Mayor John Tory says he's confident that building a new transit stop in Scarborough is the right thing to do, even though a report ordered by Metrolinx suggests the opposite.
In June 2016, the board at Ontario's public transit agency voted to go ahead with building a new GO station on the site of the Scarborough RT Lawrence East stop, even though an internal report from a civil engineering firm said that thanks to "projected poor performance, (and) lack of fit at the regional or network level," it isn't worth considering for at least the next decade.
Mayor Tory insists that the report on possible new Regional Express Rail stations is "outside the context" of his SmartTrack transit plan, which would use RER as its base.
While the results of the report were not made public, Tory said on Monday he doubts that they was ever intentionally kept secret and says its another sign that all public institutions have work to do when it comes to making information accessible.
Officials with Metrolinx plan to make the document available online.
A new GO/SmartTrack station at Lawrence East helps the Mayor make good on an election campaign promise to bring his SmartTrack vision to life.
Also among the station proposals given a less-than-favourable review in the report but eventually approved to be built was one in Vaughan that also happens to be in the riding of Ontario's transportation minister.
Even though the decisions to build these stations go against recommendations from the engineering firm that wrote the report, there are no indications Steven Del Duca or Mayor Tory did anything against the rules to secure their approval.
In the case of Lawrence East Station, City of Toronto staff have endorsed the site as a stop for SmartTrack.
Kirby station is expected to cost $126 million to build and operate, and the new Lawrence East station is estimated to cost $46 million.
Both of those estimates are based on a 60-year time frame.