User:Geo Swan/Ontario Line

The Ontario Line is the name used for a planned rapid transit route introduced in Ontario's 2019-2020 budget, on April 10, 2019.

The Doug Ford government budgeted $10.9 billion Canadian dollars for this 15 km route. Its northern terminus would be at Eglinton Avenue and Don Mills Road, at Science Centre Station, on the Eglinton Crosstown route. Its southern terminus would be at a new station, at Ontario Place.

The Doug Ford government characterized the route as a "standalone" route, one that would use lighter rolling stock, and shorter trainsets, than the Toronto Transit Commission's existing subway lines.

The City of Toronto had been planning to build a Downtown Relief Line, between Pape Station on the Bloor-Danforth Subway Line, and Osgoode Station on the Yonge-University Line. However, in the months prior to announcing this budget the Province had announced its plans to take over the city's subway lines. The Province made clear, on budget day

Route
The number of stations on the line were not specified, when the line was announced. However, the next day, April 11, 2019, the Provincial budget included a list of stations, Science Centre, Flemingdon Park, Thorncliffe Park, Cosburn, Pape, Gerrard, Leslieville, East Harbour, Sumach, Sherbourne South, Queen, Osgoode, Queen-Spadina and King-Bathurst and Ontario Place.

Rolling stock
The route is reported to use smaller trainsets, and a smaller guage. It is claimed that, by using driverless trains, with automatic train control, the same number of passengers will be able to be carried, by running trains more frequently.

Relationship with the Relief Line
The City of Toronto had been working, for years, on subway line known as the Downtown Relief Line or simply Relief Line, which would have used the same conventional heavy rail subway vehicles as used on Lines 1, Line 2, and Line 4. After consultations with the public, and environmental assessments, that took years, a final choice of right of way and station location had been agreed upon.

However Premier Doug Ford's government began the process of uploading ownership and management of Toronto's subway lines from the City to the Province.