What’s new with the Light Railway Transit plans

For McMaster students, there is yet another update on the discussion about the upcoming light rail transit system.

Recently, with intentions of optimizing LRT service to greater benefit student transport, the city of Hamilton has produced a tentative plan for a line that will run from McMaster University all the way to the Queenston Traffic Circle.

More specifically, these blueprints involve a spur line that links King and James Streets to West Harbour Go Station, with the possibility of linking to the Waterfront area, along with a pedestrian walkway from King and James Streets to the Hunter Street Go station.

This serves to provide an easy connection between Hamilton and the downtown Toronto area—something that may be appealing to student commuters.

“LRT is going to permit people to travel easily, quickly and attractively from McMaster to downtown Toronto—from the Go hub and onwards to Union Station,” said Aidan Johnson, Councillor for Ward 1.

“The plan is that in less than one hour, you’ll be able to get from Union Station to Mac.”

In addition, the B-line LRT will connect residents to key destinations within Hamilton, with stops such as the David Braley Health Sciences Centre, Hamilton Place, Jackson Square, the James Street arts district, Tim Hortons Field and Gage Park.

These trains are expected to run every 6 minutes, carrying up to 130 passengers with each run.

The LRT project team had originally come up with two options for a McMaster stop platform configuration. The first of these was a side-platform configuration and the second option being a centre island platform configuration.

Largely based on public feedback hosted at Public Information Centres last September, a preference for the side platform configuration was acknowledged. The reasoned benefits for this configuration include:

•No crossing of Main Street needed to access the LRT platform from campus

•Shelter between LRT tracks and vehicular lanes available for those crossing Main Street at Emerson

•A shorter crosswalk across Main Street

•Location is closer to McMaster University and possible transit terminals, making transfers to other services, including Hamilton Street Railway and Go Transit more convenient.

Since then, the city has been discussing the possibility of merging the LRT platform with the current McMaster Go station.

“The question of how to get students to the stop has been first and foremost in my mind… we are now looking at combining the Go hub with the LRT stop. This permits students who are travelling to Mac to then board the LRT.”

The planning does seem to make effort in keeping local McMaster students in mind.

“Metrolinx and the city of Hamilton have been doing a lot of consulting with [McMaster] for years and years regarding the whole stretch of the LRT,” Johnson said.

However, considering the absence of commuter student feedback in the planning stage of the LRT platform thus far, the push for further discussion with Metrolinx and the city of Hamilton is being reflected upon.

“We talked about the idea of forming a committee to link the McMaster Students Union with the Ward 1 office. I think that is a great way to bring commuter students into the discussion,” responded Johnson.

Discussion with commuter students sounds promising since there is still flexibility on the currently proposed plans. Construction is planned for 2019 and LRT service is expected to start in 2024.

Option 1: Side platform configuration 

Option 2: Centre platform configuration