Mountain Climbing

The city of Hamilton has a natural and geological feature running through the middle of it called the Niagara Escarpment.  This escarpment has a lower elevation side at the north where downtown Hamilton and the port are located, and a higher elevation part located to the south.   The upper and lower part differ by about 100m in height (or about 33 storeys) and the upper part of Hamilton is often referred to as Hamilton Mountain.

Transportation between upper and lower Hamilton is complicated by the presence of the escarpment which disrupts its street grid.  The steepness of the escarpment means roads can't go straight down the hill but rather go down the hill on an angle arriving at the bottom nowhere near where they started.   The GTA Transit 2050 Plan sees the Escarpment Line as the fastest transit route from West Harbour station to Hamilton Mountain and Hamilton International Airport.

The Escarpment Line 11 would open in 2041 as a route running from Pier 7 on Hamilton's waterfront in the north to Hamilton Airport in the south.   The route would leave Pier 7 heading south on James Street connecting to Lakeshore Line A regional and suburban services and Amtrak services to New York at West Harbour station.   The line would continue south providing connections to Hamilton Line 7 at Gore Park,  and Lakeshore Express Limited Services at Hamilton Centre.  South of Durand the line would travel underground with an underground station at Mohawk College serving its 13 thousand annual enrollees and St.Joseph's Hospital.  The tunnel would surface just north of McElroy Road at James Street and continue on James Street to Airport Road and into Hamilton International Airport.  

Initially one in three LRT vehicles would go all the way to Hamilton Airport while the other vehicles would only reach as far south as Ryckmans Corners.  With urban service defined as 10 minute service or better this would mean that through most of the route there would be 10 minute or better frequencies, and there would be 30 minute service frequencies south of Ryckmans to the airport.   Schedules would be coordinated so that this line's airport connecting LRT vehicles would provide convenient connections to the Lakeshore Line A suburban services which are also running with 30 minute service frequencies.