Eglinton Crosstown opening date won’t be released until 3 months before: Metrolinx CEO

As the Eglinton Crosstown LRT project gets set to enter its 13th year of construction, the head of Metrolinx says people won’t know when it will open until three months before the public can start riding the line.

During a Metrolinx board meeting Thursday morning, Phil Verster and Metrolinx staff commented on the opening date during a brief update about the ongoing project.

“We are not there yet. We are making sure everything was built right and operates correctly and safely, and our contractor CTS is finding issues that must be fixed before we can open Eglinton Crosstown for safe and reliable passenger services,” Verster told board members.

He went on to tout “close collaboration” with Crosslinx Transit Solutions (CTS), the private-sector consortium charged with building the 19-kilometre, 25-station light rail transit line, and the Toronto Transit Commission, which will be operating the line when it opens.

“We all have a sense of urgency and commitment to open the railway, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, in a way that operates safely and reliably,” Verster said.

He said a media briefing will be held in early December at Yonge station to address construction, permit, testing and commissioning issues. It will also provide a long-awaited look at progress made at the station level.

The line was supposed to open in 2020, but it has been repeatedly pushed back due to various legal and construction issues along with COVID-19-related delays. In May, Verster said the Eglinton Crosstown wouldn’t open until sometime in 2024.

In September, Metrolinx held the first of what they promised would be bimonthly updates going forward to talk about progress. At the time, Verster refused to release an opening date despite several questions from journalists.

“I had every intention to predict an opening date or a series or range of possible opening dates for the Eglinton Crosstown with you today, but I’ve decided against doing so,” he said on Sept. 27.

“I know it’s tempting to try and interpret what I think the opening date is. I can just say to you give us some space, let us come back to you and give you that feedback.”

Andrew Hope, the chief capital officer for Metrolinx, said the biggest area requiring work is near Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue. He said while Eglinton Crosstown-related road restrictions have been largely removed, there are still around 400 metres affected above and near Yonge station. Hope said road decking needs to be removed on Eglinton Avenue East and road restoration is underway. He said it should be finished by the end of March.

Below ground and across the rail line, Hope said issues keep arising that need to be addressed.

“We continue to work on testing, commissioning, getting the system stable and reliable so that we can recommence operator driver training activities in the next short while,” he said before noting a “milestone” was reached earlier in the week.

“With the release of a new software update for the signalling and train control system, which will address some of the challenges we’ve had previously with the stability of the system and progressing with the testing and commissioning activities.

“Fleet availability has improved significantly over the past number of months to the point where just last week we had 21 active trains out operating on the line which is 42 vehicles with two vehicles in each train.”