TOWN OF WHITBY REPORT RECOMMENDATION REPORT REPORT TO: Operations Committee REPORT NO: PW 18-11 DATE OF MEETING: March 22, 2011 FILE NO(S): PREPARED BY: Public Works LOCATION: Victoria St./ South Blair St./ Hopkins St. REPORT TITLE/SUBJECT: Notice of Study Completion: Environmental Assessment and Preliminary Design Study - GO Transit Oshawa to Bowmanville Rail Service Expansion and Rail Maintenance Facility 1.0 RECOMMENDATION: 1. That Public Works Report PW 18-11 be received for information. 2. That Council endorse the comments provided to GO Transit, as shown in Attachment C. 3. That copies of Public Works Report PW 18-11, including Council’s resolution, be forwarded to GO Transit and the Ministry of Environment. 2.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: GO Transit has completed an Environmental Assessment and Preliminary Design Study in accordance with Ontario’s Transit Project Assessment Process for the expansion of GO Train service from Oshawa to Bowmanville and the construction of a new rail maintenance facility in Whitby (See Attachments A and B). The study also reviewed potential sites for new stations and train facilities, options for connecting the CN railway corridor with the CP railway corridor, and also identified improvements to the existing railway line. In order to accommodate the transit improvements through Whitby, a new grade- separated rail crossing is proposed at South Blair Street and two alternatives are being considered at the existing Hopkins Street grade-separated rail crossing (bridge): Report to: Operations Committee Report No.: PW 18-11 Page 2 of 7 1) Full removal and replacement of the existing bridge; or 2) Removal of the existing bridge, and the introduction of a new roadway/access from South Blair Street, approximately half way between Water Street and Watson Street in order to provide access to the existing businesses south of the tracks. Staff submitted comments regarding the Study to GO Transit on February 28, 2011 as shown in Attachment ‘C”. 3.0 ORIGIN: GO Transit issued the Notice of Completion of the Environmental Assessment Project Report. This notice marked the beginning of the 30-day public review period from January 28 through February 28, 2011. 4.0 BACKGROUND: In June 2007, the Ontario government announced MoveOntario 2020, a multi-year $17.5 billion rapid transit action plan for the GTHA that will build 902 km of new or improved rapid transit. Through the MoveOntario 2020 initiative, the government announced a list of 52 rapid transit improvements and expansion projects, including the GO Lakeshore East rail line extension from Oshawa to Bowmanville. The plan calls for 66% of the projects to be completed by 2015, and 95% to be completed by 2020. In this capacity, Metrolinx will hold the responsibility for evaluating, prioritizing and recommending an implementation action plan and alterations to the MoveOntario 2020 project list. In April 2009, GO Transit completed two feasibility studies: one for the extension of GO Transit’s rail service, and one to determine a preferred location for a heavy rail maintenance yard. The Town of Whitby provided comments on the feasibility studies in October of 2009 through Report PL 95-09. The study area extends from 500 metres west of Brock Street in Whitby to 500 metres east of Regional Road 42/Darlington Clarke Townline Road in Clarington. As a result of the feasibility studies, GO Transit initiated an Environmental Assessment and Preliminary Design Study in accordance with Ontario’s Transit Project Assessment (OTPA) Process. The OTPA Process is a result of Ontario Regulation 231/08 which was created to accelerate the delivery of critical transit expansion projects and streamline the requirements required through the Environmental Assessment Act for transit undertakings. Key components of the OTPA Process include: The EA study must be completed within 6 months. The EA study does not need to look at the rationale and planning alternatives or alternative solutions to public transit or the rationale and planning alternatives or alternative solutions to the particular transit project. Report to: Operations Committee Report No.: PW 18-11 Page 3 of 7 The Minister of Environment can only take action if there is a potential for a negative impact on a matter of provincial importance that relates to the natural environment or has cultural heritage value or interest, or on a constitutionally protected Aboriginal or treaty right. The recommended improvements as contained in the EA study include: 1. To expand GO rail services from 500 m west of Brock Street in the Town of Whitby to 500 m east of Regional Road 42/Darlington-Clarke Townline Road in the Municipality of Clarington (approximately 25km in length) 2. A new maintenance facility (in Whitby) 3. Opportunity to add up to five potential new GO stations It is GO’s intention, subsequent to receiving EA approval, to proceed immediately into detailed design, followed by construction shortly thereafter. It is anticipated that construction would take up to 3 years, and be completed prior to the 2015 Pam Am Games. Rail Expansion to Bowmanville The initial train service extension plan will consist of running full daily train service to the Ritson Road GO Station and extending the peak hour trains further to the Martin Road GO Station. This will generally require two (2) tracks worth of capacity to handle the full service plan with one (1) track worth of capacity over the remaining section for Phase I. Phase II will be implemented at such a time when full service to Bowmanville is warranted. This will be over and above the existing amount of track capacity within the CPR corridor. A second condition is that the freight and commuter train service must not interfere with each other during normal operation. In this way, the tracks within the CPR corridor will be delineated so that the tracks to the north of the track infrastructure will be used primarily. Maintenance Facility Yard A maintenance facility yard is proposed within the Town of Whitby, immediately south of Victoria Street, east of South Blair Street, west of Thickson Road, in the area of Hopkins Street, and north of the Canadian National Rail (CNR) line. The East Rail Maintenance Facility (ERMF) will be designed to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards by utilizing environmentally friendly building practices during design and construction. This facility will be developed to significantly increase GO Transit’s ability to handle the rail equipment maintenance requirements for the future. Initially GO Transit established one such rail equipment Report to: Operations Committee Report No.: PW 18-11 Page 4 of 7 maintenance facility in Etobicoke. With the present and future plans for expansion of the GO train system, it is now necessary to establish a second maintenance facility. The location of this site enables GO Transit to develop a balanced approach to rail equipment maintenance. In addition, GO Transit will be in a better position to manage the regulated inspections and maintenance on the entire train fleet once these two facilities are in operation. This facility will cover approximately 30 ha of land and will employ approximately 300 people in many types of work from heavy mechanics to cleaning staff to train operators and other types of work. The design of this facility will enable GO Transit to rebuild its engines and coaches, paint its equipment, wash its equipment on a regular basis, undertake regulated inspections and light maintenance and repair, and repair and replace train wheels. The facility will have stores for supplies and office space for the management of this facility. Trains will be fuelled here and approximately 18, 12-car train sets will be able to be stored here and put onto electrical land lines and turned off when not in use. From this rail yard, locomotives will be started and the trains sent into revenue service. This will enable train operators or crews to start and end their day from the crew center in this facility. The rail infrastructure to support all of this activity will stretch from South Blair Road in the west to Thickson Road in the east. As part of the design for this facility, GO Transit has undertaken measures to provide a rail/road grade separation at South Blair Road. This railway bridge will accommodate the entire existing track requirements across this road as well as two (2) tracks associated with this facility’s rail yard. The new grade separation at South Blair Road will improve existing conditions and eliminate the need for train whistles at the current at grade crossing. Two alternatives are being considered at this time regarding the existing grade- separated rail crossing (bridge) at Hopkins Street: 1) Full removal and replacement of the existing bridge; OR 2) Removal of the existing grade-separated rail crossing, and the introduction of a new roadway/access from South Blair Street, approximately half way between Water Street and Watson Street in order to provide access to the existing businesses south of the tracks. New GO Stations (east of Whitby) The extension of GO Train Service from Oshawa to Bowmanville will be developed with the associated four (4) new GO Train Stations to be opened upon the opening of this new extended train service. In addition, one (1) potential future GO Train Station is proposed to be opened when demand warrants the need for the additional station. Report to: Operations Committee Report No.: PW 18-11 Page 5 of 7 Thornton Road GO Station Site (Thornton’s Corners) Ritson Road GO Station Site (Oshawa GO Station NEW) Bloor Street GO Station Site (Grandview GO Station) - Potential future site Courtice Road GO Station Site (Darlington GO Station) Martin Road GO Station Site (Bowmanville GO Station) 5.0 DISCUSSION/OPTIONS: Staff comments on the EA study were provided as shown in Attachment C in order to achieve the February 28th commenting period deadline.