The Finch West LRT is on track to open on Dec. 7, sources tell 680 NewsRadio Toronto.
Ontario government officials said the Finch West LRT has successfully passed its last major test needed for operation (the revenue service demonstration), clearing the way for the TTC to open the long-awaited line in northwest Toronto.
According to a statement issued by the government on Thursday, the TTC will get full operational control of Line 6 Finch West by Nov. 3.
The statement said it will then be up to the Toronto transit agency to set an opening date as operators and other staff continue their training and commissioning work.
CityNews contacted the TTC Thursday afternoon to ask for a response to the statement and the plans for opening. A brief response from the agency’s media relations office after publication of this story said staff are “encouraged” by the announcement, but wouldn’t confirm a project opening date.
“We continue to work with our partners at Metrolinx and their contractors to ensure safe and reliable operations when the line opens,” the statement said.
The final test needed for opening the Finch West LRT was a 30-day revenue service demonstration. which was the final and critical period that shows the line fully operates as it was initially designed. That test began on Sept. 21.
The TTC assumed operational oversight capability of Line 6 Finch West in early September.
For months, the TTC ramped up driver training as Mosaic Transit Group, the private-sector consortium responsible for building and maintaining the line, continued its work.
News of the successful test completion came amid some continuing uncertainty after a lawsuit was filed in 2024 over a contract dispute. In recent months, questions about maintenance came to the forefront when several cracked station shelter walls popped up in spots along the Finch West corridor.
The 18-stop Finch West LRT runs mostly along Finch Avenue West between Finch West subway station at Keele Street and Humber College station at Highway 27.
Construction began in 2019 and was supposed to be done by the end of 2023. The tendering process started in 2015 under the previous provincial Liberal government and a contract was signed weeks before the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario came to power in 2018.