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Across Etobicoke and the former borough of York, major progress was made during 2025 on the elevated guideway that will carry the westward extension of the long-awaited Eglinton Line 5 Crosstown LRT over the Eglinton Flats area and the Humber River. Set to rise above the parkland along the north side of Eglinton Avenue between Scarlett Road and Weston Road, the first two new elevated rapid transit stations to built in Toronto in the 21st century are shortly to get under construction.
While the core of Eglinton Line 5 has been mired in controversy and delays, progress on the LRT’s western extension has proceeded relatively smoothly since construction began in 2021. Spanning 9.2 kilometres, the extension will run from the soon-to-open western terminus at Mount Dennis station through Central Etobicoke to a new terminus at Renforth Drive at the Mississauga border. Although initial plans released by the City of Toronto called for a surface-running alignment in the median of Eglinton Avenue West, in 2019 Premier Ford revised the west extension to be entirely grade-separated. At the time the change was stated to be to ensure rapid transit speeds by removing traffic disruptions—a foresight that seems particularly relevant now, given the slow at-grade operations observed on the Finch West LRT since its opening in December.
Following the change, a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the project phase to bore twin tunnels from Scarlett Road to Renforth Drive was issued in June 2020 by Infrastructure Ontario, followed by a a Request for Quotes (RFQ). In a relatively quick turnaround for major Ontario infrastructure projects, West End Connectors—a consortium composed of infrastructure firms Aecon, Dragados, and Ghella—was awarded the contract in May 2021, with construction starting less than two weeks later on June 1, 2021.
Following this, Aecon was awarded the contract to deliver the 1.5-kilometre elevated guideway on which Scarlett and Jane-Eglinton stations will be situated. Meanwhile, Strabag Inc. was awarded the contract to build the 'Jane Portal,' which will link the guideway to the existing facilities at Mount Dennis Station. Construction officially got underway in the first quarter of 2024, with tree clearing and site preparation beginning in Fergy Brown Park and the Eglinton Flats. These works made way for the concrete columns that will support the track bed, as well as the tunnel portal required to facilitate excavation.
In just over a year, construction has progressed quickly, largely thanks to the unencumbered work area and relative simplicity of elevated construction. The usual complicating factors encountered in urban rapid transit projects, such as utility lines, building foundations and tight staging spaces, are naturally minimized within parkland.
Running along the north side of Eglinton Avenue West, rows of columns have been constructed and gradually covered in vast formwork that will enable the track bed to be fabricated above street level. This alignment along the southernmost edge of two large parks that front Eglinton Avenue West through the Humber River floodplain that make up the area was initially a source of opposition and protest. Critics alleged grievous impacts on the environment and the Indigenous community’s ability to use the publicly owned parkland. Following numerous protests, opposition groups filed an injunction against the provincial government in a bid to stop the project, with some individuals even threatening a construction blockade in a 2023 interview with the CBC. However, since the defeat of that injunction in late 2024 and the absence of any attempts to hinder construction, work has continued smoothly.
The Humber River runs through the center of this network of parkland, necessitating a new bridge structure to carry Eglinton Line 5 west into Etobicoke. As of October 2025, numerous multi-storey columns had already been erected along the banks of the river, with early formwork being constructed atop and around them. Once these support structures are completed, Aecon will construct a balanced cantilever bridge—a method that allows the structure to be built without serious intrusion into the riverbed. By using two bridge travelers, the cantilevered bridge will be built from each bank before meeting in the middle to be joined.
Flanking this bridge will be Scarlett station to the west, while at an extended distance along the guideway, Jane-Eglinton station to the east. When they open, they should* be the first new elevated rapid transit stations built in Toronto since the debut of the now-defunct Scarborough RT in 1985. (*Some Ontario Line 3 stations are also elevated, and may open close to the same time as the Line 5 west extension.) Scarlett station will provide rapid transit access to the clusters of mid-century modernist towers and more recently built condominiums that line the west side of the street.
Jane-Eglinton station — a name likely to be revised prior to opening day — will be a rarity within Toronto's transit network, and not just for the predominantly green views of the Humber Valley it will provide riders: set to sit above Jane Street, the station will be hundreds of metres from the nearest house, business, or tower, instead flanked on all sides by lush parkland. Likely to have minimal walk-in traffic, this station will serve a very busy bus corridor along Jane Street, which will provide the bulk of transfer passengers. Stretching from Pioneer Village station at Steeles Avenue West all the way to Jane station on Bloor Street West, the 35/935 is a lengthy route that nearly runs the whole height of Toronto.
With the core segment of Line 5 set to open shortly, the TTC has already publicized plans to rework connecting bus lines to better serve riders with the new rapid transit. As part of this network rejig, the 35 Jane will be split in two, with a new "27 Jane South" running from Mount Dennis station to Jane station, while the retitled "35 Jane North" will run northwards from Mount Dennis station to its current terminus at Pioneer Village station, with 935 express services continuing. Whether service on Jane Street will be further modified following the opening of Jane-Eglinton station and the Crosstown West Extension as a whole remains to be seen.
As the guideway foundations on which Scarlett and Jane-Eglinton stations will rest were being built, the contract that will determine who constructs the stations was being finalized. In August 2025, a Stations, Rail and Systems package was awarded to Trillium Rail Partners—a consortium composed primarily of WSP, Amico, and Acciona. This agreement was made in order to build out the stations and rail infrastructure that will turn mere tunnels and guideways into a transit system capable of moving tens of thousands of people an hour.
Completion of the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension was initially projected for 2031, providing an already lengthy ten-year window for the additional 9.2 kilometres of track to be built. However, in the years since groundbreaking, Metrolinx has removed any mention of the 2031 opening from its public-facing website for the project, and no new estimate for opening day has been released. 2031 was also the initially projected opening year of Ontario Line 3, but similarly, an opening date for it is no longer provided on its Metrolinx webpage.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on Eglinton Line 5 and its western extension, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database files, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum threads or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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