Hurontario LRT


The Hurontario LRT is a light rail line under construction in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, that extends into Brampton, Ontario. This line will run along Hurontario Street. The line will be built and operated by a consortium of private European and Japanese companies. As of 2010, it was likely that Metrolinx would own the line.
The Cities of Mississauga and Brampton have determined that rapid transit along Hurontario is required due to the chronic overcrowding of Mississauga's busiest bus route, 19 Hurontario, which carries more than 25,000 passengers a day, combined with the numerous high-density development proposals along the corridor and the high growth in both cities. They have identified three options: light rail transit for the entire corridor, bus rapid transit for the entire corridor, or a combination of both. After three public information sessions, the residents of both cities favoured light rail transit along the full length of the corridor.
On October 28, 2015, Brampton City Council voted against allowing the LRT to run along the Main Street portion of the route because of concerns of low ridership projections and the preferences for an LRT along an alternate route. Thus, the LRT will terminate at the Brampton Gateway Terminal on Steeles Avenue instead of Brampton GO Station.
Construction began in 2020 and the line is projected to enter service in fall 2024.

Procurement

and Metrolinx are planning to deliver the Hurontario LRT project according to IO's Alternative Financing and Procurement model which basically is a public–private partnership arrangement.
On October 18, 2016, IO and Metrolinx started the procurement process by issuing a request for qualifications to design, build, operate and maintain the Hurontario LRT. The request also asks bidders to supply 44 light rail vehicles, which implies that none of the 182 Flexity Freedom vehicles Metrolinx ordered in 2010 would operate on the line.
On June 6, 2017, IO and Metrolinx announced that three teams had been shortlisted:
On December 1, 2017, IO and Metrolinx announced that the route would employ 44 Citadis Spirit vehicles, from Alstom. These vehicles are longer and higher capacity than the Flexity Freedom vehicles purchased for earlier Metrolinx routes.
On March 21, 2019, IO and Metrolinx announced that the project would be scaled down to cut costs. About two kilometres of the City Centre loop were removed, along with two stations. The stop at Highway 407 and the pedestrian bridge at Cooksville GO Station were also removed.
In May 23, 2019, IO and Metrolinx announced that proposal have been submitted by only two of the three shortlisted teams of private companies, namely Mobilinx and Trillium Transit Partners. Hurontario Light Rail Connection Partners did not submit a proposal.
On October 21, IO and Metrolinx announced that Mobilinx had been awarded the contract to design, build, finance, operate, and maintain the Hurontario LRT for a period of 30 years. The total contract value was $4.6 billion and a completion date of Fall 2024 was set in the announcement. John Laing, Astaldi, Transdev, Amico, and Hitachi are part of the consortium.

Costs

In 2016, the LRT line was projected to cost $1.4 billion. On April 21, 2015, the Government of Ontario announced that it would completely fund the line, not including local capital costs such as utility relocations, surface upgrades, and landscaping.
When Mobilinx was chosen as the winning bidder, the total contract value was $5.6 billion. This included $4.6 billion to design, build and finance plus $1 billion to operate and maintain the line for 30 years. The line was previously costed at $1.2 billion for capital costs only. The City of Mississauga is expected to cover the operating and maintenance costs.

Route

The LRT line will begin at the Port Credit GO Station and continue northward, crossing the Queen Elizabeth Way along the current northbound lanes of Hurontario, with the southbound lanes passing beneath the QEW in a new tunnel. At Dundas Street, it could connect to a proposed rapid transit line. The LRT will indirectly connect to Cooksville GO Station using the LRT stop at John Street. The line continues northward until turning onto a single-stop spur on Rathburn Road which provides a connection to BRT, City Centre Transit Terminal, and Square One Shopping Centre. The LRT then reverses back onto the mainline, crossing over Highway 403 on a new bridge before descending back to street level. The line will then end at Steeles Avenue where it will descend into an underground station, connecting with the 511 Züm Steeles BRT line at Brampton Gateway Terminal.

Right-of-way

As of the second Public Information Centre, the LRT will have a dedicated right-of-way throughout the entire corridor, except for a few sections at the segment north of Nanwood Drive, where the segregated right-of-way has been removed to allow left-turn or right-turn lanes. As a result, road space along most of the corridor will reallocate two car lanes to the LRT, leaving four lanes for general traffic. Some narrower sections of Hurontario Street in Port Credit will be reduced to one car lane per direction.
The corridor will have their median lanes removed to make space for the LRT, with some exceptions such as:
The LRT line can have a few modifications along the route as it enters the later phases of the study:
On October 28, 2015, Brampton City Council voted 7–4 against allowing the LRT to run along Main Street through its heritage downtown area, as originally planned by the province. Without this agreement, the province has indicate it will move ahead with the project, terminating the LRT at Steeles Avenue instead of Brampton GO Station. Opposed council members had also previously cited a lack of projected growth along the northern half of the proposed Brampton route to support an LRT.
Proponents said the Main Street route advocated by the province would have revived the city’s struggling downtown core. However, opponents argued that the Main Street route lacked potential for ridership and future growth. According to City of Brampton's transit ridership data, the current ridership along Main Street has an average of 200 riders per hour per direction on weekdays and Brampton’s downtown has a ridership of about 450 passengers an hour.
Although all councillors were in support of an LRT, they disagreed on the route it should take. Councillors opposing the Main Street route have proposed running the LRT east or west along Steeles Avenue and then north to Queen Street where it would then possibly continue east from Brampton's downtown area to the Bramalea GO Station or possibly all the way to the terminus of the western branch of the Toronto subway's Line 1 Yonge–University at Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. In March, 2013, Brampton City Council asked city staff to consider two alternative routes north from Steeles Avenue, either partially north on Main Street, east to Peel Memorial Hospital, north to Queen Street and east to Brampton GO Station, or north on Kennedy Road, west on Queen Street to Brampton GO Station.
Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig said the provincial money allocated to the Main Street route in Brampton would now be available for other transit projects across the province. However, McCuaig also said Metrolinx would be open to evaluate alternate transit proposals from Brampton for provincial funding for the next round of transit initiatives.
On November 3, 2015, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca announced that the funding for the cancelled Main Street route will be invested in priority transit projects in the Greater Toronto Area which might or might not include Brampton.

City Centre loop cancellation

A branch-loop was planned around Mississauga City Centre and Square One Shopping Centre. The loop would have served most of the City Centre at a walking distance of, and included stops on Burnhamthorpe Road, Duke of York Boulevard, and Rathburn Road. On March 21, 2019, Metrolinx announced that most of the downtown loop would be cancelled due to financial restrictions, although a short spur and stop on Rathburn would remain. Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie indicated that the rest of the loop could be built at a later phase.

Operations

The LRT is planned to run every 5 minutes during rush hours, and every 10 minutes for the rest of the week. Service hours on the LRT corridor is planned to be between 5:00 AM and 1:30 AM Mondays to Saturdays and 7:00 AM to 12:00 AM on Sundays and holidays. Bus service is expected to supplement the remaining hours, making the Hurontario corridor have a 24/7 transit operation. The LRT will take 40 minutes to travel the whole route, compared to 58 minutes by private automobile.
The LRT is planned to have multiple-unit trains, carrying up to about 600 people. Station will have platforms of at least 90 metres long to accommodate the trains. The line will have between 15 and 21 substations to provide electricity for the LRT, which will be distributed evenly throughout the corridor. The LRT will operate on either 750 or 1500 volts of power. Vehicles will be stored and maintained at a new facility adjacent to a hydro corridor and Highway 407.
The line will use Alstom Citadis Spirit light rail vehicles, which will be manufactured at a new assembly plant in Brampton. Due to issues with the manufacturing of the Flexity Freedom, Metrolinx was concerned that Bombardier would be unable to deliver enough trains on time for the opening of the Line 5 Eglinton; thus, Metrolinx ordered trains from Alstom as a contingency. Should the Flexity Freedom trains arrive on time for Line 5, the Citadis Spirits will instead be allocated to the Hurontario LRT.

Existing bus service

On May 16, 2011, MiWay realigned service along Hurontario to include limited-stop service during Saturdays for passengers wishing to bypass Square One.
In September 6, 2011, Brampton Transit launched its second bus rapid transit line, Route 502 Züm Main, which runs from Sandalwood Parkway to Mississauga City Centre all week long. This route replaced MiWay's 102 Intercity Express. Züm buses run every 10 minutes during rush hours and 20 minutes during off-peak hours and weekends. The frequency of its local counterpart, 2 Main, was reduced to boost ridership in the express service.
At the same date, MiWay replaced 202 Hurontario with a new route, 103 Hurontario Express, which offers additional mid-day and evening services. Its local counterpart, 19 Hurontario, was cut to GO Transit's Highway 407 Park and Ride to fortify the overlapping express services, however its frequency was further increased to address ongoing overcrowding issues between Britannia and Lakeshore Roads, the busiest section of the corridor. 103 Hurontario Express runs every 17.5 minutes during rush hours, 19 minutes during middays and 24 minutes during Saturdays.
On May 5, 2014, MiWay realigned service along Hurontario corridor once again to provide more 10-minute service on daytime along the express route during weekdays, while cutting Routes 19A, 19B, and 19C for the local service south of Trillium Health Centre, leaving only the main branch of Route 19 to serve the entire Mississauga portion of the corridor from Highway 407 to Port Credit.
On April 27, 2020, Miway has split the route 19 Hurontario into two routes: 2 Hurontario operating between City Centre and Port Credit GO Station, and 17 Hurontario operating between the Highway 407 Park and Ride and City Centre to improve reliability during the LRT construction, while the express route remained unchanged.

Stations and connections

There will be 19 stations throughout the corridor with an average spacing of 850 metres and will feature 90-metre platforms. They are expected to have heated shelters, CCTV cameras, real-time information system and bicycle lockers. Most of them will feature secondary entrances, but since most of the corridor is currently suburban in nature, these secondary entrances create mid-block crossings throughout Hurontario and Main Streets, which enhance pedestrian access.
In January 2018, to avoid conflict with existing transit stations in the Greater Toronto Area, a consultation process was started to select unique and memorable names for the stops at Steeles, Highway 407, Eglinton, Rathburn at Station Gate, Duke of York, Main at Burnhamthorpe, Central Parkway, and Dundas; the initial suggestions were Brampton Gateway, 407 & Hurontario, Eglinton & Hurontario, Mississauga City Centre, Celebration Square, The Exchange, Fairview, and Dundas & Hurontario, respectively.
Stop locationPlatformConnections
Steeles AvenueCentre, north side
  • Brampton Gateway Terminal
  • Züm
Sir Lou Drive – County CourtCentre, north sideBrampton Transit bus routes:
  • 2 Main
  • 33 Peter Robertson
Züm
  • 502 Züm Main
Ray Lawson Boulevard – County CourtCentre, north sideBrampton Transit bus routes:
Derry RoadCentre, north sideMiWay bus routes:
  • 42 Derry
  • 104 Derry Express
    • Courtneypark DriveCentre, south sideMiWay bus route:
  • 57 Courtneypark
    • Britannia RoadCentre, south sideMiWay bus routes:
  • 39 Britannia
  • 70 Keaton
    • Matheson BoulevardCentre, north sideMiWay bus route:
  • 25 Traders Loop
  • 43 Matheson-Argentia
    • Bristol RoadCentre, north sideMiWay bus route:
  • 10 Bristol-Britannia
    • Eglinton AvenueCentre, north sideMiWay bus route:
  • 35 Eglinton
    • City CentreEast side
  • Mississauga Transitway
  • Square One Bus Terminal
    • Robert Speck ParkwayCentre, north sideMiWay bus routes:
  • 10 Bristol-Britannia
  • 76 City Centre-Subway
    • BurnhamthorpeCentre, south sideMiWay bus route:
  • 26 Burnhamthorpe
    • FairviewCentre, north sideMiWay bus routes:
  • 53 Kennedy
  • 304 Father Goetz-Mississauga Valley
    • Cooksville GO StationCentre
  • Cooksville GO Station on Milton line
    • Dundas StreetCentre, south side
  • Future Dundas Street BRT
  • Current MiWay routes:
  • * 1 Dundas
  • * 101 Dundas Express
    • The QueenswayCentre, south side
  • Trillium Health Centre bus terminal
    • North Service RoadCentre, north side
    Mineola RoadCentre, south sideMiWay routes:
  • 8 Cawthra
  • 335 Glenforest South
    • Port Credit GO StationCentre
  • Port Credit GO Station on Lakeshore West line

    • Benefits

    Mississauga plans to use the Hurontario LRT to spur commercial development and employment opportunities along the line. According to Ed Sajecki, Commissioner of Planning and Building for Mississauga, downtown development had been mostly residential towers as developers felt it was to too expensive to provide parking for large office towers. Sajecki expects that the LRT will eliminate the need for downtown parking. With the LRT, downtown population is expected to double in less than two decades from its currently estimated 40,000. According to Mayor Bonnie Crombie, Mississauga is planning for mixed-use zoning along Hurontario including accommodation, businesses, commercial, retail and arts-cultural development.

    Criticism