As the Ontario government reports the Eglinton Crosstown LRT has passed the final crucial test needed for opening, TTC advocates are once again calling for greater transparency on the 14-year transit project.
Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria’s office confirmed the revenue service demonstration, a 30-day intensive testing period to ensure the Eglinton Crosstown LRT runs as designed, has been “successfully completed.”
“Following the same process used for the Finch West LRT, the project will now move toward substantial completion, at which point it will be fully transferred to the TTC,” spokesperson Dakota Brasier wrote in a statement Tuesday morning.
Line 6 Finch West is set to open to the public on Sunday, which is about six weeks after the 18-stop line finished its revenue service demonstration. It’s not clear if Line 5 Eglinton Crosstown will follow a similar timeframe as a projected opening date wasn’t provided.
During an unrelated update on Monday, Metrolinx president and CEO Michael Lindsay said crews responsible for commissioning the 19-kilometre, 25-station Eglinton Crosstown LRT line have been able to see how it performs in various weather conditions. He said there is still some final training needed as part of the remaining commissioning work.
“I can understand the frustration of absolutely everybody associated with this project,” Lindsay said.
“The testing of this particular system is the reason that we have worked so hard over the past couple of months to make sure we have a real confidence when we put passengers on this system it’s going to perform the way that we want it to.”
The Crosstown’s revenue service demonstration began on Oct. 7, but the process was temporarily stopped after a crash on Oct. 16 involving two trains at the Mount Dennis maintenance and storage facility. There were no reports of physical injuries. Little about the incident has been publicly shared by Metrolinx and the Ontario government.
Marvin Alfred, president of ATU Local 113 — the union that represents more than 12,000 TTC workers, and Toronto Coun. Josh Matlow held a news conference outside Mount Dennis station Tuesday morning to call for greater transparency.
“We’re dealing with issues regarding workers asking for information in order to provide some sort of comfort as to what happened,” Alfred said.
“The accident of Oct. 16, we only have word of mouth among our peers as to what happened and what’s going on. We talk about confidence, we talk about clarity, we talk about transparency, we’re not getting it.”
Alfred questioned how similar incidents can be prevented in the future if all workers don’t receive additional information.
Matlow said they’re pushing for greater accountability, including reiterating previous calls for Premier Doug Ford to call a public inquiry. Despite the requests, the provincial government hasn’t launched an inquiry.
He also called on the TTC to publicly provide more information. Metrolinx and Crosslinx, the private-sector consortium building the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, have had the lead on the project.
“Before it’s handed over to the TTC, before our workers are going to be operating it, we need to know about any safety concerns (and) anything that’s gone wrong so that we’re confident our workers and just as importantly the people of Toronto who are going to be riding the trains every day,” Matlow said.
CityNews contacted Metrolinx and TTC to ask for a response to the concerns shared by Alfred and Matlow, but representatives weren’t immediately available. This story will be updated if a response is received.
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.
