Eglinton LRT unlikely to meet 2020 completion date: TTC report

A TTC staff report says the Eglinton Crosstown LRT is unlikely to be completed by 2020, the completion date announced by Metrolinx in April when the provincial transportation agency endorsed Toronto’s light-rail transit plan.

The $8.4 billion LRT plan, approved by the province on April 25 and city council on Feb. 8, includes lines for Eglinton, Scarborough, Sheppard and Finch.

The more realistic in-service date for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT is 2022-2023, the report said.

The main reason is that the TTC will no longer be the project manager on Metrolinx’s behalf. The agency has decided to use Infrastructure Ontario to complete the LRT, which uses an Alternative Finance and Procurement strategy.

That strategy employs the private sector in managing the overall delivery of major infrastructure projects and would mean that work the TTC has already completed would need to be redone when a contractor is awarded the project.

The TTC staff report recommends:

• A realistic target in-service date of 2022-2023 for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.
• Construction should be staged to address community impacts and operational
constraints.
• Sufficient time for commissioning the line should be provided in the schedule.
• Start construction of the Sheppard East LRT immediately.
• Start the Finch West LRT construction in 2015.
• Start the Scarborough RT construction in 2015 after the Pan/Parapan
American Games.

The TTC will discuss the report at its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday.

Click here to read the staff report.

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