Six years after it was originally scheduled to open, and 15 years after the first shovels went into the ground, the long-delayed and much-maligned Eglinton Crosstown LRT is set to carry its first public passengers on Sunday.
The 19-kilometre, 25 station LRT is opening in phases, with increasing service levels over the next six months. To start, the line will run from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily before expanding hours of operation from 5:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. During peak hours, the trains will arrive every four minutes and 45 seconds before switching to every three minutes and 30 seconds.
TTC buses will service the corridor at all other times when the trains aren’t running. Officials say there will not be parallel shuttle buses running at the same time.
Trips along the route, which runs partly underground, are expected to take between 55 to 59 minutes from one end to the other, as compared to 105 minutes on a bus.
TTC CEO Mandeep Lali said rides on Sunday will be free, however, the transit agency said it will not hold a formal public celebration event unlike the launch of the Finch West line back in December.
The launch of the Eglinton LRT will heavily scrutinized, especially on the heels of the Finch West opening which has been plagued by issues and service disruptions, partly due to the winter weather. The opening of the Eglinton line comes on one of the coldest weekends Toronto has seen this winter.
Critics have been calling for a full public inquiry into Line 5 to ensure accountability and that any lessons learned get applied to future transit projects, but Premier Doug Ford has repeated dismissed those calls.
A report last fall from the provincial transit agency, Metrolinx, said the project had incurred a cost of over $13 billion.
With files from Nick Westoll and The Canadian Press
