After 13 years, sources close to the
Eglinton Crosstown LRT project say the long-awaited line is finally
expected to welcome transit riders in September.
The two sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the LRT, confirmed to the Star that the Eglinton Crosstown is expected to open in September 2025.
Both sources, however, also acknowledged the litany of previous
promised — and missed — deadlines throughout the $12.6-billion LRT’s eventful history.
“It wouldn’t shock me if there’s an eleventh-hour problem,” one source said, not because of any known issues, but because of a lack of transparency from Metrolinx on how construction and testing has progressed, even with the TTC, which will take over operations on the line.
The highly anticipated Line 5, which has been under construction for more than a decade, has been “ready to go for a while,” one source explained, but Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency overseeing the project, has been “terrified” of a repeat of the bungled rollout of
the Ottawa LRT. Any breakdowns on the Eglinton line after years of construction would be “catastrophically embarrassing,” the source said.
The $2.1-billion Ottawa LRT, much like the Eglinton line, was plagued with delays and flaws. Problems with the project included a massive sinkhole during construction, and after the line opened, repeated derailments and even service shutdowns caused by freezing rain. ACS Infrastructure Canada and EllisDon were part of both the Ottawa and Eglinton LRT construction consortiums.
One source explained the anticipated timeline for delivery of the Eglinton light-rail line, with Crosslinx Transit Solution, the private construction consortium that built the LRT, expected to complete construction in June 2025. The line would then be handed over to the TTC to operate when it opens to the public in September.
In a March 6 earnings call for Aecon, a construction company that is part of Crosslinx, CEO Jean-Louis Servranckx confirmed that the Eglinton Crosstown LRT is expected to complete construction in “mid-year” 2025.
Disagreements and legal battles
between Metrolinx and Crosslinx, as well as conflicts with the TTC, have plagued the construction of the Eglinton line.
However, one source said, all three parties have been “running out of things to fight over,” and, “by attrition,” all three parties are now working more co-operatively toward the opening of the line.
Though it appears to be closer than ever to completion, this isn’t the first time the beleaguered LRT line was slated to open.
With 25 stops stretching from Mount Dennis in the west to Kennedy in the east, the 19-kilometre, light-rail system was
initially meant to be ready by 2020. A pandemic and several lawsuits, as well as software glitches, have hampered the line’s opening, even after the Star received
an exclusive tour of the LRT in May 2023. The completion of the LRT had been promised then pushed back for three years until the transit agency declined to give a projected opening in 2023, instead announcing it would give the public
a three-months’ advance notice instead.
Besides an update last November on
a software design flaw that impacted the line’s signalling system, no other details have been provided on why the line has been delayed.
Documents obtained through a freedom-of-information request by the Star in April 2023 showed
Metrolinx has at times wanted to give the public more information about the LRT, but the provincial government directed the transit agency not to. In August 2024, Premier Doug Ford’s office
directed Metrolinx to keep the opening date of the LRT a secret because it had doubts the date would be met.
Re-elected with a majority government last month, Ford said on the campaign trail that he was “really, really confident” the Eglinton Crosstown LRT
would open this year.
“I can’t give you an exact day or month, but (the Eglinton Crosstown LRT) will be open this year,” Ford said at a press conference in early February, while also touting his idea of tunnelling under the 401. “We’re going to train people to make sure it’s safe. That’s the number one priority.”
“Well, what I’m hearing from Metrolinx (is) everything’s up and going. I guess they are doing training right now on it,” Ford added.
In late November 2024, then-CEO of Metrolinx Phil Verster also
provided an update on the Finch West LRT. He said Metrolinx had made “significant progress” on the line, which broke ground in 2018, and major construction was finished at all stations.
When it opens, the 10-kilometre light rail transit line will feature 18 stops, connecting Finch West Station to Humber College.
Metrolinx has also not provided a firm opening date for the Finch West LRT, which officials previously said
was supposed to open last year.
