City council has voted in favour of the proposed station concepts for six planned “SmartTrack” stops, something that Mayor John Tory says is “evidence” of the fact that his signature campaign promise is “moving forward.”

A report that was released last week asked council to endorse the concepts for the six “SmartTrack” stops and authorize staff to begin working in partnership with Metrolinx to address stations-specific design elements.

The report also asked council to approve the design concept for a 10-stop light rail line along Eglinton Avenue West between Mount Dennis Station and Renforth Station.

That item proved to be more controversial, as council spent most of Tuesday’s meeting debating whether or not to direct staff to further investigate possible options for grade separations or tunneling along the portion of the line running through Etobicoke.

Council did, however, ultimately vote in favour of an earlier executive committee recommendation, which directs staff to strike a working group to look at possible grade separations.

That working group will be struck despite the fact that staff have already said that tunneling would be prohibitively costly and should not be pursued.

“To me we should have ripped the band aid off and not explored tunneling but that is this place (city hall). It is nutty sometimes,” Trinity-Spadina Coun. Joe Cressy told CP24 following the vote.

Tory says ‘SmartTrack’ is moving forward

Tory’s initial plan for “SmartTrack” -- first floated during the 2014 mayoral election campaign -- called for 13 new rapid transit stops as well as a heavy rail line along Eglinton Avenue West.

The plan that is now being developed includes six new stations, which will be serviced by GO trains but paid for by the City of Toronto, as well a 10-stop extension of the Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Line (LRT).

The fare that will be paid by commuters using the new stations will be subject to negotiation between Metrolinx and city officials, though Tory has repeatedly said that he envisions customers being able to hop aboard for the price of riding the TTC.

“This is the subject of a lot of debate and people are debating whether it is exactly the same as discussed during the campaign and is it moving forward and I am here to say this: yes it is moving forward,” Tory told reporters at city hall on Tuesday morning. “This very report is evidence that it is moving forward.”

Though Tory has said that he is delivering on “SmartTrack,” some councillors have said that the project as now proposed falls far short of what was put forward during the election campaign.

“I just want to remind you all this is not SmartTrack. This is six additional localized stops into a GO RER network. It is a good idea and that is why I support the concept but let’s do the concept wisely and well and not pretend it is something else,” Ward 22 Coun. Josh Matlow said during Tuesday’s debate. “SmartTrack was a brand created during an election campaign that we have all adopted. Let’s just get real on what we are talking about and move forward on what makes sense.”

Matlow said that council was being asked to advance a proposal that lacks “relevant facts,” most notably the results of an ongoing review of a “SmartTrack” station planned for Lawrence Avenue East near Kennedy Road. He called the debate over “SmartTrack” “absolutely absurd.”

Tory, however, said that the project has simply been refined by planning staff and has therefor undergone some changes from the proposal that was put forward during the campaign.

“The bottom line is that this project, which will relieve congestion on the Yonge Street subway and for the first time make use of the tracks that run inside Toronto, is moving forward,” he said on Tuesday morning. “Before I came along and we came up with the idea of piggybacking on the GO RER (Regional Express Rail) plan there was no contemplation by anybody to make greater use of the tracks in order to move people inside of Toronto. There was no proposal. Nobody was saying let’s do it.”

Tory conceded that the Eglinton West project is “admittedly in a different form than what was discussed during the election” but he stressed that the general concept behind “SmartTrack” is moving forward.

He added that “SmartTrack” remains on track to be completed before “almost any other” public transit project that is in the pipeline right now. In October, Tory said that he expected “SmartTrack” to be completed in the early 2020’s.

The city’s share of the “SmartTrack” project cost is estimated at about $1.3 billion.

“This is a substantive project, it is a huge project, it is funded in the sense that we have the money from the other governments to make this happen and the work is underway,” Tory said.

The report on “SmartTrack” is one of 205 items on the agenda for this week’s council meeting.