Finch West LRT project marks completion of stations and stops, but work still ongoing

Ontario’s transportation minister says all of the Finch West LRT line’s stations and stops have been finished, but work continues on the line and it’s not clear when it will open.

Prabmeet Sarkaria confirmed the milestone involving the 18 stops across the 11-kilometre line at Humber College station Friday morning.

He touted peak service train intervals of five minutes once the line opens, but the exact details of service levels throughout the rest of the day weren’t released.

When asked about the current projected opening date, Sarkaria didn’t provide one.

“We are currently in the training process,” Sarkaria said.

“We have to ensure that we deliver a reliable transit system that is safe from an operational perspective on day one and we will continue to work through that process to ensure that happens.”

Sarkaria also reiterated an update given to the Metrolinx board of directors by the transportation agency’s executives on Sept. 12. He said 10 of the 15 TTC personnel who will go on to train the Finch West LRT operators have undergone vehicle familiarization and training themselves.

During the Metrolinx board meeting, officials said the TTC still needs to “validate” the operator training program later this year.

CEO Phil Verster said “major construction practically complete” and that he is “satisfied” there is a “clear action plan to get us to the next stage of completion of testing.”

Officials noted it’s mainly paving, road and streetscape work and site restorations that are left to do. A timeline for finishing those remaining elements wasn’t released.

At the beginning of September, CityNews went to Humber College station and travelled along the rest of the line to check out progress since visiting at the end of 2023.

While work appeared to be mostly done at the station, outside landscaping and sidewalk finishing work still needed to be done. Crews have also completed a large amount of asphalt resurfacing on newly redesigned roads, but there are still portions of Finch Avenue West that need top coats of asphalt.

Across the route, platform canopies and final finishes have been installed at the 16 street-level platforms. At the beginning of the year, crews were able to run light rail vehicles end to end. During our visit Friday evening, crews could be seen working on a segment of rail near Tobermory Drive.

Throughout the project, the most delayed area has been a one-kilometre section of Finch Avenue West between Signet Drive and Arrow Road on the east and west of Weston Road by Lindylou Park. Officials attributed this to complex infrastructure issues around the rail bridge and near the park.

Since our visit in December, sidewalks have been poured west of Weston Road and the road has been paved. However, east of Weston Road, sidewalk and path work had slowed down with rough paths and unfinished roads still remaining in this section of the route.

The Finch West LRT, which saw its tendering process start in 2015 under the previous provincial government, was supposed to be done by the end of 2023. That goal was then pushed back to the first half of 2024 before being extended to the end of the year. The budget for constructing the line, buying 18 trains and providing maintenance for 30 years is $3.4 billion.

“We’re still working with TTC on what a realistic schedule is to actually open the line and so I would say mid-next year looks good right now, but there’s still a long way to go on testing, commissioning,” Andrew Hope told CityNews last December.

“Very confident we’ll have the line open by the end of 2024 at this point.

“Obviously (it’s) a bit of an unpredictable process. We’re trying to make sure everything works and if there’s anything wrong, we have to fix it. That’s the process over the next six months, but it’s looking very good from where we stand right now.”