Sean Marshall

Tag: Metrolinx

  • A disaster in the making

    A disaster in the making

    Hurontario Street, looking south from Steeles Avenue, where the first phase of the Hurontario LRT will terminate

    The first phase of the Hurontario LRT, which will between Port Credit GO Station and Steeles Avenue in Brampton, is slowly taking shape after years of construction delays. In Spring 2026, eight years since construction started on the corridor, work on the LRT guideway into south Brampton has finally begun.

    As I wrote in detail before, a previous iteration of Brampton City Council narrowly voted against the LRT entering downtown as a surface line in 2015. This was the version selected in the provincial environmental assessment. Instead, that council voted to study alternative corridors into Downtown Brampton requiring lengthy detours, and asking for the LRT northern terminus to be on the south side of Steeles Avenue, despite a major bus exchange — Brampton Gateway Terminal — on the north side of the intersection to accommodate all options. After the 2018 election, council recommitted to a Main Street alignment (though preferring a tunnel) and asked the province to restore the terminus on the north side of Steeles pending a decision on the final four kilometres into Downtown Brampton. In early 2026, only one of the six councillors opposed to the Main Street LRT ten years ago remains in office.

    I wanted to follow up with Metrolinx to see how pedestrians would be safely accommodated at the Steeles and Hurontario intersection, given high traffic volumes, wide roads, and likely thousands of passengers switching between modes on a daily basis. Early concepts of an underground pedestrian tunnel were rejected by the province as out-of-scope, so pedestrians would have to cross both Hurontario and Steeles to make the transfer. Having no satisfactory answers despite many attempts to get an answer to this question, I took the lengthy and expensive route of submitting a freedom of information (FOI) request.

    In summary, I learned that despite multiple requests from City of Brampton officials to restore the north side stop, Metrolinx and the provincial government refused. With the financial close with Mobilinx — the private-sector consortium selected to build, operate, and maintain the LRT — imminent in early 2019, there was no interest to make the minor change to facilitate the terminal, even though the city committed to taking on the cost on its own. The province was open to other changes to the line, however, as in 2022, it unilaterally renamed the line for a former Mississauga mayor and political ally of Doug Ford.

    Looking south across Hurontario Street across a very busy multi-lane intersection towards the end of the LRT

    As work at the Steeles-Hurontario intersection is now well underway, it has become visually clear the problem will be once the LRT opens. The population around the Brampton Gateway Terminal area is rapidly growing; a 40-storey condominium tower on nearby Steeles Avenue West is nearing completion, with many more highrise and mixed-use developments planned, including the eventual redevelopment of Shoppers World Mall. Already, there are dozens who cross nine-lane Steeles Avenue hourly; once passengers have to transfer from the LRT to the transit terminal on the northwest corner, there will be hundreds.

    Furthermore, once the (now-funded) Phase 2 of the LRT to Downtown Brampton is started, the intersection will have to be torn up yet again to extend the tracks across Steeles and build a new north-side stop. The province’s refusal to do this all at once is baffling, and will likely be much more expensive than if it was done right the first time.

    Looking across from Gateway Terminal towards the future LRT terminus on Wednesday, May 6. Already, there are plenty of pedestrians crossing here.

    Already, the costs of the current Mobilinx contract have ballooned while construction delays pile up. The Hurontario LRT was originally supposed to open in 2024. In 2025, Mobilinx had to completely rebuild the track intersection at Topflight Drive just south of Highway 407 after track was already laid in 2023 due to construction errors. In February 2026, Global News reported that only 45 percent of the track was laid. Due to delays and problems paying contractors, the consortium’s credit rating was downgraded by Standard & Poor to BBB, which is near junk status.

    Given the multiple delays and difficulties building the LRT, work is only now at the point where the dangerous terminal location is being baked in. Even though construction errors are fixed, and the project name changed, Metrolinx has been unwilling to address the safety issue at Steeles Avenue that was raised many times. In the meantime, Metrolinx, Peel Region, and City of Brampton will have to figure out how to mitigate the potential disaster that is now in the making.

  • How Metrolinx gets in the way of passenger rail service

    How Metrolinx gets in the way of passenger rail service

    Slow orders at CN railway crossings are not the only slowdowns encountered by VIA trains

    On the way home from a meeting I had in Ottawa on Sunday, May 3, I was aboard VIA Train 647, which left Ottawa Station at 4:51 PM. Our train was held up twice in the first hour: once at Smiths Falls, where we had to wait just under ten minutes for a CPKC freight train to pass, and again at Jasper, where we sat on a siding for about five minutes for an Ottawa-bound train to pass. As a result, our train arrived in Kingston at 7:10 PM, 15 minutes later than scheduled.

    VIA Rail owns the track north of Brockville, where Toronto-Ottawa trains verge off the CN mainline between Toronto and Montreal, though it still has to cross the CPKC mainline at Smiths Falls through a freight yard there. Around 2010, after VIA took over the track from Canadian Pacific (once part of a line from Brockville to the Ottawa River near Arnprior), it built new passing sidings and moved the Smiths Falls station stop away from the old CP station to increase passenger train capacity and reduce conflicts. Ideally, the VIA and CPKC tracks would be completely separated, but it would be very expensive to implement.

    Despite CN restrictions on VIA’s Venture equipment, with mandated reduced speeds at level crossings, we lost only ten more minutes upon arrival at Oshawa, getting there at 9:01 PM instead of the scheduled time of 8:36. But we had yet to encounter one last obstruction: Metrolinx-owned track between Pickering and Toronto Union Station.

    Train 647 on Sunday, May 3; real time arrivals from VIA’s online train tracking webpage

    Where the CN Kingston Sub meets the GO corridor west of Pickering Station, our train once again came to a stop for about five minutes. We were held behind a westbound GO Lakeshore East train, slowed down by its regular stop at Rouge Hill. Once we got moving again, our train stopped briefly at Guildwood to allow a few passengers to get off, and now we were 28 minutes late on the VIA train.

    From Guildwood westward, the Lakeshore East corridor is triple tracked, so we were able to pass the westbound GO train as it made stops at Eglinton, Scarborough, and Danforth. But under the Main Street bridge, we stopped once again; two minutes later the GO train started moving slowly beside us, taking the lead. With the corridor down to two tracks between Woodbine Avenue and the Don River for Ontario Line work and track expansion, Metrolinx dispatchers decided it was worth holding back a VIA train that would have cleared the section quickly if we were permitted to proceed past Main Street, so that a GO train would have priority and not wait one minute or two despite that train being on time.

    View from a stopped VIA train as a GO train picks up speed after stopping at Danforth Station

    We finally arrived at Union at 9:59 PM, 41 minutes late. Sadly, this is a very common occurrence, particularly with inbound trains to Toronto.

    Though CN gets plenty of blame for slowing down VIA Rail passenger trains by prioritizing its freight operations and its level crossing spat, Metrolinx must wear some of the blame for VIA’s woes. It is worth pointing out that nearly all VIA passengers affected by poor train dispatching are travelling to or from destinations served by GO Transit: Toronto, Oakville, Oshawa, Aldershot, Brampton, and the majority are travelling within Ontario, including cities such as London, Ottawa, and Kingston. As an agency of the province, Metrolinx should support Ontarians travelling on trains within Ontario, even if they are not aboard Metrolinx-operated GO trains.

  • Mapping Canada’s railway crossings

    Mapping Canada’s railway crossings

    Alexandra Ave. railway crossing in Mississauga

    On Wednesday, March 18, a boy on a motorized bicycle was struck and killed at the Alexandra Avenue railway crossing in Mississauga. The tragedy, which occurred despite properly-working lights and gates at the three-track crossing, is a reminder of how important rail safety can be. Despite decades of “Operation Lifesaver” safety awareness campaigns, police enforcement, and upgrades to high-risk railway crossings, these tragedies continue to occur. Deaths on Canada’s railways affect many lives, including the victim’s family and friends, as well as the train crew, who can not brake the train in time. When these collisions happen, they can also tie up rail passengers and goods movement for many hours as emergency responders do their work and an investigation takes place.

    Trackside memorial at Alexandra Avenue, March 31, 2026

    This particular crossing, near Cawthra Avenue and Lakeshore Road, sees up to 125 GO Transit and VIA Rail passenger trains daily; the three-track corridor is one of the busiest stretches of railway in Canada. The Alexandra Ave. crossing was also ranked as the 21st riskiest in the country in a Transport Canada list of nearly 25,000 road-rail intersections. Of the top 25 railway crossings ranked by risk in Canada, 14 are owned by Metrolinx, the provincial agency in charge of GO Transit. At the very top of the list is another Mississauga railway crossing, where the GO Lakeshore West corridor meets Lorne Park Road.

    Lorne Park Road crossing

    According to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, between the years 1999 to 2022, 630 people were killed and 774 people were seriously injured due to collisions with trains at grade crossings, an average of 26 per year. In most instances (69%) those who were killed were in motor vehicles, with pedestrians and cyclists making up the remainder.

    The railway crossing inventory, last published in June 2021, ranks grade crossings according to their risk using GradeX, an internal analysis tool. Relative risk of each crossing is based on several factors, including historical accident data, train speeds, traffic volumes, sight lines at crossings, crossing protection features, and the local built environment to determine the level of collision risk. Fields include location (road crossing and railway subdivision/mile), type of protection (passive, with just an “X” crossbuck sign, or active, with lights, bells, or gates), number of collisions in the last five years since the dataset was compiled, speed limits, and traffic estimates.

    With this information, railways and road authorities can then work to improve the crossing to reduce the risk, or construct a grade separation to eliminate the risk. For example, the Burloak Drive crossing of the GO Lakeshore West Corridor and number 5 on the Transport Canada list, is currently being replaced with an underpass.

    The Transport Canada list is comprehensive, but it is not perfect, nor is it complete. The Ontario Northland Railway, whose tracks extend north from North Bay through Northeastern Ontario, is conspicuously missing. Several crossings in the map, mostly private crossings, do not have the correct latitude and longitudes. Several abandoned railways, including the Orangeville-Brampton and Barrie-Collingwood (west of Angus) still appear, as do long-decommissioned crossings of industrial spurs. The risk ranking also changes. In a 2016 CBC News article, the Melbourne Road CN crossing west of London, Ontario was ranked fourth riskiest. In the more recent dataset available online, it is ranked 341th, even though there were no physical changes to the railway crossing visible in Google Streetview from 2009 through 2023.

    I created a complete interactive map of all railway crossings; it can be found here.

    Sample of an interactive map of all railway crossings in Canada, with highest-risk crossings highlighted

    The Lorne Park Road crossing is interesting for several reasons. After many years as a stop on the CN mainline, it was briefly a GO Transit station, with commuter train service only for its first year in 1967-1968. The two-lane road crosses the three-track railway at approximately a 30-degree angle; immediately to the north of the tracks is the intersection with Birchview Drive, which is parallel to the tracks. That intersection is controlled only with a stop sign, with pedestrians crossing the street at a wide angle with no marked crosswalk. The same number of trains that cross Alexandra Avenue also cross at Lorne Park Road, making it a busy crossing, and motor and pedestrian traffic is higher, as Lorne Park Road is a busier collector street with adjacent commercial properties. To its credit, however, Metrolinx recently upgraded the crossing, with enhanced pedestrian gates that prevent access when the railway crossing lights are activated.

    City of Mississauga aerial photography of the Lorne Park Road crossing, with Birchview Drive meeting Lorne Park Rd. immediately north of the railway (source)

    A 2022 City of Mississauga-commissioned report by HDR recommended that the Lorne Park crossing be studied for future grade separation (it also recommended a more detailed study into closing the Alexandra Avenue crossing along with an Ogden Avenue grade separation), given the high number of train crossings, expected to increase with future GO Transit service expansion.

    The level crossing ranked second in the list is the CN Dundas Subdivision crossing of Egerton Street in London. At Egerton Street, there are six tracks across two separate signaled crossings, as it is at the entrance to CN’s London yard. Egerton Street, with two traffic lanes, is also a marked cycling route, with painted bike lanes along the collector street. The third crossing in the list is Scarborough Golf Club Road at the three track GO Lakeshore East Corridor.

    Building new overpasses or underpasses can be expensive and disruptive, especially in older urban environments where space is at a premium. Closing crossings completely can disconnect communities, especially for pedestrians and cyclists, who may have to travel much longer distances or use dangerous roads to get to their destinations. But they are often necessary for ensuring safe, frequent, and speedy train service. In the meantime, upgrading existing crossing and minimizing risk, along with continued education, is the way to go.

  • Return to Line 6: a slightly faster ride

    Return to Line 6: a slightly faster ride

    Slow ride, take it easy

    On Thursday, February 26, I went west on Finch Avenue from Scarborough to North York via the 939B Finch East Express bus to take another ride on Line 6, the problem-plagued Finch West LRT. After hearing of enhanced signal priority being introduced on Finch Avenue, I wanted to see if it had any effect on running times since my last visit a few days after opening.

    Interestingly, the 939B, which runs all the way from Kennedy Station to Finch West Station via Scarborough Centre, McCowan Road, and Finch Avenue, uses the York University Busway to get between Dufferin Street and Finch West Station. That busway, opened in 2009, was built to speed up travel times between the former subway terminus at Downsview Station (now called Sheppard West Station) and the university campus as the Line 1 extension to Vaughan was underway. When the Scarborough Busway opens — likely by the end of this year — it will use that exclusive transitway (also a temporary measure to speed buses along a subway project) as well.

    From Finch West Station, it took 44 minutes to ride to the other end at Humber College Station, 20 minutes faster than during a problematic ride back in December. The average speed was 14.1 km/h, with a short spurt of speed (up to 56 km/h) up the hill between Islington and Kipling Avenues.

    Screenshot from a GPS app with the distance, average speed, and time it took to get from Humber College to Finch West Station

    On the return trip, it took almost 46 minutes from Humber College to Finch West, less than 4 minutes faster than my last eastbound ride in December, and with an average speed of 13.8 km/h. The eastbound train I was riding managed to arrive at Kipling Avenue (Mount Olive Station) just as the LRT signals were turning from amber to red (motor traffic still had 10 seconds of green light), followed by the stop at the far-side station there. The train also managed to arrive at Islington Avenue as the LRT signal was turning red, resulting in another long wait. At each intersection, the trains crawled at 15-20 km/h as parallel traffic sped by, and the Alstom Citadis cars were noticeably rough riding. The section between Humber College Station and Westmore Drive is especially painful, with LRV cars making the turn at 7-8 km/h.

    On Eglinton Avenue east, the two-car Bombardier Flexity trams manage to glide through at-grade intersections at a less frustrating speed, and they noticeably provide a lighter, quieter ride.

    On the positive side, station dwell times on Line 6 were noticeably reduced, and it seems that operations are a bit more consistent after two months of operation; there were no notable gaps between LRV cars. However, there are still issues to be worked out, as Friday, February 27 saw more switch problems that closed part of the line for several hours.

    Hopefully, further operational improvements and signal priority follow, and the signal and track issues get sorted out. I’ll return later in March for another ride to see if the ride improves further. I worry, though, about the Citadis LRVs, as they are looking more and more like a defective product that may not be redeemable.

    Line 6 travel times on Thursday Feb. 26
    Eastbound
    (read down)    		Stop/stationWestbound
    (read up)
    3:28 PM (dep.)Humber College
    LRT Station    		3:12 PM (arr.)
    3:32Westmore Dr.3:08
    3:34Martin Grove Rd.3:06
    3:43Kipling Ave. (Mt. Olive)3:00
    3:47Islington Ave. (Rowntree Mills)2:58
    3:56Weston Rd. (Emery)2:48
    4:00Arrow Rd./Signet Dr.2:45
    4:05Jane and Finch2:37
    4:08Tobermory Dr.2:33
    4:10Sentinel Rd.2:30
    4:13 PM (arr.)Finch West Stn.
    (LRT Terminal)    		2:28 PM (dep.)
    45 minutesTotal time44 minutes

  • SmartTrack’s scrubbed Scarborough station

    SmartTrack’s scrubbed Scarborough station

    Metrolinx construction on Finch Avenue East in Scarborough

    On Finch Avenue East in Scarborough, where the busy roadway meets the GO Stouffville Line, one will encounter a major construction project. Cranes and pile drivers line the railway crossing, with dozens of construction workers busy building a new grade separation between the rails and roadway. Once complete, the underpass will allow Finch Avenue traffic to pass unimpeded by more frequent GO train service and provide additional safety to all road users.

    But the overpass was meant to be much more than just a rail bridge. A clue can be found in the construction site signage. Though the construction equipment is all marked for Green Infrastructure Partners (GIP), GIP is part of a project-specific consortium called “SmartTrack Construction Partners” or STCP, noted in a 2024 City of Toronto progress report. The SmartTrack name is interesting, as this was also going to be a site of a so-called SmartTrack station.

    Construction site signage
    Closeup of another site sign, with the “SmartTrack Construction Partners” name and logo clearly displayed

    The Finch-Kennedy GO Station became part of a five-stop remnant of the SmartTrack concept, a “surface rail subway” promoted as part of John Tory’s 2014 successful mayoral campaign and subsequently made part of city policy, even maintaining the brand name. As I have written extensively about the troubled proposal and failed implementation of SmartTrack on this website, I will not go into any detail. But SmartTrack promised the construction of 13 entirely new regional rail stations augmenting 9 existing or committed GO stations on the Stouffville and Kitchener corridors, including a new rail branch on Eglinton Avenue West to Mississauga. One of those stations was to be at Finch Avenue East.

    “John Tory’s SmartTrack,” depicting what the “London-style” transit service would look like, from Tory’s 2014 campaign

    Since 2015, the SmartTrack concept began to shrink as the difficulty of building a regional rail line on Eglinton West became clear and as other transit projects came forward. The Ontario Line, now under construction, fills the downtown subway relief function that SmartTrack promised. The tunneled western extension of Line 5 from Mount Dennis to Renforth replaces the problematic western section of Tory’s proposal. Furthermore, GO Expansion would transform much of the GO rail network into a more frequent, all-day service on five of its seven lines would provide more service to more stations than SmartTrack ever could. (Unfortunately, Metrolinx is dragging its heels on GO’s transformation.) Even better, all these projects were promoted and funded by the province, while SmartTrack was a municipal effort.

    But Finch SmartTrack Station, referred to in official planning materials as “Finch-Kennedy,” survived a whole decade, one of four remaining city-funded SmartTrack-branded stops from that early campaign map (a fifth stop was later added to the Barrie GO Corridor, at Bloor Street). Even as a regular GO Transit stop, Finch-Kennedy would have been quite useful for Scarborough commuters as well as promote new mixed-use development in northeastern Toronto. Surrounding the site are commercial plazas and industrial malls, self-storage units, and low-density residential subdivisions. The streetscape plan of the station below illustrates the site’s surroundings.

    Rendering of Finch-Kennedy Station, looking northwest (From City of Toronto Website)

    As planned, Finch-Kennedy Station would have been a no-frills rapid transit stop, with two tracks and platforms that span the Finch Avenue overpass. Access between the street (with curbside bus stops) and platforms would have been easy and direct, with stairs and elevators connecting the two modes on both sides of the street. With more frequent GO service facilitated by the double track expansion of the corridor, and proposed electrification, the Stouffville Line would have been a really useful link between the frequent 39/939 bus route (the busiest bus corridor in Toronto) to Union Station, the transfers to Lines 2 and 5 at Kennedy Station, and to Markham to the north. There would be no parking on-site, but just an access driveway on the northeast corner for service vehicles.

    Though GO could double track the Stouffville Corridor and run more frequent trains without the grade separation if no station was to be built at Finch, an underpass would be necessary if trains were going to decelerate, stop, and accelerate within a short proximity of Finch Avenue. Building the platforms on the bridge structure only makes transit connections easier.

    Due to cost overruns, SmartTrack is down to just three stations, which are now in various stages of construction. Along with King-Liberty, Finch-Kennedy was dropped from the list in December 2024, even as construction on the first and most critical phase, the Finch underpass, was already underway. Earlier this week, the Toronto Star reported that nearly $100 million were spent on these two now-deferred stations. The cost of completing Finch-Kennedy had jumped by $130 million, to a total of almost $370 million.

    Even though the station is deferred, heavy construction continues on Finch Avenue East. The SmartTrack name lives on through the firm tasked with finishing the grade separation intended to literally support the new transit connection. Presumably, the bridge will be built with provision for the transit station to be added later. But it will only be even more expensive to go back later and complete the job.

    Meanwhile, after resigning in disgrace in Winter 2023, not long after his re-election, John Tory is rumoured to make another run for mayor against his replacement, Olivia Chow. Tory will have a lot to answer for if he chooses to run again; the tattered remains of his SmartTrack legacy should certainly be one of those questions.

  • Line 5 is alive

    Line 5 is alive

    Caledonia LRT Station

    On Sunday, February 8 the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT opened to the public without any pomp or circumstance. Perhaps embarrassed by the public’s reaction to Line 6 Finch West, there were no giveaways, no parties, and no promotional materials. That turned out to be a shame, in a way, because Line 5 seems to be alright so far, a week after its initial opening. Travel times on the LRT are improved over the previous 32 and 34 bus routes, though with lesser speed improvements on the surface section versus the western portion. The two-car Bombardier Flexity trains do not crawl through intersections on Eglinton Avenue East unlike the single-car Alstom Citadis Spirits on Finch Avenue West.

    Furthermore, learning some lessons from the botched Line 6 launch, the TTC — the operator of Line 5 trains — is looking for public feedback and promises improvements to speed and frequencies later in 2026. There are certainly ways in which this line can improve further. All that said, the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT offers needed optimism for Toronto’s transit future, especially as more projects are underway.

    Mostly smooth operation of Line 5 during the first week
    (more…)
  • Line 5: a quiet opening for a troubled project

    Line 5: a quiet opening for a troubled project

    A westbound LRV train on Eglinton Avenue in Scarborough, January 2026

    After fifteen long years, the wait is over. On Sunday, February 8, the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT will finally open to the public, with the first train leaving Kennedy Station at 7:00 AM. (The first eastbound train will depart Mount Dennis at 7:07 AM.) Rides will be free on that first day, but there will be no opening celebration, no ribbon cutting, and no giveaways. At first, trains will run until 11 PM, with Line 5 shuttle buses from 10 PM until 1AM, when the 334 night bus takes over.

    After the botched opening of Line 6 Finch West, it is clear that no one in charge wants to celebrate the opening of this new transit line after years of construction delays and false hope of completion in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. So if you want to check out Toronto’s new ride, go do it at your own convenience. You won’t miss anything.

    There will be no party, like the one arranged last December at Finch West

    But even if the trains run slower than originally planned at first, there should be a ramping up of speeds and transit priority in the surface-running eastern section. The tunneled section will have speeds up to 60 km/h between stations, making it considerably faster than the buses it will replace. During a visit to Scarborough last month, it already seemed that trains were running a bit faster in the outdoor section than on Finch West, so there’s definitely some reason to welcome the LRT in its initial “soft opening” phase.

    The TTC notes that once full service is operational later in 2026, the end‑to‑end travel times will be “approximately 50–55 minutes.” That’s about twice as fast as the bus when going all the way from Mount Dennis to Kennedy. Perhaps, once the trains are running on a full schedule until 1AM and with expected performance improvements, there will be a formal ceremony to conclude this long journey.

    Notably on Sunday February 8, there will be significant changes to the bus network, including 2 discontinued routes, 13 route changes, and 4 new routes. Most notably, Routes 54 and 954 on Lawrence Avenue East will now terminate at Don Valley Station instead of at the subway at Eglinton Station. Route 35 Jane will no longer continue south of Weston Road, but will instead terminate at Mount Dennis (with new Route 27 Jane South taking over that southern section). The 47 Lansdowne will be split into two, with 18 Caledonia providing service north of Eglinton. Routes 51 Leslie and 56 Leaside will be merged (with a short 151 Leslie North bus on the north end), and the 32C branch will be replaced with the new 158 Trethewey bus. The map below shows how the TTC buses will connect with Line 5. (Route 901, between Mount Dennis Station and Pearson Airport via Dixon Road, has not yet been approved.)

    Map showing TTC bus route changes; several of these were already implemented in late 2025. Only the 901 express route to Pearson Airport has not been approved.

    I will certainly make time to check out Line 5 on Sunday, followed by a more fulsome review a week or two after opening to form an honest and thoughtful opinion.

  • Can the Eglinton LRT outrun the bus?

    Can the Eglinton LRT outrun the bus?

    Passengers boarding the 34 Eglinton East bus, January 28, 2026

    On Sunday, February 8, the long-awaited (and long-delayed) Line 5 Crosstown LRT will finally open to the public (or maybe not). The new line, 19 kilometres long with 25 stops, is nearly twice as long as the 11-kilometre Finch West LRT that opened in December.

    Unlike the troubled Finch West LRT, the Eglinton-Crosstown line is largely underground, with twelve stations, from Mount Dennis to Laird, completely separated from road traffic. A western extension through central Etobicoke to the Mississauga border at Renforth will also be completely grade-separated. There are several other major differences: the Crosstown line will be more frequent than Finch West, and will have more capacity, with two-car trains operating at all times. The equipment will be different too: Bombardier Flexity cars, the same as those used in Kitchener-Waterloo, will make the up the trains. Furthermore, the underground section will be computer controlled (which might turn out to be a complication, rather than an advantage).

    A light rail train passes traffic on Eglinton Avenue East in Scarborough

    However, some aspects will be the same. The surface-running eastern section between Leslie Street and Kennedy Road will feature 10 outdoor stops and 16 traffic signals, though the LRT will dip below ground at Don Mills Road (formerly Science Centre Station, now Don Valley Station) and under Kennedy Road into the Kennedy Station transit hub. As with Finch West, this was a Metrolinx-led project with a private consortium in charge of construction and maintenance, with the TTC in charge of train operations. So it will be interesting to see how Line 5 fares.

    With subway, light rail, buses, and GO trains, Kennedy Station is becoming a proper transit hub

    In the meantime, just as with my visits to Finch West, I decided to see how long it takes to get across the LRT corridor. In May 2024, I walked the entire route over three days, getting to know the corridor better (while documenting my stroll on a social media platform that I have since abandoned). With rumours of a mid-winter 2026 opening, I decided to ride the buses to get further context and time the rides.

    Congestion at Eglinton Avenue West and Oakwood Avenue, May 2024

    Tuesday, January 20 was an ideal day to ride the 32 Eglinton West and 34 Eglinton East buses. That was several days after the last snowfall (and a few days before the next big dump), and the roads and sidewalks were completely clear. It was a bright, sunny (albeit cold) day, and there was only one short construction zone on Eglinton Avenue, near Caledonia Road. Though only a small number of riders would use the entire Crosstown LRT line as part of a regular commute, it was worth getting a sense of how long the trip would take between each station.

    I started at Kennedy Station after taking a Stouffville Line GO train one stop from Union Station, rode the 34 Eglinton East bus all the way to Eglinton Station at Yonge Street, and then after a break (including a stop at Cinnabon), continued west to Mount Dennis Station, which is already open to GO and UP Express trains, as well as a few TTC routes. The last half of the ride coincided with high school dismissal times that resulted in some crowding, especially between Avenue Road and Dufferin Street.

    From Mount Dennis, I returned eastbound during a busy weekday afternoon rush hour, transferring to the first available 34 Eglinton East bus at Eglinton Station all the way back to Kennedy.

    Waiting for the 34 Eglinton East bus to Kennedy Station, January 20, 2026

    The table below shows the timings at each LRT stop.

    Westbound
    (read down)    		Stop/StationEastbound
    (read up)
    1:28 PM dep.Kennedy5:35 PM arr.
    1:32Ionview5:30
    1:34Birchmount5:28
    1:37Warden Ave.
    (Golden Mile)    		5:24
    1:39Hakimi Lebovic5:22
    1:42Pharmacy5:20
    1:43Victoria Park Ave.
    (O’Connor)    		5:18
    1:46Bermondsey5:15
    1:49Wynford5:08
    1:51Don Mills Rd.
    (Don Valley)    		5:01
    1:53Leslie St.
    (Sunnybrook Park)    		4:58
    1:57Laird4:50
    2:00Bayview Ave. (Leaside)4:48
    2:04Mount Pleasant4:44
    2:10 PM arr.
    2:47 PM dep.*    		Eglinton Station
    (Bus transfer)    		4:39 PM dep.
    4:32 PM arr.***
    2:52Avenue Road4:25
    2:54Chaplin4:19
    2:58Bathurst St.
    (Forest Hill)    		4:15
    3:03Cedarvale Stn.4:09
    3:07Oakwood3:56
    3:11Dufferin St.
    (Fairbank)    		3:51
    3:18Caledonia**3:44
    3:21Keele St.
    (Keelesdale)    		3:41
    3:25Mount Dennis3:37 PM
    87 minutesTotal ride time
    (inc. a 7 min transfer at Eglinton Stn.)    		118 minutes
    * This gap provided an opportunity to use the washroom, and get a coffee and snack
    ** Time noted at Blackthorn Ave, the closest stop to the LRT station entrance
    *** Took first 34A bus to Kennedy Station that departed Eglinton after my arrival; a 34C bus to Wynford Dr. and Flemingdon Park departed first

    On the surface buses, the most significant traffic delays are near the Don Valley Parkway and Allen Road, especially eastbound between Oakwood Avenue and Cedarvale Station and between Don Mills Road and Bermondsey Avenue. For anyone crossing Yonge Street, the transfer between buses takes on average seven minutes including walking and waiting time.

    Line 5, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, will run deep below the Line 1 University Subway at Cedarvale Station

    The dedicated right of way should allow transit riders to get ahead of traffic congestion, especially around Allen Road, where the trains will run in a deep bore tunnel. In theory, the median right-of-way will help get passengers past congestion near the DVP and the big box retail in the Golden Mile, but if the trams are as slow through intersections as on Finch and held up by red lights, the advantage here will be minimal.

    At Eglinton and Warden, I did see a traffic signal hold a green light a few extra seconds to allow a train to pass through before changing, so that was a positive sign. But watching the trains go by every few minutes, I noted that the transit priority system was not at all aggressive, and as on Finch, transit signals turn red 12 seconds before the general traffic signals do.

    On January 28, Eglinton and Warden, the transit signals stayed green for a short extra time to allow the non-revenue LRT train to pass through and stop at the far-side platform. The train was moving at a more reasonable clip too.

    The Eglinton Crosstown LRT, unlike Finch West, serves a regional need that requires better speeds and more capacity than a mere surface tram, especially as it will have many bus routes directly feeding into it, rather than just intersecting. Several bus routes that used to continue into Eglinton Station, such as 54 Lawrence East, will instead terminate at Don Valley (formerly Science Centre) Station, where riders going west to the subway will have to transfer. For inexplicable reasons, the short section between Don Mills Road and Laird will have one at-grade station with a signalized intersection, a weak link in what will likely be a very busy section of the line.

    Map of planned changes to TTC bus routes with Line 5’s opening. Some of the changes, including the introduction of Route 164 Castlefield and the extensions of routes 79, 161, and 168 to Mount Dennis Station have already been implemented.

    Hopefully, some of the lessons from the Line 6 opening will be applied to Eglinton before it opens. There should also be an opportunity, just as there is on Finch, to make further changes to operations where applicable during a “soft opening” period. But we can not afford yet another botched transit project, especially after 15 years of waiting.

  • Still waiting for the Finch West LRT

    Still waiting for the Finch West LRT

    December 7, 2025 may be a day that will live in transit infamy. That was the day Line 6, the Finch West LRT, opened to the public, and it did not go well.

    First off, any discussion on the initial failure of Line 6 should acknowledge that was never designed to be a rapid, regional transit link. The LRT, serving Northwestern Toronto, was intended to be an upgrade to the slow, congested, and busy 36 Finch West bus, feeding into the rapid transit network at Finch West Station. Line 6 is a legacy of Transit City, a LRT plan proposed under previous mayor David Miller intended to connect the inner suburbs of Etobicoke, North York, and Scarbrorough to the subway and to each other.

    As with all proposed Transit City routes (with the exception of the tunneled central section of the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT), there were always going to be compromises on Finch that would not make it a true rapid transit service. Situated almost entirely on the surface, Line 6 trains are easier for residents to access than subways in deep tunnels; closer stop spacing was intended so the new transit line continues to serve the needs of those who live, work, go to school, and frequent the corridor, without the necessity of a parallel local bus. Anyone expecting subway speeds were in for disappointment.

    Still, the LRT was supposed to improve travel times over the existing bus, with wider stop spacing than the legacy streetcar network, a congestion-free right of way, signal priority, and decent operating speeds. With a promised average speed of 20-21 kilometres per hour, a total trip time of 33-34 minutes each way, it would have been a bit faster, more comfortable, and certainly more reliable than the bus. It was never going to be as fast as a subway, but for Finch Avenue West, that was okay.

    Screen capture of a Metrolinx FAQ webpage, with frequent and relatively speedy transit service promised for the Finch West LRT. The webpage was still up as of December 18, 2025.

    As the first modern LRT to open in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), Line 6 was to be a preview of additional lines planned and under construction elsewhere in the Golden Horseshoe, including the yet-to-open Line 5 Crosstown LRT, the Hurontario Line, the Hamilton LRT, and a proposed Line 7 on Eglinton Avenue East towards the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus and Malvern. Delivered by Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency, each line would be constructed and maintained by a P3 consortium, though the Toronto LRTs would be operated by TTC employees.

    The hoped-for narrative that the provincial government, Metrolinx, the city of Toronto, and the TTC all touted — a smooth new ride, worthy of including on the subway maps — quickly fell apart on Sunday December 7, though there were plenty of warning signs of slower-than-promised operations.

    Opening day crowds on December 7. Passengers disembark from a wrapped LRV that touts Line 6 as “far and wide the best way to go far and wide.”

    On Sunday, December 7, there were plenty of people eager to try the new LRT: railfans and urbanists, curious families, and local residents, lured by free fares on the opening day. Though I was there and took several trips, I wasn’t going to make too many judgements on opening day. There would be inevitable hiccups with the large crowds and cold, snowy temperatures. Still, there were visible problems.

    An eastbound LRV approaches Islington Avenue (Mount Olive Station) as the transit signal switches from green to amber. The traffic signals are still green.

    So far, a lot of the post-opening discourse has been on operating speeds and traffic operations. Instead of 33-34 minutes, as claimed by Metrolinx, trips were taking 55 minutes each way. Additionally, the transit signal priority (TSP) system has not been activated, causing light rail vehicles (LRVs) to wait entire light cycles, even for private vehicles to turn left before proceeding. The dedicated transit signals turn red about 10-20 seconds before general traffic gets a red light, even as LRVs approach the intersections. On December 16, Toronto City Council approved a motion to implement “more aggressive” TSP on Finch West and the surface portion of the Line 5 Eglinton-Crosstown LRT, as well as on the legacy streetcar network.

    The problem on Finch West is not just a matter of transit signal priority. The number of stops along the line, also criticized by several critics, is also not a problem, as Finch West was never intended to be a high-speed regional line. (That said, Mount Olive and nearby Stevenson could have been consolidated into a single stop west of Kipling Avenue.) The other problems are poorly managed schedules and streetcar-style slow zones on a modern LRT alignment.

    Right now, LRVs are forced to slow to 25 km/h at all intersections, even though all conflicting traffic has a red light. This is an inexplicable restriction given that motor traffic, including TTC buses, have a 50 km/h limit, and many drivers will proceed at significantly above the posted limit. These restrictions are not found elsewhere in North America; in Calgary and Edmonton, LRTs are protected at many at-grade intersections with railway-style lights and gates. In places like Minneapolis-St. Paul and Phoenix, additional LED flashing signs warn drivers of an approaching LRV, which glides through the signalized intersection at higher speeds than on Finch. (There is also a lot less sign clutter, with intuitive signals for left turns and transit).

    Transit schedules are also needlessly padded, with too much time for lower speeds and lengthy station stops. On a repeat visit to Finch West, on Wednesday December 17, 2025, travel times were inconsistent and slower then either 36C bus I took a few days before the LRT opened. (Even the trip with the long Starbucks pitstop.)

    Line 6 travel times on Wednesday Dec. 17
    Eastbound
    (read down)    		Stop/stationWestbound
    (read up)
    12:59 PM (dep.)Humber College
    LRT Station    		12:31 PM (arr.)
    1:03Westmore Dr.12:25
    1:05Martin Grove Rd.12:22
    1:10Kipling Ave. (Mt. Olive)12:13
    1:14Islington Ave. (Rowntree Mills)12:09
    1:26Weston Rd. (Emery)11:57
    1:29Arrow Rd./Signet Dr.11:54
    1:33Jane and Finch11:46
    1:37Tobermory Dr.11:35
    1:45Sentinel Rd.11:32
    1:48 PM (arr.)Finch West Stn.
    (LRT Terminal)    		11:27 AM (dep.)
    49 minutesTotal time1 h 4 minutes

    It took eleven minutes to go two stops, less than a kilometre, from Tobermory Drive to Jane Street on the westbound trip. Lengthy station dwell times at Tobermory (five minutes) and Mount Olive (three minutes) on that westbound ride, with no onboard announcements was especially frustrating. The return eastbound trip from Humber College was 15 minutes faster, even with much of the same slow zones at intersections and switches, the 10 km/h curve near Humber College Station, and lengthy stops.

    With such unpredictable and unreliable service, Line 6 is running at least as badly as the downtown streetcar routes. Without immediate fixes, people will completely lose faith in the TTC and future LRTs, including Eglinton-Crosstown. We can not just rely on tweaks to signal times; we need a complete review and overhaul of streetcar and LRT operating practices.

    At least we know what can and should be fixed before the Eglinton-Crosstown line opens, a much longer LRT route that will have a regional transit role.

    One more thing…

    What is with all the doors between the Line 1 subway station and the LRT terminal at Finch West. Passengers have to pass through four sets of doors to transfer between two TTC services, as well as ascend one escalator or elevator, walk down one set of stairs (or navigate a long and circuitous ramp) and then ascend another escalator or elevator to get to the other platform.

    Stairs or a long, circuitous ramp between the doors from subway to LRT

    Though transfers can be tricky, at the very least, these doorways should be kept open, and shut only during station closures or during fire alarms, as done in hospitals or shopping centres. Other TTC stations have no such barriers between modes or may have a single door to exit a subway station terminal to the bus platform. Automatic sliding doors could have also been an option. Instead, the powered doors are left to one side, with the button against the wall. It’s not an ideal design from an accessibility point of view.

  • Waiting for Finch West

    Waiting for Finch West

    Two Line 6 LRVs cross Jane Street at Finch Avenue, December 3, 2025 as training wraps up ahead of revenue service on December 7

    Can a brand-new light rail line outrun the local bus it replaces? Starting on Sunday, December 7, Torontonians will get the chance to find out when the new Line 6 Finch West light rail line finally opens to the public. Though built and maintained by Metrolinx, the service will be operated by TTC employees.

    The new LRT, 11 kilometres long, with 18 stops, runs almost exclusively in a transit-only median on Finch Avenue West between Finch West Station at Keele Street in North York and Highway 27 in Etobicoke. The end terminals are below grade, with three traffic signals skipped. Otherwise, the light rail vehicles will be subject to stopping at the same traffic lights as all other cars, trucks, and buses.

    New maps in the TTC subway system show the long-delayed Line 5 Eglinton-Crosstown (opening date still TBD) and Line 6, which opens Sunday December 7

    For the last few weeks, Finch West has been served by the 36C bus, running between Finch West Station at Keele Street and Humberwood Loop near the Mississauga border, making a stop at the Humber College bus terminal. A separate 36 Finch West bus continues east from Finch West Station to Finch Station at Yonge Street. There will only be eight fewer stops on Line 6 than there bus stops between Finch West Station and Humber College; apart from overnight service, there will be no parallel local bus serving the corridor.

    Map of the Route 36C Finch West-Humberwood service, modified from the TTC’s original

    Without limited stops and signal priority, the new light rail line will not achieve any real time savings. On his website, transit advocate Steve Munro notes that the end-to-end time of the new Line 6 LRT is scheduled for 46 minutes, consistent across all operating time periods. The 36C’s fastest round trip times, late evenings and early Sunday mornings, is between 79 and 82 minutes, or 40-41 minutes one way on a slightly longer route.

    To see this for myself, I visited Finch Avenue West and rode the 36C both ways between Finch West and Humber College. Wednesday, December 3 was an overcast and cold day, with the daytime high temperature hovering around the freezing mark. But the roads were clear and dry, with no collisions and little construction work in the way of traffic on Finch; conditions couldn’t be any better for early December.

    Here were the times for the two buses I took. I started timing the runs as soon as the bus doors closed and departed the originating stop; waiting times at the initial stops were not included.

    TTC Route 36C travel times on Wednesday Dec. 3
    Eastbound
    (read down)    		Stop/stationWestbound
    (read up)
    12:07 PM (dep.)Humber College
    bus loop    		1:50 PM (arr.)
    12:11Westmore Dr.1:37**
    12:13Martin Grove Rd.1:24
    12:18Kipling Ave. (Mt. Olive)1:29
    12:20Islington Ave. (Rowntree Mills)1:19*
    12:28Weston Rd. (Emery)1:11
    12:33Arrow Rd./Signet Dr.1:09
    12:38Jane and Finch1:04
    12:42Tobermory Dr.1:01
    12:44Sentinel Rd.1:00
    12:51 PM (arr.)Finch West Stn.
    (bus terminal)    		12:57 PM (dep.)
    44 minutesTotal time53 minutes
    * At Islington Avenue westbound, the bus was delayed by five minutes by a troublesome passenger
    ** At Westmore Drive westbound, the operator left the bus with twelve passengers on board to order coffee at a nearby Starbucks, resulting in a second delay of nearly ten minutes

    The eastbound departure, leaving Humber College at 12:07 PM, made it to Finch West Station in 44 minutes, two minutes faster than the scheduled LRT trip. This bus, an articulated (18-metre) vehicle was relatively busy, with a few standees between Jane Street and Finch West Station, and most en route stops were made. There were no unusual delays; just some traffic near Highway 400; it also took two light cycles to complete the left turn from Finch to Keele approaching the subway station.

    Westbound 36C bus waiting to depart Finch West Station

    I returned towards Humber College on a different bus that left Finch West Station at 12:57 PM. For a while, this run, a standard 12-metre bus, was making exceptionally good time, with only a few passengers on board. It skipped several bus stops as no one wanted on or off until Tobermory Drive. Line 6 LRVs will stop at every station, just like the subway, even if there aren’t any waiting passengers.

    At Islington Avenue there was a delay caused by a prospective passenger who rushed through a don’t walk/red light to get the bus, despite another one close behind. As the passenger was using a mobility device, the bus operator had trouble deploying the ramp because the bus had already inched ahead of the bus stop pad, ready to proceed with the green light. The driver needed to reposition the ramp and wait for the next green, which resulted in a five-minute delay.

    Another delay came a few minutes later, when at Westmore Drive, just one stop before the Humber College bus terminal, the operator left the bus without notice and walked into a nearby Starbucks. After a few minutes, and seeing two other westbound 36C buses pass by, most passengers exited the open doors to flag down the next bus.

    Passengers leave an unattended Route 36C bus on Finch Avenue West at Westmore Drive. The portal for Line 6 LRVs to descend under Highway 27 towards Humber College is behind

    The TTC operator returned eight minutes later, and we finally arrived at Humber College Bus Terminal at 1:50, 53 minutes after departing Finch West Station. (It’s worth noting that Humber College also has a Starbucks and public washrooms in the main building near the bus loop.)

    At least that’s one instance where the LRT will certainly be faster than taking the bus.

    A longer walk, a longer wait

    TTC and Brampton Transit buses layover at Humber College

    Humber College’s bus terminal serves a total of nine TTC, Brampton Transit, Miway, and YRT routes. It’s also a connection point between TTC Wheel-Trans and Peel Region’s TransHelp paratransit services. But the LRT terminal station is a five-minute walk away from the terminal, which is adjacent to several primary buildings on campus.

    A walkway leads between the bus terminal and LRT station, with partial shelter provided by a long canopy that blocks northerly winds, but not the prevailing westerly winds. At the end of the walkway is the entrance to the below-grade LRT platforms, which are parallel to nearby Highway 27. This alignment reduced construction costs over a longer approach to the college, but it permits a future extension to the planned Woodbine GO Station two kilometres to the south and even Pearson Airport.

    Humber College Station entrance, at Highway 27. The walkway to the bus terminal and main campus is behind.

    During weekday peak periods, the LRT will run every 6 minutes, about as frequent as the current 36C bus during weekday daytime periods. However, during off peak times, trains will only come every 10-12 minutes, resulting in longer waits. Anyone travelling from Humber College will have to factor in the longer walk and potentially longer wait time.

    I will certainly go out on Sunday December 7 to celebrate the opening of this new line, which despite the unnecessarily slow speeds, will result in a more predictable and more comfortable ride, with significant capacity improvements during peak periods, especially at school dismissal times. LRT doors will line up with the platforms, making loading and unloading easier for passengers with mobility devices, strollers, or carts.

    I will also go ride the LRT after the opening day crowds are done, to see how it works in day-to-day operation. There are ways to speed up the schedule: more aggressive transit priority, shorter station dwell times, quick turnarounds at the terminals with “step back” operation, schedule optimization, and I hope these are considered by Metrolinx, the TTC and the city as everyone gets used to the new transit line.

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