Eglinton Crosstown will perform better than Finch West LRT: provincial officials

The long-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT is set to open Feb. 8, sources say. Mayor Chow and Ontario officials spoke to the media earlier today.

The Eglinton Crosstown will have reduced hours when it opens next month in order to allow for what TTC officials are calling a “phased opening.”

TTC Chief Strategy and Customer Experience Officer Josh Colle made the comment during an unrelated news conference on Tuesday morning.

A source has told CP24 that the long-delayed Crosstown will open on Feb. 8, though officials have not yet formally unveiled plans for the opening of the line.

“We are targeting this date in February but it won’t be full hours yet when we open and part of that is exactly from the learnings we have seen on other lines where we want to make sure that we are stress testing it, our customers are giving us feedback on that and we are pressing and making the accountability really clear for the maintainer (of the line),” Colle said.

Colle did not indicate when the Eglinton Crosstown would be fully operational, only saying that more details would be provided “soon.”

“When we feel we have demonstrated that it is not just like ‘let’s pick a date’ and that the demonstrated performance is there, that is when the hours begin to extend further and further,” he said.

Speaking with reporters at a separate event Tuesday, TTC CEO Mandeep Lali said it would be “irresponsible” to state an opening date at this point, and that the TTC is still learning from some of the issues that have come up with the Finch West LRT.

“As soon as we digest what’s occurred in terms of Metrolinx and their suppliers, and we’re comfortable going forward from the learnings, we will announce it (an opening date) as soon as practically it is possible,” Lali said. “I think it’s everyone’s interest that we move forward at pace, which we are.”

Premier Doug Ford was also asked about the Crosstown opening on Tuesday and said it will ultimately be in the hands of the TTC.

“We’ll hopefully get it open on Feb. 8, but that’s strictly up to the TTC,” Ford said. “We’ve handed all operations on Finch and on Eglinton Crosstown (to the TTC). We’re going to get open and go move February.”

Other provincial officials said Tuesday they expect the Eglinton Crosstown LRT to perform well when it opens in a few weeks despite the fact that the Finch West LRT has been plagued with problems since its opening last month.

Speaking at an event in Whitby where he announced major construction is now underway on the Bowmanville GO extension, Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria was asked how the government can reassure people the Crosstown will be safe and reliable given the problems with the Finch West LRT so far.

Sarkaria said the system has been thoroughly tested and there’s been “millions of miles that have been put on that, from a testing perspective.”

He also said the Crosstown is “much different from the Finch West LRT,” pointing out around 11 kilometres of the Crosstown is underground. The Finch LRT, which has been hampered by weather and traffic problems, is completely above ground.

“Our teams are working with the TTC on this to ensure that we have seamless operations, and they’re working through any challenges or any opportunities that we’ve learned from Finch and that we can relate to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT as well,” Sarkaria said.

A source has told CP24 that the long-delayed Crosstown will open on Feb. 8 and provincial officials have not disputed the date. The $13 billion light rail project has been under construction for 16 years, facing numerous setbacks and problems that pushed back the planned 2020 opening.

Metrolinx CEO Michael Lindsay spoke alongside Sarkaria Tuesday and added that the provincial transit agency has been working with its partners to understand the problems the new LRTs need to deal with.

“We’ve been working with our private sector partner, the TTC, the city and its plowing companies to better understand what protocols should be in place to move snow to ensure effective drainage, particularly on the at-grade portion of Eglinton in the east end of the city,” Lindsay said.

The Finch West LRT has regularly been shut down by poor weather since its opening.

Lindsay said the private contractors charged with maintenance of the line have also been more engaged on the Crosstown because of problems they had to work on in the summer. He pointed out the system was tested and performed well during a snowstorm on Dec. 15-16.

“Does this mean that there will be no issues, no maintenance snags, no operational protocols to have to solve, particularly in the east end of that project? That is not what I’m saying,” Lindsay said.

“From Edmonton to Montreal to Toronto, the early phases of operations and maintenance of any new transit project by design needs to be a bedding-in process where we get better and better as we go. And I can promise you that we are talking to colleagues across this country about this national challenge, that we appreciate the patience of all our riders as we bring a system like Eglinton into being.”

In terms of the train speed, Sarkaria said both Finch West trains and Crosstown trains have been tested at 60 km per hour. While the Finch vehicles don’t move that quickly, Sarkaria said it will be up to the TTC to work on signal priority to speed up that line.