Despite the opinion of the minister of transport, the Toronto Port Authority rushed ahead with its plans to expand the island airport. In the meantime plans for the rail link from Union Station to Pearson appear to be derailed.
This airport rail link project was conceived as part of a broader plan to improve the transportation infrastructure in the Greater Toronto Area. It is estimated that 1.5 million people a year would use the service once it was completed, and it would significantly reduce the number of vehicles going to and from Pearson.
The route of the proposed rail line is to begin at Union Station and use the CNR tracks that lead to Brampton, Georgetown and further west. This line is already used for GO commuter rail service. Near the Woodbine Racetrack, a 3.2 kilometre spur line would be built to the Pearson airport terminal. In total the route is about 30 kilometres.
The cost of the project is estimated to be $200 million, which includes the costs of improving the track, building the spur line and refurbishing the railway cars for service. Once the initial capital costs have been made, the service is expected to pay for itself out of revenues from the fare box.
The project was named “Blue 22” because the ride between Pearson and Union would take twenty-two minutes. In the planning stage it was decided that an intermediate stop would be made at the TTC Dundas West/GO station on the Bloor subway line. There have also been discussions of creating a stop at Woodbine Racetrack. These connections would complement existing public transit and broaden the number of customers.
In November 2003 SNC-Lavalin, an engineering firm, was selected to build and manage the new rail line, but then, just as the project was set to get underway, objections were raised.
The neighbourhood of Weston, in the north-west part of Toronto, straddles the rail line. New construction for the project would see three additional tracks through the Weston neighbourhood which would increase rail traffic more than fourfold. Community activists were worried about the danger of high-speed trains going through their neighbourhood. The new lines would also divide the community. Vehicle traffic on one street would be permanently blocked from crossing the tracks.
The Pearson-Union rail link became an issue during the federal election of January 23, 2006. Incumbent Liberal MP Alan Tonks supported the link, while the other candidates opposed it. It was also an issue in the October 2007, provincial election campaign, when all local candidates came out against the link.
The project is now in a state of limbo. Both the federal and provincial governments say they continue to support it, but the project has been referred to an environmental assessment. Terms of reference for the study were submitted to the Ministry of the Environment in August 2006, and nothing has happened since. It looks like it has been killed by the politicians.
Click here to see a map of what was proposed for a rail route between Union Station and Pearson Airport.
It is still possible to get to the airport by public transit. Regular bus service leaves every twenty minutes from downtown hotels, and the TTC has bus service to the airport from both the Kipling and the Lawrence West subway stations. You can get information on the TTC service by clicking here.