Surface subways! Surface subways! Surface subways!

And so a new call arises among the transit-addled peasants, as led by arch addler John Tory, who has adopted a new “top priority” to replace the earlier “top priority” he had been promoting since entering the mayoralty race.

Last week’s top priority was a mere subway, the Downtown Relief Line, which failed to ignite the enthusiasm of the masses. And who really thought it could? Certainly not the new John Tory, who was sharply critical of last week’s top priority while introducing this week’s: “London-style surface rail subways.”

Let’s hear Rob Ford shout that three times in a row.

Say it how you will, the type of high-speed electric-train service Tory is proposing for Toronto is a far more interesting priority. Known generically as regional-express rail, it is the sort of thing experts have been urging for years.

So it looks like Tory has finally broken into the clear with an exciting new deliverable with a catchy name, “SmartTrack,” leaving opponent Olivia Chow in the dust clinging to that pathetic old DRL — “her subway,” according to the new Tory.

In fact, Tory’s SmartTrack is a weak imitation of something the provincial government is already building, as announced by Premier Kathleen Wynne and Transport Minister Glen Murray in the final weeks of their administration. Their promise prefigured exactly what Tory is now proposing — a system of fast-moving electric trains running every 15 minutes in every direction, far beyond city limits, on the same tracks where Tory is proposing to run his fast electric trains.

The upshot is that Tory could well lose the October mayoral election while “delivering” (courtesy of the province) far more than he ever promised. Unless of course his fellow Progressive Conservatives win the June provincial election — in which case all is lost, transit-wise, regardless of who may win the mayoralty four months later.

The regional-express proposal is so attractive for Toronto today it’s no wonder politicians are competing to deliver it. Murray promised that GO riders will enjoy service equivalent to anything known in Europe within 10 years. It’s an exciting plan, and it makes far more sense than any alternative any mere mayor might propose.

The reason is simple: Regional rail is regional. Its essential purpose is to cross municipal boundaries, uniting multi-centred urban regions. There is little point in creating a new “regional” service that would be confined exclusively to that portion of the GO system within city limits.

Tory’s plan acknowledges that inconvenient fact by extending well into adjoining suburbs, without which extensions it would be a feeble “network” indeed. But tacking them on means that Toronto taxpayers will be required to build top-drawer transit for thousands of lucky out-of-towners free of charge.

The same geographical and operational requirements — that regional rail be regional — also dictate its financing. It’s just obvious that regional rail needs to be financed by a regional government — i.e. the province — with a tax base that spans the entire network.

And, of course, that is exactly what all parties have been doing for decades with GO Transit. The Wynne government, with its promise of a $29-billion long-term investment in public transit, is the most ambitious yet. In any case, only the province has the wherewithal to finance an all-electric, multi-stop regional-express rail network.

To pay for his $8-billion plan, Tory is proposing to use a controversial form of bootstrap financing that, given the trail of boondoggles it has left in the United States, is likely to be far less benign than the “pixie dust” his rival David Soknacki claims it to be.

But the really odd bit is that Tory’s plan doesn’t even acknowledge the existence of the provincial rail service that currently operates on the same corridors that SmartTrack presumes to appropriate for city use — let alone the existence of a solid plan to convert that entire network, including the city portion, into an electrified regional-express service just like SmartTrack, only way bigger.

So what do we prefer? A comprehensive system backed by a motivated government with the appropriate legislative authority and sufficient borrowing power, not to mention control of the corridors where the trains will run? Or a small-scale imitation to be built without financing and operated on somebody else’s rails in order to duplicate a fraction of the service the rightful owner is already in the midst of providing?

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Maybe nobody told Tory that GO is miles ahead of him — and maybe now that he knows, he will switch to a third No. 1 priority. In the meantime, anybody who really wants “surface subways” in the Toronto region will have to vote Liberal on June 12.

John Barber is a freelance writer

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