TTC has taken control of Eglinton Crosstown LRT, Metrolinx CEO says
Possible fall opening date depends on successful systems testing: Metrolinx CEO
The TTC has taken control from Metrolinx on the long-delayed Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit line, the CEO of Metrolinx said on Tuesday.
Metrolinx moved control of the line about a week ago to the TTC's command centre at Hillcrest Complex, Michael Lindsay said.
"As of today or tomorrow, movement of trains on the line will actually be governed by the TTC," he said at a news conference in Toronto on Tuesday.
Lindsay said the system and vehicles are currently being "relentlessly" stress tested.
"We're doing the things for this line that frankly were not done for the Ottawa LRT, demonstrating to ourselves that it's going to perform the way that we want it to on the day that it opens," he said.
In 2022, a public inquiry found Ottawa's troubled Confederation Line, which opened in 2019, was "rushed into service" by the city and companies that built it. Both city officials and the companies made "egregious" errors during the construction and testing phases, the report found.
The line faced a series of issues since its launch, including multiple lengthy shutdowns, derailments, malfunctioning doors and breaks, and long-lasting issues with wheel bearings.
If systems testing for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT goes according to plan, "that's why we have a September, fall date for the Eglinton Crosstown," Lindsay said.
Earlier this month, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the transit line is on track to open in September.
The 25-stop line was initially set to open in 2020, but a series of technical problems and associated cost overruns have plagued the project and repeatedly delayed its completion. Construction on the line began in 2011.
Ford said the TTC has been "great partners on the project," speaking at Tuesday's news conference.
"It's going to be up to them to make it happen, let's get it done," he said.
Ford said his government "inherited a mess [but] now it's going to come to fruition."
In a statement, TTC spokesperson Stuart Green told CBC Toronto that while "train operations were transferred" this week, "there are, however, still more phases and milestones to be safely completed before handover to the TTC occurs."
Green said the province would announce a revised opening date "when we are confident the line is ready for safe and reliable operations."
Transit line is top priority under new TTC CEO: Chow
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, who attended Tuesday's news conference, said opening the Eglinton Crosstown LRT is the top priority for the TTC after it welcomed a new CEO, Mandeep Lali, earlier this month.
She said the second priority is upgrading old tracks and signals on the subway lines.
The third priority is persuading the federal government to exempt new subway cars for Line 2 from the tendering process "so that we could immediately take the jobs, put it in Thunder Bay and build those new subway cars right here in Ontario," she said.
The city announced it was replacing 55 aging subway trains on the line in November. The new trains are expected to cost nearly $2.3 billion in total, with the city, province and federal government splitting the bill.
Coun. Josh Matlow, who represents Toronto—St. Paul's, said the update on the Eglinton LRT "is something to appreciate, but not boast about," in a post on X on Tuesday.
He said Tuesday's news conference "should've announced a public inquiry into what went wrong, so the mistakes are never repeated."
The update came during an announcement that construction had begun on the East Harbour Transit Hub, an new interchange station in Toronto's east end that the Ontario government says will become the second busiest transit station in the city.
The hub, which will be located immediately east of the Don Valley Parkway and south of Eastern Avenue, will connect the Ontario Line subway — also under construction — with the Lakeshore East and Stouffville GO transit lines.
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With files from Elyse Skura