Long-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT has no target date for completion, says Metrolinx CEO

Theglobeandmail.com
Sept. 28, 2023
Oliver Moore

Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown light-rail transit line, first announced almost 15 years ago, officially has no public target date for completion.

The troubled project has been delayed repeatedly and is now partly built, with stations in place and track laid. It was most recently slated to open next year. But Phil Verster, the chief executive of Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency that owns the Crosstown, told a media briefing Wednesday that the situation is too fluid for an exact date to be set.

“We have a really good idea of ... what the approximate trajectory of the completion of this project is,” he said. “However, I am seeing too many defects and issues arising from the testing and commissioning phase. And therefore I can’t give you a range that I’m comfortable with, that will give enough certainty.”

Mr. Verster had promised to update media on the project’s progress by the end of the summer. He missed that target by a few days. On Wednesday, he and Phil Taberner, the Metrolinx vice-president who heads up the project, described some of the difficulties that have plagued the line. These include COVID-related delays and technical problems, such as mislaid track and water leaking into stations.

Crosslinx Transit Solutions, the private-sector consortium contracted to build the line, is making progress, Mr. Verster said. But not enough progress to enable him to give Torontonians the clarity they have been seeking for years.

City councillor Josh Matlow, whose ward the light-rail line would run through, said in an interview that he was unsatisfied with the update. “It is bewildering and frustrating that Mr. Verster, after years of delays and cost overruns, would hold a press conference to announce that he’s not going to tell us anything,” Mr. Matlow said.

“Metrolinx is either keeping the opening date secret or has no idea how to complete the project. Both possibilities are incredibly concerning.”

The Crosstown is a 25-kilometre line that would run light-rail vehicles underground through Toronto’s central midtown. The line would run on the surface at its east and west ends. It was announced in 2009 with a promised opening date of 2020.

The project has come to be seen as a key example of Canada’s recent difficulty with building transit reliably and on schedule.

The estimated price tag for the Toronto Transit Commission’s subway extension into Vaughan, which opened in 2017, rose by $550-million, pushing it roughly 20 per cent over its initial budget. Ottawa has been plagued by shutdowns of its own light-rail line. And this year Montreal opened the REM, an automated light-rail line, which immediately began experiencing mechanical problems.

Transit construction in Canada is some of the most expensive, per kilometre, in the world. The Crosstown was budgeted at $12-billion, including a contingency fund. The project has so far cost $12.56-billion.

Instead of providing an opening date for the Crosstown, Mr. Verster said he would come back with updates every two months. He said he would have clarity on the project’s completion date only once testing was further advanced, with more problems identified and solved. He offered no timeline for when that might occur.

In a statement, the provincial NDP called for Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government to fire Mr. Verster, noting that the CEO is one of the highest-paid civil servants in Ontario, with annual earnings close to $900,000.

“Consumed by scandal, Ford’s Conservatives have lost control of the province’s transit agency and the vital Eglinton Crosstown,” NDP transit critic Joel Harden said in the statement. “It’s clear they can’t build transit projects in this province, and people are left waiting for transit that feels like it will never arrive. What a colossal -- and costly -- disaster.”

Asked in the briefing whether he bears personal responsibility for the Crosstown’s troubles, Mr. Verster said he is accountable and serves at the pleasure of the provincial Transportation Minister.

He promised that testing of the new line would be rigorous enough to prevent the sorts of problems that plagued the REM in its early days. Asked whether he would stake his reputation on the Crosstown opening going flawlessly, he answered simply: “Yes.”