[URBAN NOTE] "Metrolinx to move ahead with giant Davenport rail bridge"

[rfmcdonald]

Here's another Tess Kalinowski Toronto Star article, this one describing controversy over a new rail bridge at Davenport. In my humble opinion, NIMBYism is a bad idea, especially when it comes to transit improvements we need.

Residents along the train tracks may have lost the fight to stop Metrolinx from building a three-storey rail overpass near Davenport Rd. north of Bloor St.

But that doesn’t resolve the broader issue of reconciling the tight deadlines of the province’s massive GO expansion with Toronto’s city-building agenda, says the local councillor.

Metrolinx will move ahead with the approvals process for the 1.5-km rail bridge in January, rather than the spring as the city had expected. The provincial agency says its schedule for the electrified regional express rail program won’t permit further delay.

The bridge — which has been referred to as a Gardiner Expressway for GO trains — will allow all-day, two-way service on the Barrie line by eliminating the Davenport diamond where those tracks intersect with the CP freight corridor.

Even if CP and CN agree to move freight off the corridor in favour of a new freight line north of the city, Metrolinx says the Davenport rail-to-rail crossing needs to be eliminated to make way for more commuter trains.