The Ontario government is reporting that “substantial completion” has been reached on the 14-year Eglinton Crosstown LRT project, which clears the way for the TTC to open the 19-kilometre, 25-station line.
According to a statement issued by the Ford government Friday afternoon, the final milestone was reached earlier in the day after “independent engineers verified the line is ready for service.”
The statement said the TTC is assuming “full operational control” of Line 5 Eglinton Crosstown and that it will be up to the Toronto transit agency to determine an opening date sometime early in 2026. TTC staff haven’t released a projected opening date.
In order to reach the “substantial completion” stage, officials said the testing and commissioning stage put the Eglinton Crosstown through its paces.
They said it ran at “full capacity” during various weather conditions (including when there was 10 centimetres of snowfall), operated the fleet of trains for 16 hours a day and more than 11,000 kilometres a week similar to if there was service for riders, and doing all the work with the full complement of staff to “manage and mitigate any problems that arise during testing.”
The announcement came after Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and other dignitaries held a ceremonial plaque unveiling for Line 6 Finch West ahead of the LRT’s opening on Sunday. It was also announced that Sunday will be fare-free for commuters curious to try out the line.
Similar to Line 6 Finch West, officials said there will be a phased increase of service as crews get more familiar with the line while it’s in active operation.
Whenever Line 5 Eglinton Crosstown opens, it will operate between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. daily. At its peak service time, trains are expected to come around every four minutes and 45 seconds. This schedule will be in place for the first six months.
After the initial six-month period, officials noted the hours of operation will be 5:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. and peak service will see trains arrive around every three minutes and 30 seconds.
It was on Tuesday when the Ontario government announced the Eglinton Crosstown passed its revenue service demonstration test, a weeks-long process of ensuring the line operated as designed.
The demonstration started on Oct. 7, but it was temporarily paused after a collision between two trains at the Mount Dennis maintenance and storage facility. There were no physical injuries reported. TTC advocates called for greater transparency on the incident, noting details haven’t been publicly released.
The TTC began changing its bus network earlier this year to better align with the Crosstown.
Line 5 Eglinton Crosstown will run between Mount Dennis station (where GO Transit and UP Express train service recently started) in the west end and Kennedy station in the east end where there are connections to Line 2 Bloor-Danforth and GO Transit’s Stouffville line.
Construction of the Eglinton Crosstown began in 2011 under the previous Ontario Liberal government and different Metrolinx management. It was supposed to open in 2020, but it has been repeatedly pushed back due to various legal, construction and testing issues along with COVID-19-related delays.