus.
On January 20, 2016, City staff recommended revisions to the Scarborough Subway plan that would include reviving the original plan for the Scarborough Malvern LRT, to be rebranded as "Crosstown East".
Route layout
The Scarborough Malvern LRT line would run for 13 km, estimated to account for 14 million trips in 2021. The southern terminus of the line would be built at Kennedy Station at Kennedy Road and Eglinton Avenue, with a connection to the Bloor-Danforth subway, the Scarborough RT, and the Eglinton Crosstown LRT line. The whole line would be built within Scarborough. The line would run along Eglinton Avenue East until it reaches Kingston Road, then continues northeast until Morningside Avenue is reached, then continues north until Ellesmere Road is reached, then continues east until Military Trail is reached, then continues northwest until Morningside Avenue is reached. Finally, the line turns north at Morningside Avenue, terminating at Sheppard Avenue East where it will meet the future Sheppard East LRT line.
The original layout had the LRT continuing north along Morningside Avenue directly to Sheppard Avenue East, without a detour along Ellesmere Road and Military Trail to service the University of Toronto Scarborough.
The original layout also had the LRT continuing west along its current terminus at Sheppard Avenue East, overlapping the Sheppard East LRT line to Neilson Road, where it would turn north and terminate at the Malvern Town Centre. This section was most likely cancelled as the Scarborough RT extension would already be servicing that area.
This layout was revised, and the northern section north of Sheppard was split into a new, independent LRT line called the Malvern LRT, which would continue from Sheppard station. The Malvern LRT is classified a "Future Transit Project" in the 2013 "Feeling Congested?" report by the City of Toronto.
The Scarborough-Malvern LRT was rebranded as the "Crosstown East" extension of the Line 5 Eglinton, potentially making the Malvern LRT connect with Line 5 Eglinton at Kennedy in the future.
Proposed stops
The TTC indicated that stops would be spaced on average 400 metres apart. The distances between the stops varies, but they were likely candidates, from north to south: