Line 5 Eglinton

Original concept

The Eglinton Crosstown Line was 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 proposed Eglinton West subway line would have been built. The line would then traverse the city, connecting with the Yonge-University and Bloor-Danforth subways, and with the Scarborough RT.

There were 43 stops planned for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, 13 of which would be underground. Surface stops would be spaced on average 500 metres (550 yd) apart and the underground stations would be 850 m apart on average, as constructing numerous underground stops would be costly. The average speed would be 28 kilometres per hour (17 mph), compared with the existing bus routes along Eglinton that have an average speed of 16 to 18 km/h (9.9 to 11.2 mph). 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 the Stouffville GO train line. The expected cost was $4.6 billion. 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 Pearson Airport.

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 19-kilometre line along Eglinton Avenue completely underground. The line would then follow new route of the Scarborough RT, thus forming a single line continuously from Black Creek Drive to McCowan. The cost would almost double to $8.2 billion 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, Toronto 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 from the line. 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.

Extensions

Under Mayor John Tory, Toronto city council approved two extensions for the Eglinton Crosstown to the east and west on March 31, 2016. These extensions may be subject to further optimization such as additional grade separations and fewer stops.

Crosstown West

In a later phase, Metrolinx had planned for the Eglinton Crosstown to be extended westward from Mount Dennis along Eglinton Avenue West to Toronto Pearson International Airport. However, during 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 $3.6 billion to $7.7 billion. In comparison, extending the Eglinton Crosstown as approved would cost $1.3 billion. It was also found that a light rail transit line had higher ridership than a heavy rail line.

The City of Toronto's Chief Planner recommended the extension of the Eglinton Crosstown line (referred to as Crosstown West) 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 has included the Crosstown West as a light-rail component of his SmartTrack plan.

The estimated completion is 2023 as of July 2016. The estimated cost to build the Eglinton West LRT is $2.47 billion of which the City of Toronto contributes $1.18 billion, the federal government contributes $822.9 million, and the City of Mississauga and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority would be asked to contribute $470 million for the portion of the line in Mississauga. Approvals for the financing were still to be secured as of November 2, 2016.

Crosstown East

As part of the planned extension of Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, the City of Toronto drafted a plan to extend the Eglinton Crosstown east into Scarborough, which would terminate at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus.

The 12-kilometre (7.5 mi) extension would connect with Eglinton GO Station and Guildwood GO station and pass through “neighbourhood improvement areas” (often low-income areas) such as Eglinton East, Scarborough Junction, Morningside, Scarborough Village and West Hill. The extension would add 18 new stops east of Kennedy Station and serve an estimated 43,400 additional riders per day (a ridership similar to that of Line 4 Sheppard subway).

The extension follows the alignment of the Scarborough Malvern LRT, which was proposed as part of Transit City. In 2010, the Scarborough Malvern LRT was cancelled by then-Mayor Rob Ford, despite being approved by Toronto City Council and the Government of Ontario in 2009.

In early 2016, the plan for the Scarborough Malvern LRT was revived and rebranded as "Crosstown East". As of July 2016, the project was unfunded with the cost estimated at $1.6-billion to $1.7-billion, with an estimated completion date of 2023.

Construction and implementation

The Eglinton Crosstown line will run underground for 10 km (6.2 mi) from Mount Dennis to just east of Brentcliffe Road before rising to the surface to continue another 9 km (5.6 mi) to end at Kennedy Station. A short portion of the line across the Black Creek valley will be elevated, between Black Creek and Keelesdale stations.

Timeline

On July 28, 2010, Metrolinx ordered four tunnel boring machines (TBMs) from Caterpillar at a cost of $54 million. Each TBM is 10 metres long, 6.5 metres in diameter and weighs 400 tons. They bore 10 metres per day, 16-20 metres below the surface. The TBMs were named Dennis, Lea, Humber, and Don. The names were chosen by Jason Paris, a moderator of the Urban Toronto blog and forums. Dennis is named after Mount Dennis, Lea is named after Leaside, Humber is named after the Humber River, and Don is named after the Don River. The names Dennis and Lea combined allude to the poet Dennis Lee. By the time all four machines reach Yonge Street, enough dirt will have been removed to fill the Air Canada Centre to the height of the CN Tower.

In October 2011, the first part of tunnel construction began with the construction of a launch shaft for tunnel boring machines (TBMs) at Black Creek Drive.

On November 9, 2011, in Keelesdale Park, Mayor Rob Ford and then-Premier Dalton McGuinty officially broke ground on the new project.

In May 2012, TTC staff released a report saying that completion of the Eglinton Crosstown was unlikely by 2020 and that a more realistic in-service date would be 2022–2023. The main reason given was that the project management had been transferred from the TTC to Infrastructure Ontario which uses the Alternative Finance and Procurement strategy. That strategy would use a private contractor to complete the project, effectively requiring that contractor to redo all design work already completed by the TTC. The TTC also warned that Metrolinx’s aggressive timeline would lead to severe construction-related disruptions to communities and traffic because large stretches of the Eglinton Avenue would have to be torn up concurrently to meet deadlines.

In January 2013, Infrastructure Ontario issued a request for qualifications to shortlist companies to construct the line. A request for proposal was expected in the summer of 2013.

On February 22, 2013, TBMs Don and Lea arrived in Keelesdale Park.

In June 2013, the TBMs Don and Lea began tunnelling on the line. Traffic on Eglinton Avenue near Keele Street was reduced to one lane in each direction.

On November 12, 2013, MetroLinx awarded a contract to construct the eastern portion of the Crosstown to a joint venture between Aecon Group Inc. and ACS Dragados Canada Inc. to construct the eastern portion of the line between Yonge Street and Laird Drive.

In March 2014, work began to clear utilities and trees on the south side of Eglinton Avenue just east of Brentcliffe Road in order to set up the eastern launch shaft. For two and a half years, traffic around the excavation site will be reduced from two to one lane in each direction. West of the site, more lane restrictions will go into effect to construct head walls (below-ground walls that form the ends of each subway station) at the future Laird, Bayview and Mt. Pleasant stations. There will also be lane restrictions for two years near Hanna Road to build an emergency exit near Leaside High School.

By April 2014, the TBMs had arrived at Caledonia station. In April 2014, The Globe and Mail reported that the two western tunnel boring machines were excavating "approximately 1,000 cubic yards of spoil", per day.

For the year prior to May 2014, the two TBMs Dennis and Lea had been excavating and installing concrete tunnel liners at a rate of approximately 10 metres (33 ft) per day. The tunnels are lined with precast concrete liner segments. Six 2.5 tonne-segments form each ring.

In early December 2014, Dennis and Lea arrived at Eglinton West station. Dennis stopped to allow Lea to catch up, so that they would arrive at Eglinton West station at the same time.

On the weekend of April 18–19, 2015, the boring machines, Dennis and Lea, were lifted out of a shaft west of Allen Road and moved about 100 metres to a shaft just east of Allen Road.

In April 2015, merchants along Eglinton Avenue West were complaining of lost revenue (up to a 35% dip in sales), because construction was discouraging customers with snarled traffic, limited parking options, reduced foot traffic and dusty sidewalks.

By September 2015, the TBMs Don and Humber arrived for assembly in the shaft at Brentcliffe Road before starting to drill the 3.25-kilometre (2.02 mi) section west to Yonge Street.

On September 24, 2015, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca issued a statement saying the Crosstown would not operate until September 2021, in order “to mitigate disruption to the local community and infrastructure as much as possible.” The earlier plan had been to open in 2020 with tunnelling and station construction to start in 2012. Infrastructure Ontario has awarded the Crosstown construction contract to Crosslinx, a consortium led by SNC Lavalin. It will take about four years to build the stations, 15 of which will be underground.

On September 29, 2015, TBM Don started to bore the north tunnel from the Brentcliffe Road launching site westward towards Yonge Street. TBM Humber will start boring the south tunnel approximately one month later.

On November 3, 2015, Del Duca announced that the contract awarded to Crosslinx Transit Solutions to complete the Crosstown and maintain it for 30 years will cost $2 billion less than originally estimated.

On March 10, 2016, a ground-breaking ceremony was held at the site of Keelesdale LRT station, the first station to be started for construction along the Eglinton Crosstown line.

In February 2016, work began on the extraction shaft for TBMs Humber and Don, which are digging the eastern segment of the line. However, the hole in the street there will be much smaller than the one near Leslie Street.

On April 18, 2016, the façade of the former House of Chan restaurant and the scaffolding to hold it up collapsed, injuring seven people. That location will be used for Forest Hill LRT station.

On May 10, TBMs Dennis and Lea, which had been boring the western segment of the line, completed their work by reaching Yonge Street. Dennis and Lea bored 6.4 kilometres installing 25,647 precast concrete tunnel segments to construct the 4,279 rings to line the twin tunnels.

On August 17, TBMs Don and Humber, which had been boring the eastern segment of the line, completed their work by reaching Yonge Street. Don and Humber bored 3.3 kilometres installing 26,178 precast concrete tunnel segments to construct the 4,363 rings to line the twin tunnels.

On September 1, Bombardier Transportation, which is producing cars for the line, failed to meet the delivery deadline for the pilot vehicle. As a result, Metrolinx filed notice to terminate the contract with Bombardier.

On November 3, 2016, Metrolinx file an "notice of intention" to cancel its contract with Bombardier for the Crosstown's rolling stock.

On February 10, 2017, Bombardier filed an injunction, seeking to compel Metrolinx to stick with their contract. Metrolinx responded that Bombardier did deliver a prototype for testing, as required by the contract. However, Metrolinx claimed that the prototype was so incomplete that it would not power up.

Between March 13 and 17, the TBMs Don and Humber were removed in pieces from the extraction shaft on Eglinton Avenue just east of Yonge Street.

Metrolinx expects the line to be completed.

Crosslinx

Crosslinx Transit Solutions, a consortium of more than 26 companies, was awarded the contract to design, build and finance the Eglinton Crosstown line and to maintain it for 30 years. The contract, which excludes boring the tunnels, is for completing all other remaining work, including the stations and the finishing work within the tunnels. Some of the members of the consortium are SNC-Lavalin, Aecon, EllisDon, ACS Infrastructure Canada, Dragados, IBI Group and the Bank of Nova Scotia. The contract defines a public–private partnership.

The 30-year contract to build and maintain the line will total $9.1 billion. Capital costs will be $5.3 billion, with each of the 15 underground stations costing $80–$100 million to build and the ten street-level stops $3-$5 million each. The remainder will be for financing, lifecycle and maintenance costs.

Stations

The following is the list of stops proposed as of 2013. Metrolinx is proposing changes to the names of seven of the line’s stops. In a report to the TTC Board on November 23, 2015, it was recommended that stations on Line 5 Eglinton LRT should be given unique names.

Operations

Operating characteristics of the line include:

Eglinton LRT Carhouse

A maintenance and storage facility will be required, and this is planned. The Eglinton LRT Carhouse will have storage for 162 Flexity Freedom LRT vehicles and have extensive maintenance facilities to keep them running smoothly. The carhouse is planned to be built near the line's western terminus at Mount Dennis LRT station, on lands formerly occupied by Kodak's Toronto campus.