Train washing post for yet-to-be-opened Eglinton Crosstown LRT raises ire

With the Eglinton Crosstown LRT project in its 13th year of construction and commuters still waiting for an opening date, a social media post showing how the light rail vehicles (LRVs) get washed despite not being in public service is provoking further frustration among some.

“Why (are) we cleaning vehicles not even being used?” one user asked.

“I’d prefer trains that are servicing the population of Toronto, but are a little dirty, over clean trains that I can’t ride,” another user wrote.

The post went up on the Eglinton Crosstown Instagram account (@eglinton_crosstown) on Thursday. It has since received dozens of comments and shares elsewhere. The video was also shared on X.

The 41-second video opens with a drone shot showing multiple parked LRVs at the Mount Dennis maintenance and storage facility before opening with the question, “How do we clean so many light rail vehicles?” The video then shows several shots inside the train wash building with at least one train being washed with water.

But the behind-the-scenes video comes amid an ongoing vacuum of detailed, up-to-date information on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT project. The last detailed briefing for reporters and the public happened in early December. It’s still not publicly known when the latest target opening date is.

Thursday’s post prompted several questions about the opening, management of the project, and judgement of releasing the video.

“… Nobody is asking how you keep your trains clean and you’re doing everything to dodge answering when the thing will actually open,” one user wrote in part.

“I feel like this post is mocking me,” another person wrote.

CityNews contacted Metrolinx, which operates the Eglinton Crosstown account, late Thursday to ask for an estimated opening date timeframe, the latest progress made on the project and additional information about the post.

In a statement from the media relations office Friday morning, officials said the “testing and commissioning phase which ensures the line works safely and reliably” is still underway.

“We need to have confidence that key milestones are being met and once we have an opening date, we will share that with the public,” the statement said.

Officials said the video was produced by in-house Metrolinx staff, adding it and others are made “to share regular process updates on our projects.”

There have been nine posts on the same Instagram account since the beginning of 2024 talking about heritage plaques, Mount Dennis station and other limited glimpses of the 19-kilometre, 25-station line. There haven’t been any posts explaining the latest delays on the project.

During a May tour of Mount Dennis station on the western end of the Eglinton Crosstown line for Your Community, CityNews was able to see the work was nearly complete.

“We’re in testing and commissioning. That process is still ongoing, so I don’t have a date right now for when that’s going to be open. We’re in the process and continuing to make good progress every month,” Andrew Hope, the chief rapid transit capital officer for Metrolinx, said at the time when asked about a possible opening date.

At a news conference touting progress on the Eglinton Crosstown west extension to Mississauga in March, Metrolinx president and CEO Phil Verster was asked about the ongoing delays. He described one of the holdups on the main Crosstown line itself was issues surrounding the software system that oversees the movement of trains.

“They’re making good progress with it, but it’s not as fast as we would like it to be,” he said.

A brief update at the June 27 Metrolinx board meeting suggested software issues were addressed and the resumption of training for roughly 20 TTC instructors and 90 TTC operators could resume.

Once the operators are all trained and ready to go, Verster said in his March remarks that there will be a “revenue service demonstration” where trains are scheduled to function as planned but without customers. Officials said the trains need to operate as designed for a month without any major issues. A further familiarization period is scheduled to follow that.

The second major issue involves the issuance of construction certificates — the official documents that declare the system was designed, built, delivered and tested to specifications. At the time, just one of 46 construction certificates were issued while others were in the process.

He added 36 of the 41 areas where customers and workers are present have received occupancy certificates. The statement issued on Friday said the number of occupancy permits issued hasn’t changed.

Verster also said more than 50 per cent of the system integration testing was done, up from 15 per cent when he last addressed the media in-depth back in early December.

While Verster said all major construction has been completed, work is underway to address deficiencies. He cited examples of replacing tiles and addressing water leakage, adding Eglinton station is the biggest asset in need of work.

In February, CityNews reported how crews were digging up newer segments of sidewalks on the eastern part of the alignment within a few years of being completely rebuilt.

Verster repeated a refrain from past question-and-answer opportunities when it came to providing an opening date.

“The schedule is moving forward relentlessly and once we are within three months of an opening day, we’ll declare that,” he said.

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A post shared by Eglinton Crosstown (@eglinton_crosstown)

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT vehicles have been gliding along midtown during their test runs – and they're looking great! Take a look at the wash bay to see how we keep them sparkling clean. pic.twitter.com/7AhEKOvNnU

— Crosstown (@CrosstownTO) August 8, 2024