A week before council must decide whether to approve and fund at least $1.3 billion for eight new stations as part of expanded GO service, several construction issues remain unresolved.

Resolving them could come with unknown costs, which have yet to be spelled out and do not appear to be included in current estimates for the costs of building those stations. It’s not clear if those issues can be clarified ahead of a vote next week.

The stations include six branded as part of a heavily-revised version of Tory’s campaign promise to build a separate heavy-rail service he called “SmartTrack.”

“Like any project of this size, there will be detailed technical and engineering work that needs to be done, and we will work with our partners to address them,” Tory’s spokesperson Amanda Galbraith said in an email. “Bottom line, as opposed to finding ways to say no to building transit, will we use our expertise and know-how to find ways to yes.”

A proposed Spadina station, an addition to the Barrie GO corridor south of Front St. and just west of Spadina Ave. which is not a SmartTrack station, has the “potential to significantly impact future train operations and storage needs,” the report says, and that “further feasibility analysis is required.”

Metrolinx currently uses seven storage tracks at the proposed Spadina station location to park trains that could be needed quickly for service, spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins told the Star. Two of those tracks would be needed to build the Spadina station, she said, and Metrolinx would need to identify an alternative storage location “in reasonable proximity to Union Station.”

Another non-SmartTrack station planned for Bloor-Lansdowne comes with the caveat that the Bloor Street West rail bridge “may require” widening to accommodate rail infrastructure.

The terms of the new deal with the province propose the city contribute $60 million to those two non-SmartTrack stations.

The proposed Lawrence East SmartTrack station presents a conflict with the city’s plans to build a single-stop subway extension to the Scarborough Town Centre. The station can’t be built until the existing Scarborough RT station at Lawrence is decommissioned, what’s not likely to happen until the subway is in service. The subway was not estimated to be complete until at least late 2025, but is already behind schedule. Staff wrote that Metrolinx and the city are considering delaying the opening of that SmartTrack station until the subway is finished.

And city staff say that a Gerrard SmartTrack station near Carlaw and Pape avenues should be shifted to better serve the local community and connect with a future subway relief line. But that plan is different from the option studied by Metrolinx. Staff wrote “further analysis is needed to determine potential impacts of this shift on Gerrard Square.”

“The SmartTrack and RER stations are at the very early concept stage-and much more study and planning work is required,” Aikins said. “Councillors will not be voting on final designs at this stage.”

In their report, staff noted one potentially significant unforeseen snag: That one of the SmartTrack stations proposed at the former Unilever site might physically conflict with the Tory-backed $1-billion plan to rebuild the Gardiner.

But Aikins, the Metrolinx spokesperson, said in an email Tuesday that “as part of the due diligence process for a new Unilever Station, sufficient clearance was identified between the top of road for the proposed ramps from the eastbound and westbound Gardiner to the bottom of the rail bridge.”

After the Star asked the city to clarify, city spokesperson Wynna Brown responded late Tuesday night to say “city staff confirm (Metrolinx) has advised there is sufficient clearance.”

As part of the $1.25 billion required to build the SmartTrack stations, staff have assumed the federal government will contribute $417.1 million in promised infrastructure funding, leaving the city alone to fund the remaining share.

Council will vote on the plan, which would commit them to fully funding the construction of the six SmartTrack stations along with annual operating and day-to-day maintenance costs, on Nov. 8.

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