Toronto Transit Commission Line 5 Eglinton


	Eglinton Crosstown LRT

Number of Branches
Distance		19km (Kennedy Station - Mount Dennis)
Blue Night
Types of vehicles used		Bombardier Flexity Freedom
Division		Eglinton Crosstown LRV MSF
Ridership (2018)		NA

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT (also known as simply The Crosstown) is a future light rail transit line that will run from Kennedy Station to Weston Road. The central portion of the route will run under Eglinton Avenue. The line will have connections with the Bloor-Danforth Line and the Yonge-University-Spadina Line.

As part of a master agreement with the City of Toronto, Metrolinx is responsible for project delivery and the Toronto Transit Commission will be responsible for the line's operation. The line is scheduled to open in 2020.

History

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT was part of the Transit City Light Rail Plan introduced by former mayor David Miller and former TTC chair Adam Giambrone in 2007. Under that plan, the LRT line would eventually connect Kennedy Station with Pearson Airport in its second phase. Connections would have been made with other Transit City lines: the Don Mills LRT and Jane LRT. There would have also been connections with the Mississauga Transitway in the west. The environmental assessment for this project was completed in March 2010 and was approved by the Ontario Minister of the Environment in June.

After the election of Rob Ford as the new mayor of Toronto, he quickly declared the cancellation of Transit City. Work began on revising the transit plan to fit Ford's vision. On March 30, 2011, the government of Ontario announced $12.4 billion in funding for the revised plan for LRT along Eglinton Avenue and for the TTC to extend the Sheppard Line in both directions. The revised LRT plan would cost $8.2 billion to build.^[1] However, on February 8, 2012, city council renewed their support for the original Transit City plan.^[2]

Metrolinx ordered four Lovat tunnel boring machines (TBMs) at a cost of $62 million in 2010. A competition was held two name the machines. One pair has been named Dennis and Lea, and another pair has been named Humber and Don.

Pre-construction work and construction of the TBM launching shaft between Black Creek Drive and Bicknell Avenue took place in 2011. Premier Dalton McGuinty along with Mayor Rob Ford, MPPs, City Councillors and various officials marked the start of construction on the project on November 9, 2011. The boring machines were expected to be lowered and begin construction of the Midtown tunnel in late summer 2012.^[3] However due to difficulties in construction, tunneling did not begin until June 2013. Metrolinx anticipates completion of the Eglinton Crosstown Line by 2020.

Route details

The first phase of the line will run 19 kilometres along Eglinton Avenue between Kennedy Station and Weston Road. Approximately 10 kilometres of the route will run underground from Laird Drive to Keele Street. Where it is not underground, the line will run down the centre of Eglinton Avenue.

To address traffic and pedestrian concerns as well as preserving a future connection to GO Transit, a new western alignment was presented to the public in July 2012. The western alignment from Keel Street to Jane Street was amended with an elevated segment to Black Creek Drive from a portal west of Keele Street and an underground segment from Black Creek Drive to just east of Weston Road (Mt. Dennis). The stop at Jane Street will be built as part of Phase 2.^[4]

The second phase would see an extension of the line to Pearson Airport with stations at Silver Dart, Corvair, Commerce, Renforth, Rangoon, East Mall, Martin Grove, Widdicombe / Lloyd Manor, Kipling, Wincott / Bemersyde, Islington, Russell / Eden Valley, Royal York, Mulham, Scarlett and Jane. The line would continue along Eglinton Avenue to Commerce Boulevard where it would cross the 401 to Convair Drive and Silver Dart Drive. It would then make its way to the airport.

Under Rob Ford's revised plan, the first phase would have ran completely underground from either Jane Street or Black Creek Drive to Kennedy Station and continue aboveground to Scarborough Centre Station. The six kilometre portion from Kennedy Station to Scarborough Centre Station would have followed the Scarborough RT alignment using LRT technology. In total, there would have been 26 stations. The combined Eglinton Line and Scarborough RT was named the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown Line.

Stations

All stations will be wheelchair accessible, accept the Presto card, feature Designated Waiting Areas, and have CCTV. The platforms at Eglinton and Eglinton West will cross under the subway line and provide a connection for passengers. Kennedy Station will be rebuilt to provide connections to the subway and proposed LRT lines.

The design phase for stations from Keele Street to Chaplin Crescent began in early 2011. After public consultation, initial construction began in 2013. In addition, preliminary designs for stations from Avenue Road to Bayview Avenue began in 2013. Construction of the stations themselves is scheduled to begin in 2014.

The revised Crosstown plan under Mayor Rob Ford omitted stops at Ferrand Drive, Pharmacy Avenue, Lebovic Avenue, and Ionview Road, which were proposed in the original Transit City plan. However with city council renewing their support for the Transit City plan on February 8, 2012, these stops were restored.^[5] However after review, Metrolinx sought to continue the line underground to Don Mills Road. It was decided that the stop at Leslie street would be eliminated because the forecaster low ridership did not justify the $80 million it would cost to have the stop underground. The stop at Ferrand Drive was to be eliminated as well due to geometric constraints. Both stops at Ferrand and Leslie were restored after public opposition to their removal.^[6]

Station name	Date opened	Connections
Mt. Dennis
Keele
Caledonia
Dufferin
Oakwood
Eglinton West Station		Yonge-University-Spadina line
Bathurst
Chaplin
Avenue
Eglinton Station		Yonge-University-Spadina line
Mt. Pleasant
Bayview
Laird
Leslie
Don Mills		Don Mills LRT (proposed)
Ferrand
Wynford
Bermondsey
Victoria Park
Pharmacy
Lebovic
Warden
Birchmount
Ionview
Kennedy Station		Bloor-Danforth line GO Transit Stouffville Scarborough Malvern LRT (proposed)

Maintenance and Storage Facility

A maintenance and storage facility (MSF) will be located near Black Creek Drive on the former site of Kodak Heights. The MSF is expected to accommodate 165 light rail vehicles and share the 23 hectare site with development designed to benefit the surrounding community. Devlopment of the land is also expected to improve its frontage onto Eglinton Avenue.^[7]

The land was acquired by Metrolinx in 2012 who followed with public consultation through to 2013. Community-focused design principles were included in its request for proposals, which was issued in December of that year.