Eglinton LRT Science Centre station unveiled

Torontosun.com
Oct. 14, 2021
Jack Boland

There is light at the end of the tunnel for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT project.

And that literally happened just before noon on Tuesday as the train emerged from the underground Ontario Science Centre station heading eastward and  upwards along the track into the brilliant sunshine.

A guided tour was held to show off the sleek trains and the almost completed underground station that resembles a massive vacant shopping mall.

Metrolinx CEO Phil Vester had only real one word for what has been done: “superlative.”

“The tour today was to get a sense of how the vehicle testing is coming along and and how the Science Centre (station) is coming along,” said Vester.

“The progress is magnificent, we are doing well,” he said. “It will create connections to this part of the city.”

The double coach LRT quietly and smoothly entered the station like an electric car before ringing its bell to announce its arrival.

The underground station is a cavernous mix of several levels with brightly lit pathways combined with stairways, escalators and elevators, to accommodate all transit riders, with even possible space for retail outlets.

Currently, on the north side of Eglinton you envision seven TTC bus bays before slipping through sliding glass doorways and descending deep and diagonally southwest under Don Mills Rd. to the space-age-looking station on Ontario Science Centre grounds.

The overriding plan for Metrolinx and Crosslinx is to have the entire line up and running by late 2022 creating a massive transit hub -- or interface -- with other parts of the TTC including the Ontario Line.

So far though it has been over a decade of planning, digging, tunnelling, engineering feats, gnashing of teeth and headaches at a cost of close to $6 billion -- and possibly higher by the time it’s completed.

The Eglinton Crosstown is a LRT (Light Rail Transit) line that runs below and above ground east from the Mount Dennis station, roughly at Weston Rd., connecting with Kennedy TTC station in Scarborough.

The 19-kilometre transport corridor runs underground for 10 kilometres before popping out at Laird Ave. and then briefly dipping back underground at the Ontario Science Centre station before emerging back on its above ground path.