The long-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT will not open this month after all 鈥 and unreliable trains are to blame for the latest delay.
At a press conference Friday to announce the start of construction on the first of three stations for the new Scarborough Subway Extension, Metrolinx CEO Michael Lindsay said the Eglinton Crosstown will not open in September, as previously expected.
鈥淪ince it’s not September now, we’re hoping it’s October,鈥 Lindsay said.
Asked if it would open this year, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria deferred to Lindsay, who said, “We hope, yes.”
The trouble with the trains
The trains for the light-rail line have been the problem this time, Lindsay said.
The trains for the Crosstown had been the subject of a legal battle between their manufacturer, Bombardier, and Metrolinx over delays in their construction.听The first six trains for the line were delivered in 2019 and the full fleet of 76 cars was delivered throughout 2021.
Now those cars are causing trouble, delaying a 30-day, full-service test Metrolinx had scheduled for the end of August.
The Crosstown trains are still having 鈥渞eliability and performance issues鈥 as they ramp up to full service for the line, Lindsay said Friday, adding, 鈥淭his is all about whether you can run the kilometres that are intended.”
The performance issues aren’t safety-related, but they affect the train’s ability to run with customers for the entire line, according to Lindsay.
“Slowly but surely, the vehicles are becoming more available, more reliable,” Lindsay said. “It’s just the movement of vehicles and making sure that we can keep a sustainable number at peak condition in service for 21 hours a day.”
A drawn-out saga for 色色啦’s LRTs
Lindsay also gave an update on the Finch West LRT, which started construction long after the Crosstown in 2019. That line, he said, is also targeting a 30-day revenue demonstration test in September.
“We haven’t seen some of the same sort of maintenance and reliability things to fix on Finch that we did on Eglinton,” said Lindsay.
The Star initially reported that this month was being eyed for the opening of the long-delayed Eglinton LRT, but recent signs pointed to a further delay.
Confidential documents seen by the Star in June showed that the LRT may make its long-awaited public debut with a 鈥渟oft-opening,鈥 with the TTC and Metrolinx exploring the possibility of opening it to the public 鈥渋n phases,鈥 without clarifying what that would look like.
Lindsay hinted at a “progressive ramp up of passenger service” on Friday,听but did not directly address a potential soft-opening听for the Crosstown once it opens.
The June documents also suggested that continued testing of the line could extend beyond the expected opening date this fall.
In a public presentation to the TTC board that same month, staff explained that three testing steps remain to be completed before the Eglinton Crosstown can open to the public: a 14-day trial run to ensure that the systems, infrastructure and trains are ready, followed by a revenue service demonstration where trains operate on the line for at least 30 days as they are expected to when it opens to the paying public.
With 25 stops stretching from Mount Dennis in the west to Kennedy in the east, the 19-kilometre Eglinton Crosstown LRT was initially meant to be ready by 2020.
A pandemic and several lawsuits, as well as software glitches, have delayed the line鈥檚 opening, even after the Star received an exclusive tour in May 2023. The completion of the LRT had been promised, then pushed back, for three years, until the transit agency declined to give a projected opening in 2023.
Frustration at Queen’s Park
Premier Doug Ford, who has been premier for seven years of the LRT鈥檚 14 years of construction, said in early June that a September opening date was 鈥渨hat I鈥檓 hearing.鈥
At Queen鈥檚 Park on Friday, Ford said it was not acceptable that officials could not guarantee an opening for the LRT this year.
鈥淚 do see the trains running up and down, so we鈥檒l be all over them on that,鈥 he told reporters.
鈥淲e have to keep pushing it, but I want to make sure it鈥檚 safe. I鈥檓 going to have a meeting with Metrolinx, I鈥檓 going to have a meeting with the TTC, find out exactly what the problem is 鈥 make sure we get to the bottom of it.鈥
The Transportation Minister did not answer when asked on Friday if the provincial government owed an apology to Eglinton residents who have waited for over a decade for the LRT line to open, facing traffic troubles and business closures along the way.
“There’s obviously a lot of frustration. There’s a lot of disappointment. And I don’t disagree with that,” Sarkaria said. “But we’re going to deliver a system that is going to work for the people of this province and for the city.”
With files from Rob Ferguson.听
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