The Scarborough RT was supposed to be replaced years ago. Here is why it is still in service
CTV
With just months to go before the Scarborough RT is decommissioned, the TTC has temporarily shut down service on the line following a train derailment on Monday night that left five people injured. This could be the final nail in the coffin for the aging transit line.
With just months to go before the Scarborough RT is decommissioned, the TTC has temporarily shut down service on the line following a train derailment on Monday night that left five people injured.
This incident could be the final nail in the coffin for the aging six-stop transit line, which opened in 1985 and was scheduled to be shut down for good in November.
The SRT vehicles were only designed to run for 25 years and should have been retired more than a decade ago. Politicians have spent the better part of 20 years debating what should replace the SRT and in the interim, the city has kept Line 3 in operation well past its intended lifespan.
In a 2006 report, city staff recommended that council spend $360 million to upgrade the line and purchase larger, new-generation vehicles to replace the SRT’s aging fleet of 28 cars.
“It is expected that the aging vehicles will result in progressively-deteriorating service reliability over the coming years,” the report warned.
At that time, city staff advised council to “develop a plan for replacing the existing vehicles, and expanding capacity in the Scarborough RT corridor, before the current fleet reaches the end of its useful service life.”
In 2007, one year after the report was released, the plan to upgrade the line with new vehicles was scrapped following the approval of Transit City, which would have seen the Scarborough RT converted to a seven-stop light rail line that would extend to Malvern.
