Link: http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2007-03-22/news_story.php

Hey everybody! Sorry about not posting anything here for so long but I've been pretty busy and just haven't had time for poor old Avoidinglife.com these days. At first I thought I'd write about all the big changes in my life these last few months, but on second thought I think I'll cover a much more exciting topic, namely train news!

Pictured above is mock-up of what Toronto's new low-floor streetcars are probably going to look like. It's part of a proposed $6-billion, 120-kilometre light-rail network for the city. The future of the TTC's rail network has been a hot button issue in the news these past few weeks. While the city wants billions to build a series of dedicated streetcar routes throughout the city, the province seems only interested in funding a subway extension into the suburbs, mostly to gain favor among voters.

I'm sure you're all wondering by now "What does Jamie think about this?". Well, let me tell you!

Follow up:

I recently moved into a new place in an area of Toronto known as the "Junction", so named as it is where several important train lines in the city meet. I thought it would be fun living so close to the train tracks as I could just climb up onto the foot bridge across the street and watch the trains go by all day. Sadly instead of trains racing by, all I ever seem to see from the bridge is this:

With the exception of a couple of GO trains during the morning and afternoon rush there are absolutely no trains on these tracks. This led me to wonder why anyone is thinking about spending billions on new subway lines into the 905 region when we already have tracks going out there that aren't even being used. Couldn't a few extra trains and stations along these underused lines solve Toronto's transit problem for next to nothing? There has been talk for years about using these rails for an express rail link to the airport, but this on again, off again project seems to be off again. I decided that I had no choice but to share my brilliant solution to Toronto's transit problem with my fellow citizens by writing a letter to the editors of NOW magazine. Turns out the folks at NOW and Eye had already thought of my not-so-original idea and have looked into this issue a few times before. From what I can tell, the decision over what to do with these lines is bogged down in politics and is meeting resistance from the train companies that own the rails. On top of that, some train hating hippies actually want to tear up these tracks to build more parks and bike paths! Anyway, I won't delve into this topic any further as there isn't anything in this world less interesting than Canadian politics, except perhaps for Japanese politics.

Speaking of Japan, I think it's safe to say that if the Japanese were in charge of these rails there would be trains racing by my house every 5 minutes and each and every one would be on time. No people in the world are more train obsessed than the Japanese. Just about every crummy little town in the country is connected to Japan Rail's vast network of local, rapid and super express Shinkansen trains. Shinkansen themed toys were nearly as common place in stores as Hello Kitty merchandise and video game store shelves are always stocked with all sorts of different train driving simulators. You can even buy audio CDs of the station chimes and sounds of various trains across the country. Japan is truly a paradise for trainophiles such as myself. Sadly the same can't really be said for Canada, where people much prefer the privacy of their own car to public transit. To illustrate my point, just look at Toronto's subway map..

and then look at Tokyo's:

You need a large high resolution monitor just to look at the thing! Of course Toronto is no Tokyo, but even my little old home for three years Noheji town had better train service than we have here in Toronto. Maybe Toronto will never have a truly great transit system, but I am confident that someday it will at least be home to a really boss model of one in my basement.