Metrolinx CEO won't provide opening date for troubled Eglinton Crosstown LRT

Metrolinx is refusing to provide an update on an opening date for the long-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT line, citing technical issues in the testing and commissioning phase that are continuously pushing the finish date further down the road. 

 

"Any prediction of an opening date at this stage of the project will just be an estimate, and I'm not comfortable giving that," said Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster. 

 

The 25-stop, 19-kilometre line was to be up due and running in the autumn of 2022, but construction has stretched on long past that. 

 

The regional transit agency puts some blame for the delay on the COVID-19 pandemic, repairs to the existing Yonge-Eglinton subway station, and the previous consortium of four companies contracted by Ontario's previous Liberal government to design and build the Crosstown. 

 

Some figures suggest that the overall budget costs have increased to USD13bn - more than double the original estimate. 

 

The transit line, also known as Line 5, is expected to run along Eglinton Avenue from Mount Dennis in the west to Kennedy in the east.