TTC CEO Mandeep Lali has announced the Eglinton Crosstown LRT will finally open to the public, beginning with a phased opening on Sunday.
Lali made the Line 5 Eglinton announcement during a TTC board meeting Tuesday afternoon. It coincided with several upcoming changes to the bus network.
He said rides on the Eglinton Crosstown will be fare-free on Sunday. However, TTC officials said there won’t be a formal public celebration event to mark the beginning of service on Sunday unlike the launch of Line 6 Finch West in early December.
“It’s a gradual opening … we’ll be leveraging customer feedback again, taking on the lessons from Line 6, holding the right teams accountable. I think we’ve been working through that very, very diligently in the last few weeks,” Lali said, adding there are no outstanding critical safety items to address before service begins.
As part of the phased opening, up to 24 trains will run roughly between 5:45 a.m. and 11 p.m. Monday to Saturday with potentially a later start on Sundays. TTC buses will run along the corridor at all other times when trains aren’t running. Officials also confirmed there won’t be parallel shuttle buses running at the same time.
Lali said it will take 55 to 59 minutes to go from one end to the other on a train versus 105 minutes on a bus.
The Line 5 Eglinton opening details prompted mixed reactions among TTC board members.
“I’m happy that Eglinton is finally opening after all these years, but I don’t share the same sense of celebration for this reason: Over the past 15 years, communities have been impacted and treated like collateral damage. Hundreds of businesses have shut down,” Coun. Josh Matlow said while calling out Metrolinx (the provincial transportation agency overseeing the project) and Crosslinx Transit Solutions (the private-sector consortium responsible for building and maintaining the line).
“The project is at least a billion dollars (in) cost overrun, six years delayed, it has been mismanaged, and it’s been done with the kind of secrecy and lack of transparency that is unacceptable when it comes to a democratic government’s project, and that secrecy continues to this very day.”
Coun. Dianne Saxe said she’s glad the Eglinton Crosstown LRT is forecast to be faster than buses along the same corridor, but is concerned about the future.
“This is a classic case of the evidence from all around the world that having the private sector involved in building transit makes it more expensive and slower. But now we’ve got a nightmare. We’ve got a group (Crosslinx) that’s responsible for maintenance, with the TTC responsible for operating and doing daily maintenance — that sounds to me like a lawsuit waiting to happen,” she said.
However, TTC vice chair and former councillor Joe Mihevc said he’s happy there is finally a major east-west transit line that runs through the middle of Toronto since a planned Eglinton subway line was cancelled in the 1990s.
“I think Torontonians will have a great service — maybe not on day one. I understand this phased opening is a way of saying, ‘cut us some slack,’ he said.
“There’s going to be some real-world growing pains in this, but at the end of the day it’s a service that Torontonians have been waiting for for a long time.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford teased the opening date during an unrelated news conference in late January. He told reporters that he was advised of the Feb. 8 opening date by the TTC. However, Lali refused to confirm that date during a subsequent event amid reports of unresolved operational issues.
“We inherited (the line), we took the responsibility. Thank God it’s opening. They’ve done hundreds of thousands of kilometres of testing, and it’s going to finally get finished,” Ford said on Jan. 26.
“I’m happy it’s done, that’s all I can tell you, because it’s been a nightmare for all of us I’m first to admit, but it’s going to be incredible.”
News of the official launch of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT came less than two months after “substantial completion” was declared, which happened when independent engineers certified that the 19-kilometre, 25-station line was built as designed.
Since that declaration, the TTC had full operational control of trains along the corridor and staff were conducting their own assessments. More than 1,000 TTC and Metrolinx personnel participated in a major test on Jan. 22 in an effort to assess readiness.
Getting the current 19-kilometre, 25-stop Eglinton Crosstown LRT ready to open for riders has been nearly 20 years in the making.
The Eglinton Crosstown was first proposed under former mayor David Miller’s Transit City plan in 2007. Contemplated as part of a larger network of new LRT lines, the Eglinton Crosstown would connect Mount Dennis in the west with Kennedy subway station in the east along Eglinton Avenue.
It wasn’t until 2011 that construction formally began under the previous provincial Liberal government.
The mammoth project was supposed to be done by 2020. However, that finishing date was repeatedly pushed back due to various legal, construction and testing issues along with COVID-19-related delays.
As CityNews reported over the past several years, there have also been issues with poor construction, the signalling system that has required multiple software upgrades, and a small collision during the final testing and commissioning phase. At one point, provincial officials confirmed there were around 260 deficiencies that needed to be addressed.
Prolonged construction and road closures also took a toll on many small businesses in Little Jamaica and elsewhere along the corridor, sparking calls for financial support from the provincial government.
There have been multiple calls from opposition parties, municipal politicians, and community members for a public inquiry into the whole Eglinton Crosstown project, but the Ford government hasn’t agreed to call such an inquiry.
Meanwhile, early work continues on the 9.2-kilometre Eglinton Crosstown West extension. It will eventually see seven stops added to Line 5 Eglinton west of Mount Dennis, ending at Renforth station in Mississauga.
TTC CEO Mandeep Lali made the Eglinton Crosstown LRT opening announcement during a board meeting on Tuesday. Local
TTC CEO Mandeep Lali has announced the Eglinton Crosstown LRT will finally open to the public, beginning with a phased opening on Sunday.
Lali made the Line 5 Eglinton announcement during a TTC board meeting Tuesday afternoon. It coincided with several upcoming changes to the bus network.
He said rides on the Eglinton Crosstown will be fare-free on Sunday. However, TTC officials said there won’t be a formal public celebration event to mark the beginning of service on Sunday unlike the launch of Line 6 Finch West in early December.
“It’s a gradual opening … we’ll be leveraging customer feedback again, taking on the lessons from Line 6, holding the right teams accountable. I think we’ve been working through that very, very diligently in the last few weeks,” Lali said, adding there are no outstanding critical safety items to address before service begins.
As part of the phased opening, up to 24 trains will run roughly between 5:45 a.m. and 11 p.m. Monday to Saturday with potentially a later start on Sundays. TTC buses will run along the corridor at all other times when trains aren’t running. Officials also confirmed there won’t be parallel shuttle buses running at the same time.
Lali said it will take 55 to 59 minutes to go from one end to the other on a train versus 105 minutes on a bus.
The Line 5 Eglinton opening details prompted mixed reactions among TTC board members.
“I’m happy that Eglinton is finally opening after all these years, but I don’t share the same sense of celebration for this reason: Over the past 15 years, communities have been impacted and treated like collateral damage. Hundreds of businesses have shut down,” Coun. Josh Matlow said while calling out Metrolinx (the provincial transportation agency overseeing the project) and Crosslinx Transit Solutions (the private-sector consortium responsible for building and maintaining the line).
“The project is at least a billion dollars (in) cost overrun, six years delayed, it has been mismanaged, and it’s been done with the kind of secrecy and lack of transparency that is unacceptable when it comes to a democratic government’s project, and that secrecy continues to this very day.”
Coun. Dianne Saxe said she’s glad the Eglinton Crosstown LRT is forecast to be faster than buses along the same corridor, but is concerned about the future.
“This is a classic case of the evidence from all around the world that having the private sector involved in building transit makes it more expensive and slower. But now we’ve got a nightmare. We’ve got a group (Crosslinx) that’s responsible for maintenance, with the TTC responsible for operating and doing daily maintenance — that sounds to me like a lawsuit waiting to happen,” she said.
However, TTC vice chair and former councillor Joe Mihevc said he’s happy there is finally a major east-west transit line that runs through the middle of Toronto since a planned Eglinton subway line was cancelled in the 1990s.
“I think Torontonians will have a great service — maybe not on day one. I understand this phased opening is a way of saying, ‘cut us some slack,’ he said.
“There’s going to be some real-world growing pains in this, but at the end of the day it’s a service that Torontonians have been waiting for for a long time.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford teased the opening date during an unrelated news conference in late January. He told reporters that he was advised of the Feb. 8 opening date by the TTC. However, Lali refused to confirm that date during a subsequent event amid reports of unresolved operational issues.
“We inherited (the line), we took the responsibility. Thank God it’s opening. They’ve done hundreds of thousands of kilometres of testing, and it’s going to finally get finished,” Ford said on Jan. 26.
“I’m happy it’s done, that’s all I can tell you, because it’s been a nightmare for all of us I’m first to admit, but it’s going to be incredible.”
News of the official launch of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT came less than two months after “substantial completion” was declared, which happened when independent engineers certified that the 19-kilometre, 25-station line was built as designed.
Since that declaration, the TTC had full operational control of trains along the corridor and staff were conducting their own assessments. More than 1,000 TTC and Metrolinx personnel participated in a major test on Jan. 22 in an effort to assess readiness.
Getting the current 19-kilometre, 25-stop Eglinton Crosstown LRT ready to open for riders has been nearly 20 years in the making.
The Eglinton Crosstown was first proposed under former mayor David Miller’s Transit City plan in 2007. Contemplated as part of a larger network of new LRT lines, the Eglinton Crosstown would connect Mount Dennis in the west with Kennedy subway station in the east along Eglinton Avenue.
It wasn’t until 2011 that construction formally began under the previous provincial Liberal government.
The mammoth project was supposed to be done by 2020. However, that finishing date was repeatedly pushed back due to various legal, construction and testing issues along with COVID-19-related delays.
As CityNews reported over the past several years, there have also been issues with poor construction, the signalling system that has required multiple software upgrades, and a small collision during the final testing and commissioning phase. At one point, provincial officials confirmed there were around 260 deficiencies that needed to be addressed.
Prolonged construction and road closures also took a toll on many small businesses in Little Jamaica and elsewhere along the corridor, sparking calls for financial support from the provincial government.
There have been multiple calls from opposition parties, municipal politicians, and community members for a public inquiry into the whole Eglinton Crosstown project, but the Ford government hasn’t agreed to call such an inquiry.
Meanwhile, early work continues on the 9.2-kilometre Eglinton Crosstown West extension. It will eventually see seven stops added to Line 5 Eglinton west of Mount Dennis, ending at Renforth station in Mississauga.