I saw in another thread a discussion on the mid-town line and I decided to make a map of what it could possibly be. I made this map on the assumption of an RER/S-Bahn style service with stops spaced around 2+km apart in the less dense suburbs and around 1km apart in the dense mid-town area. The denser stop spacing would also allow the line to act as a relief valve for the western side of Line 2 along the highest ridership part of that part of the line (the OL serves the same purpose on the east side). It would also add another bridge between the two halves of Line 1 in the event one side is out of action. The line through Toronto (yellow) between McCowan Rd and Dixie GO is pretty much set in stone. However beyond that I identified multiple possible alignment in the east and west ends that the route could take.
In the east end I identified two possible alignments east of McCowan:
Option E1 (Orange): This alignment would follow the Havelock Sub to 14th Ave in Markham. The benefit of this alignment is that CP doesn't use it much (VIA was eyeing it for HFR) so running a service on it would probably be easy.
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Option E2 (Red): This alignment follows the Bellville Sub through Durham to Oshawa Central. The benefit of this alignment is that it would give Durham residents another transit option through the region and allow them to bypass downtown Toronto. As well the stop at Oshawa Central would create a nice transit hub with connections to DRT, GO Bus and the LSE. As well the stops in Oshawa and Whitby are far more centrally located then the current ones on the LSE. The downside is that this is CP's main line through Durham and I don't know if the corridor is wide enough for 4 tracks plus station infrastructure. So running this service may be hard if not impossible.
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In the west end I identified three possible alignments:
Option W1 (Sky Blue): This one is simple as the line simply terminates at Cooksville GO. This would offer a transfer to the LRT and isn't too far from MCC. It will also be cheap since the only change would be upgrading Cooksville to handle terminating trains.
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Option W2 (Blue): This alignment would have the line dive underground and run to the MCC proper. The benefit here is that it would create and major hub with connections to MiWay, GO Bus, and the LRT as well as serve Square One and its surrounding developments so ridership would be really good. The downside is this would be stupid expensive to build.
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Option W3 (Dark Blue): This alignment follows the Milton Line to Erindale GO before breaking off and following the inactive Orangeville-Brampton Railway through Brampton to Orangeville. The benefit here is that it would create a north-south line through Peele Region allowing for better suburb-to-suburb travel between Brampton and Mississauga. The downside is the reactivation and upgrading (e.g. double tracking) of the OBR which no doubt would include a major NIMBY fight.
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