Metrolinx now says it has abandoned plans to build an expensive pedestrian bridge at Union Station to serve the UP Express, but the agency is still pursuing an extensive makeover of the airport rail link.

The Star reported Tuesday that Metrolinx is planning to overhaul the UP Express, a line that opened just four years ago at a cost of $456 million. Metrolinx is the provincial Crown corporation in charge of transportation planning in the GTHA,

According to an internal Metrolinx presentation that was dated in February and obtained by the newspaper, the agency drew up plans to relocate the UP Express platform from its current position at Union to a spot further south, which could require building a pedestrian bridge at a cost of about $80 million.

On Wednesday Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said that since February the agency has done more work on potential options to connect the various transit services operating out of Union, and “we believe that the pedestrian bridge concept is not required at this time.”

She didn’t say when that decision was made or why Metrolinx didn’t reveal Tuesday it had taken the bridge proposal off the table.

Aikins confirmed the agency is still studying other proposals detailed in the internal document that would integrate UP Express service with the rest of GO Transit as part of a major expansion of the regional rail network planned for about 2025.

The document outlined plans for potentially scrapping the 18 “bespoke train cars” that currently run on the UP Express and replacing them with electrified GO vehicles that could operate on the rest of the network.

Using electrified GO trains would potentially allow Metrolinx to serve the airport more frequently and from GO stations east of Union Station, but because the vehicles would be larger than UP Express trains, the plan could require significant physical changes to existing airport rail link infrastructure, particularly at Pearson airport. Aikins said there is still no cost estimate for those changes.

She said Metrolinx has determined changes are necessary because “UP Express service as it is currently designed does not allow Metrolinx to satisfy future demand at the airport and along the Kitchener line, and limits the organization’s ability to deliver the full benefits of the GO expansion program.”

According to Aikins, Metrolinx will release further information about the integration plan “in the coming months.”

Mayor John Tory expressed broad support Wednesday for electrifying the UP Express and integrating it with GO.

“Many of the lines of GO are being transformed to electric train service, so it is logical that as that is being done, they would look at the UP Express for the same treatment,” he said.

He noted that while the line was originally intended to cater to airport travellers, in practice west-end residents now frequently use it for daily trips as well. According to Metrolinx, about 25 per cent of the service’s 4.5 million annual customers don’t fly out of the airport.

“As this service has evolved, it has become important not only as a means of transportation from the airport to downtown, and vice versa, but also as a commuter train,” Tory said.

“And so anything that improves that service, any investment that can be made to make that service better and cleaner and greener, we would support.”

Asked about the Star exclusive at Queen’s Park Wednesday, Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney declined to comment on specifics of the UP Express overhaul, but said she supports “transit agencies planning for the future.”

“That’s what Metrolinx is supposed to do. The UP Express has been a great success and we have heard from people it’s providing a great service and great quality,” Mulroney said before a cabinet meeting at Queen’s Park.

“So we want to be able to capitalize on that as much as possible.”

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Ontario NDP transit critic and University-Rosedale MPP Jessica Bell said it’s clear the original UP Express business model geared toward the “business elite” was “wrong-headed.”

At the service’s launch in 2015, Metrolinx set the cost of a ride at $27.50, which led to empty trains. Then-premier Kathleen Wynne, whose Liberal government spearheaded the airport link, pressed the agency to rethink the price. The agency slashed fares in 2016, and ridership swelled.

“These are encouraging signs by Metrolinx that they will hopefully turn this UP Express line to a line that is more oriented toward the everyday rider, but we need to see more details before we can feel comfortable saying that. What are the service levels? How much will it cost to ride?” said Bell, whose party has for years pushed the province to electrify the line.

With files from Robert Benzie and David Rider.

Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr

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