News   Dec 04, 2025
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Toronto Eglinton Line 5 | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

Will this be the big announcement?


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I've been using the now open Cedarvale station parts to access Line 1 trains of late and have some thoughts, as we wait for Line 5 to open. Tick tock!

- The tunnels to either side of the Allen and across Eglinton to the south are useful, but convoluted in design and feel VERY empty. Lots of room once Line 5 opens, but I wonder if it wasn't a bit of overkill.
- The white walls and light floors are already looking grubby a few weeks in. I don' t know what the cleaning schedule is like but if you go white you better have a plan.
- I saw a water fountain in a little cove behind the lower level Line 5 ticket office counter. Trying to remember when I last saw that in a station... but it's out of service anyway.
- The access through the new tunnels to Line 1 northbound is not bad. The access to/from Line1 Southbound though is horrible. It requires a bunch of u-turns and level changes that make using the original entrance much more sensible from street level at least.
- Given the above, it's odd that both escalators to the Southbound Line 1 platform (i.e. going to the main/original Eg West entrance) have been off for the past few days. This is the ecalator they just spent a year refurbishing and reopened a week or so ago.
- I've been using the south-side entrance to get under Eglinton. There is a fare gate at the bottom of the many stairs, so no free passage, but yesterday all those gates were stuck in the open position. This would allow anyone coming in from that entrance to access Line 1 for free (though an inspection would nail you). It made me wonder if they are experimenting with it as a fare-free way to cross Eglinton, but I doubt it. It's too tortuous to use as an alternative to just crossing at the lights.

I'm curious to see some of other designs, once open, though I guess Cedarvale was one of the bigger projects given the Line 1 connection. It feels both impressive and a bit messy in terms of design and layout. Not that I could do better! :)

I walked through it a couple days ago and pretty much agree (except that I hadn't visited the old tunnels). I'd also add that some of the signage is definitely confusing.

The elevator at Line 1 southbound level says it's for Line 1 and 5 (same sign as in this Reddit post, different location) Technically right, but it doesn't clarify that it's only needed to access the Line 1 northbound platform. I saw someone enter, only to exit a couple minutes later after they figured it out.

Hopefully Metrolinx will implement their updated wayfinding after the handover, because it's a bit cluttered at the moment:

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I don't think that they would announce it than 5 days later do a press conference... (⊙ˍ⊙)
It's possible it could be the "media" opening. The politicians and media get to take a ride on it and do the photo-ops, then it opens a couple of days later for the rest of use plebeians.
 

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