Toronto's Eglinton Crosstown project 98% complete

The Eglinton Crosstown light rail project has seen the construction of a 19km line along Eglinton Avenue in Toronto’s northern suburbs on behalf of Ontario transit agency Metrolinx. The line will be operated by TTC, the city operator of the Toronto tramway system. Plans for this were made in 2007 and construction started in 2011 from Mount Dennis to Kennedy subway station with a target of operation in 2020 at a cost of CAD 9.1bn. The line is 98% complete and is likely to cost CAD 13bn.  

 

The contractor is Crosslinx Transit Solutions, a consortium formed by SNC-Lavalin, Aecon, ACS Infrastructure Canada, Dragados and Scotiabank under a 30-year PPP contract to design, build, finance and maintain. Bombardier has delivered 76 Flexity Freedom to the standard-gauge line that will operate in back-to-back coupled pairs; the depot and workshop is at the western end of line line near Mount Dennis and Alstom has a 30-year maintenance contract. The line runs in subway from near Mount Dennis to Laird (6.4km). 

 

Metrolinx/Infrastructure Ontario have already clashed in court with Crosslinx over the cost of contract change orders, with the agencies coming to a settlement to pay an additional CAD 325M in costs predicated on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. However a report in December 2022 revealed that Metrolinx did not believe that Crosslinx had a credible plan to complete the line. 

 

On 16 May it was announced that Crosslinx Transit Solutions was suing transport agency Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario and threatening to stop work to complete the project and refusing to enter into an operating contract with TTC, unless further financial claims for late changes are met. The consortium failed to meet a deadline to provide a revised schedule for the completion.