The Linx

The Linx Transit Railway (LTR), more commonly as The Linx (French: Le Linx, Chinese: 連城地下鐵路, abbreviated as 連鐵 or 地鐵) is a public transit operator by The Linx Transit Railway Limited Company (LTRLC) in the Gravenhurst Region of the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas, offering underground rapid transit (metro/subway) services. Primarily providing services in the region's capital, Archemedes, the system carries 29.1 million passengers per year. Its headquarters is located at 5431 Nicholas Street in Downtown Archemedes, with a motto of Carrying People Forward.

While primarily based in Archemedes, the system is planning to expand to Archemedes' immediate suburbs, Donsley and Borden. Since there are currently insufficient metro population size elsewhere in the region, The Linx is currently limited to only serve Archemedes Census Metropolitan Area, the largest census metropolitan area in the region.

The system currently has 17 stations on 2 subway lines, with one interchange station at Archemedes Centre Station, which is considered as one station in the system. This interchange station offers connections between the 2 subway lines, as well as to other public transit services provided by primarily Gravenhurst Regional Transit (GRT).

History
With Archemedes growing steadily and rapidly, and because there are four distinct urban centres in Archemedes (due to the nature of merging in the 2000s), there are heavy traffic across corridors between these urban centres, most prominently between Downtown Archemedes and South Archemedes. The bus route Gravenhurst Regional Transit route 1 'Main Street' is operating way over capacity, and overcrowding was an imminent issues despite buses were running at 3 minutes frequency during rush hours.

In 1981, the regional government first proposed an underground rapid transit plan for its capital region. The original plan included three subway lines, the Gravenhurst Corridor Line, the 505 / 506 Corridor Line, and the City Ring Line. The two "corridor lines" traverse the two most heavily travelled corridors in the city, the Highway 2 corridor (Main Street/Gravenhurst Street) and the Highways 5 and 6 (Alexander - Bernice) corridor.

The government would like to privatize this subway and metro services provided in the city of Archemedes, and thus created a private company named "The Linx Transit Railway Limited Company" with public shareholders, and the government holding 49% of the shares.

The first segment of the  Gravenhurst Corridor Line  between Gravenhurst Terminal to Archemedes Centre Station on July 29, 1987. The line was extended to Mississauga Village in 1991. The system celebrated its one millionth passenger on April 2, 1993.

Followed by its success, phase 2 of the subway plan was rolled out in the late 1990s. The  505 / 506 Corridor Line  was opened on May 6, 2001 between Torbram and Archemedes Centre Station. This line initially underperformed as it mostly serves industrial areas. The line's ridership significantly improved following an extension to Cherryshill Station in 2006, serving the eastern quadrant of the city (primarily residential) and Archemedes General Hospital.

In 2009, The Linx further extended the  Gravenhurst Corridor Line  to South Archemedes, adding two stations, Denison and South Archemedes.

In 2010, The Linx announced that it has fulfilled much of its promise as drafted in the original subway plan by the government. It said that it is time for the limited company to move on and plan for more expansions. The Linx also claimed that it will indefinitely postpone the plan of the City Ring Line, claiming that there is "insufficient demand" for the area for a subway line. However, the City Ring Line remains gazetted in the Strategic Transportation Plan of Archemedes as of 2011.

Gravenhurst Corridor Line
There has been plans to extend the line one station north of the current northern terminus, namely Eden. Constructions have scheduled to begin in late-2012.

Another proposal was to extend the subway line to the former North City Terminal, connecting with the present-day North Archemedes GO Station, but the plan has not been approved nor examined by the planning staff.

There has also been a proposal to extend the current Gravenhurst Corridor Line south towards Archemedes The Great International Airport, though the exact date of opening is unknown. It is proposed that constructions will begin in mid- to late-2013, with new stations serving South Archemedes, Crowfoot and Parkthorn Heights along the way.

505 / 506 Corridor Line
The 505/506 Corridor Line is involved in the biggest plan of expansion of the system in the upcoming decade. With an increase of urban sprawling, and the suburbs of Archemedes experiencing a booming population, the staff of the Linx has noticed an increasing trend of travelling in and out of the city in the past decade. This calls for a warrant in extension of the 505 / 506 line both eastwards and westwards to cater the two largest suburbs of Archemedes, Donsley and Borden respectively. The extension is also backed by the government as a part of developing the central business area (CBD) of Archemedes.

According to a press release in 2011, most likely, the extension of the 505 / 506 Western Extension (French: L'extension de la Ligne 505-506 à l'Ouest) will be completed sooner than its eastern counterpart. This is because the proposed service area for the western section is already well-developed, as seen in West Archemedes and Centre-ville Borden. The condition is favourable and would allow for such an extension to occur. Originally planned to be opened in 2011, due to funding, planning problems, as well as problems with the cooperation details from the Borden municipal government, constructions of the western extension did not begin until recently in October 2012, with the prime minister and the king of the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas debuting the construction works after a ceremony taken place at the future terminus of the extension, the Borden Terminal. The Western Extension will involve in constructing 5 new stations, from east to west, they are Carrière, West Archemedes, Willowdale, Post, and Borden Centre (French: Centre-ville Borden). The extension is proposed to be opened by April 2014, but has been announced to postpone to later in 2014.

On the other hand, constructions for the 505 / 506 Eastern Extension (French: L'extension de la Ligne 505-506 à l'Est) probably won't begin until 2015, until CBD Archemedes begins occupation. The future CBD Archemedes will bring over 50,000 commercial jobs and will be an important source of passengers for the line. The Linx said they will wait until developments have been occupied along its route before attempting to begin constructions. The extension will involve 7 new stations, stretching towards Donsley Town Centre.

Upon completion of the two extension, the Linx said it will greatly improve ridership and connections to the city, and as a result, frequency will be increased as well.

City Ring Line
It is with great hopes from the Archemedes municipal government for this line to be built to better improve connectivity from the four quadrants of the city. In the gazette listing the plan, the government recommends the line to go through all four boroughs, or quadrants, of the city.

However, in a press meeting of 2011, the Linx said it will "not consider building the City Ring Line due to insufficient demand of the area", claiming that most of the area the line is proposed to traverse is either suburban housing or even conservation areas.