Plan to increase trains 10-fold through east Toronto will harm residents' health, says report

After 19 years living within metres of the Lakeshore East train tracks, Amanda Bankier is used to hearing the rumble and clatter of passenger and freight cars passing by about every seven minutes.

The noise is loud enough to stop conversations mid-sentence with friends in the garden ofher affordable-housing building on Queen Street East, but only for a moment before she carries on. But a train speeding past every 45 seconds? The thought makeshershudder.

"It would certainly prevent me from living," said Bankier, 70, sitting outside her Riverside home, her walker sitting nearby.

That's what the provincialtransit agency for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area,Metrolinx, is planning.It's addingmore frequent GO train service and aims to runthe Ontario Line subwayalong 1.5 kilometres of theabove-ground tracks in Bankier's east-endneighbourhood.

Much of the Ontario Line, a 15.6-kilometre, 15-stop subway line from Exhibition Placeto the Ontario Science Centre, will be built underground. But Metrolinxhas already decided burying this part of therouteis not an option.

Trains will increasemore than 10-fold by 2030, from about 150 a day to 1,821 through the primarily residential area, according to Metrolinx's own estimate.

For those living nearbylike Bankier, the frequency of trainsseems unfathomable. She's coping with diabetes and related peripheral neuropathy and anticipates the noise and vibrationwill increase her stress, decrease her sleep and worsen her health overall.

"I cannot see going through months or years of construction here and then permanent rapid transit at rush hour continuously and the rest of the time pretty frequently," Bankier said. "It seems unlikely that I could get though that."

Noise barrier planned

Mark Clancy, senior manager of community engagement for the Ontario Line, acknowledged the trains are "quite loud" but thatwill be mitigated when Metrolinx builds noise barrier wallsalong each side of the above-ground section.

"The sound will be equivalent to what you hear today or it will be even quieter," Clancy said. "It'll be more consistent, but again, you have the noise walls to buffer that sound from the community."

The noise will be further reduced when Metrolinx convertsto electric trains on those lines, but it won't have a timeline available until late next year, a spokesperson said.

A recent study looked at the anticipated impacts of theOntario Line onnearby residents' health, running above ground versus below. Two organizations commissioned the report, the South RiverdaleCommunity Health Centre andSave Jimmie Simpson a citizen's group campaigning against building the line aboveground in the Riverside neighbourhood

The studydetermined running that part of the transit routeabove ground would causefar more disturbances during construction andoperation on surrounding homes, schools and businesses. It will also result in significantly more noise and trees being cut down.

Underground sectionruled out

Noise and vibration can cause sleep disturbances and annoyance, which are both detrimental to health and well-being, wrote the report's authorRonald Macfarlane, who worked in the environmental field for more than 40 years and did similar assessmentsat Toronto Public Health.

"Overall, it clearly seemed to point to the fact the underground option would likely cause fewer negative impacts on health than the above-groundoption," Macfarlane told CBC News.

"I do think Metrolinx should be looking at the underground option more seriously than it is."

Clancy told CBC News Metrolinx considered burying that part of theline, but determined it would be too difficult and costly because of existing utilityinfrastructure underground, plus it would take longer to dig the tunnel.

"The construction impacts would be much more significant," he said. "And because we're already expanding the GO portion of the line here, it makes sense for us to utilize the space for the Ontario Line."

The line will be expanded from three to six tracks plus a noise wall, which means most of the existing tree canopy along the corridor will be removed, Clancy said. Metrolinx has committed to replanting three trees for every tree cut down and adding green space once the Ontario LIneis complete.

But Eon Song, a resident with Save Jimmie Simpson,said the transit agency isignoring the immediate and longer-termimpactson thecommunity without adequate public consultation.

He noted Metrolinx has not completed its environmental assessment before deciding to go with the aboveground line and beginning early work.

"That's what's astonishing to us that they can proceed with this kind of large infrastructure project without due diligence," Song said. "The route that Metrolinx is pursuing compromises community health and safety."

Metrolinx has accepted public comments on its initial reports, and will do the same when its environmental assessment is released next year, a spokesperson said.