Line 5 Eglinton
Line 5 Eglinton, originally known as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT or the Crosstown, is a light rail transit line in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, part of the Toronto subway system. Owned by Metrolinx and operated by the Toronto Transit Commission, the line was conceived in 2007 during the administration of Toronto mayor David Miller as part of Transit City, a large-scale transit expansion plan that included several light rail lines proposed across the city. While the plan was later dropped by successive municipal governments, only the Eglinton Crosstown LRT received support and funding from the Government of Ontario under Premier Kathleen Wynne.
The line is being constructed in two phases. The first phase of the line will include 25 stops along Eglinton Avenue, from Mount Dennis station mostly underground to Laird station, after which it will run predominantly at-grade within the street's median to Kennedy station in Scarborough, where it will connect underground with Line 2 Bloor–Danforth. Automatic train control will be used in the tunnelled sections. This first phase has an estimated cost of ; the cost when the contract was awarded was pegged at $9.1billion, although the cost was originally estimated at $11billion.
A second phase, a westward extension from Mount Dennis, will run mostly underground or elevated to Renforth station, with seven new stations. The second phase is expected to cost $4.7billion and to be completed by 2031. Construction of the westward extension to Renforth station began in July 2021. The extension would bring the Toronto subway system into Mississauga.
Two future extensions were planned: an eastern extension to the University of Toronto Scarborough and a northwestern extension towards Toronto Pearson International Airport. In 2022, the city of Toronto converted the eastern extension into a city project and a separate line known as the Eglinton East LRT using light rail technology incompatible with the Line 5 technology.
Construction of the first phase of the line began in 2011 and was originally expected to be completed in 2020, but the opening date has been revised several times, with Metrolinx expecting the line to be substantially complete by September 2022. After revising the opening date of the central section to 2023 and then, amid ongoing legal action against Crosslinx, Metrolinx stated they believed there was no credible schedule to complete the project. By September 2023, the central section was estimated to be 97 percent complete, although Metrolinx refused to provide an estimated completion date. On December 2, 2025, after a 30-day trial of the line, Metrolinx announced it would hand over operations to the TTC, which will determine an opening date.
History
Background
The origins of Line 5 Eglinton can be traced to the 1985 Network 2011 plan conceived by the Metropolitan Toronto government. The plan included a busway along Eglinton Avenue, to be completed by 2003. In 1986, a coalition of City of York and Etobicoke Metro councillors and the Regional Municipality of Peel persuaded Metro Council to include an Eglinton West line in a new Transit Network Plan. Work on a new subway line began in 1994 at an estimated cost of $740 million, with the line extending the subway westwards from Cedarvale station to Black Creek Drive. However, construction was halted following the election in 1995, which saw Mike Harris take power and led to the cancellation of the Eglinton West line, with the existing tunnel quickly filled in.Original concept
Line 5 Eglinton was originally conceived as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, a partially underground light rail line, announced in 2007 by Toronto mayor David Miller and TTC chair Adam Giambrone. It was part of the Transit City plan, which included the implementation of six other light rail lines across Toronto. The original version of the line would have run from Pearson Airport along Silver Dart Drive to Convair Drive. The line would have then turned southwest to a bridge over Highway 401 to reach Commerce Boulevard on the other side, where it would run south to reach Eglinton Avenue and the east end of the Mississauga Transitway. The rest of the line would run east along Eglinton Avenue, including a portion along which the cancelled Eglinton West subway line would have been built. The line would then traverse the city, connecting with Line 1 Yonge–University, Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, and Line 3 Scarborough.There were 43 stops planned for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, 13 of which would be underground. Surface stops would be spaced on average apart and the underground stations would be apart on average, as constructing numerous underground stops would be costly. The average speed would be, compared with the existing bus routes along Eglinton that have an average speed of. The line would terminate at Kennedy station to the east in Scarborough where it would meet Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, the proposed Scarborough Malvern LRT and GO Transit's Stouffville line. The expected cost was. As a result of provincial funding cuts, construction of the line was divided into two phases: phase one would end at Jane Street, and phase two would terminate as had been planned at the Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Rob Ford–era redesigns
Miller's successor, Rob Ford, announced the cancellation of Transit City on December 1, 2010, the day he took office. He proposed an alternative titled the "Eglinton–Scarborough Crosstown line", which put the line along Eglinton Avenue completely underground. The line would have then followed the route of Line 3 Scarborough, thus forming a single line continuously from Black Creek Drive to. The cost would almost double to $8.2billion and, compared to the original plan, 18 fewer stops were planned, including the elimination of the connection to Pearson Airport. Most of the additional cost would have come from putting 12 additional stations underground and for converting the Scarborough RT.On February 8, 2012, in a special meeting, Toronto City Council, led by Karen Stintz, voted 25–18 to override Mayor Ford's modifications to the project. The vote reinstated the original proposal to only construct the portion between Laird Drive and Keele Street underground while the remainder of the line is built along the surface. On November 30, 2012, the environmental assessment was revised, such that the east tunnel portal location would be moved from east of Brentcliffe to east of Don Mills; however, this was reversed in May 2013 after receiving community feedback. In January 2013, city councillors from Scarborough put forward an alternative plan to proceed with the construction of the Eglinton Avenue portion of the line as planned but to exclude the Scarborough RT. In July 2013, plans for an "Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown" line were abandoned, thereby reverting the entire line back to the plan that had been conceived under Transit City.
Location of tracks at Leslie Street
The environmental assessment evaluated the line running in the middle of Eglinton Avenue through the valley at Leslie Street. However, in late 2012 and early 2013, there were proposals to locate the tracks elsewhere.In 2012, Metrolinx discovered that there would be minimal cost differential between tunnelling under the West Don River at Leslie Street versus laying the track on the surface. Also, tunnelling through that section would have provided "significant improvements to construction staging, schedule and traffic impacts", according to Metrolinx. Thus, in December 2012, Metrolinx proposed continuing the LRT tunnel from Laird station to Science Centre station and eliminating the planned Sunnybrook Park surface stop. It did not want to build an underground station at the Sunnybrook location as it would cost $80 to $100 million. Metrolinx considered the cost of an underground station to be unjustified given its low projected ridership. Local residents objected to the elimination of their stop, and by mid-2013, Metrolinx had relented and the surface stop was restored.
Members of the public asked Metrolinx why it was proposing a centre-of-road alignment instead of running the tracks on the south side of Eglinton Avenue through the valley at Leslie Street. The south-side alignment would have avoided going through the signaled intersection at Leslie Street. Metrolinx explained that the alternate alignment "was more expensive and required an EA amendment. Due to project implementation timelines the project is proceeding with the EA option". They also stated, "It is very difficult to relocate the portal from the centre of Eglinton and shift it to the south side of the right-of-way and continue to use the existing bridge."
Westward extension
Surface station plan (2007–2019)
In a later phase, Metrolinx had planned for the Eglinton Crosstown to be extended westwards from Mount Dennis along Eglinton Avenue West to Toronto Pearson International Airport. However, during his successful campaign in the 2014 Toronto mayoral election, John Tory proposed SmartTrack, which would have included a heavy rail transit line established along this section of Eglinton Avenue. In 2016, the City of Toronto released a feasibility report that found this proposal would have significant capital costs ranging from billion to billion. In comparison, extending the Eglinton Crosstown as approved would cost billion. It was also found that a light rail transit line would attract higher ridership than a heavy rail line.The City of Toronto's chief planner recommended the extension of the Eglinton Crosstown line to Pearson Airport in lieu of establishing SmartTrack on Eglinton Avenue, based upon negative community impacts, higher costs, and lower projected ridership associated with a heavy rail corridor. On January 19, 2016, Tory agreed with the analysis and supported Metrolinx's original plan of extending the Crosstown. Tory included the Crosstown West as a light-rail component of his SmartTrack plan.
In June 2016, the estimated completion date was 2023. The estimated cost to build the Eglinton West LRT was $2.47billion of which the City of Toronto would contribute $1.18billion, the federal government would contribute $822.9million, and the City of Mississauga and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority would be asked to contribute $470million for the portion of the line in Mississauga. Approvals for the financing were still to be secured as of November 2, 2016.
Public meetings for the extension, renamed the Eglinton West LRT, began November 13, 2017.
The 2010 Environmental Assessment for Transit City originally considered an entirely at-grade light rail line running west from Weston Road and Mount Dennis station. However, by October 2017, the city was considering grade separation using fly-overs and fly-unders at six intersections: Martin Grove Road, Kipling Avenue, Islington Avenue, Royal York Road, Scarlett Road, and Jane Street, with surface running between stations.
On November 21, 2017, city staff recommended just 10 stops along Eglinton West between Mount Dennis station and Renforth station on the Mississauga Transitway. The most recent recommendation dropped the stops at Rangoon, East Mall, and Russell / Eden Valley.
At a city executive committee meeting on November 28, 2017, city staff recommended building the extension without any grade separation. City staff had concluded that a fully at-grade extension would provide better access for transit users and have fewer environmental impacts. Grade separation would have little improvement on traffic because the at-grade option would use signal coordination; however, grade separation would require fewer restrictions on left turns. There would be no difference in development potential with either option. However, because of feedback from the public and local politicians, Mayor John Tory recommended more study on grade separation. A fully at-grade extension was estimated to cost $1.5 to $2.1billion. Grade separation would add an extra $881.9million to $1.32billion to that cost.