Metrolinx Crosstown LRT opening announcement leaves Toronto still knowing nothing

Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster has revealed when the transit agency will make an announcement on the opening date of the overdue and overbudget Eglinton Crosstown LRT. But in typical Metrolinx fashion, the announcement has left Toronto with virtually no idea when the 19-kilometre light rail line will finally enter service.

During a Thursday public session of the Metrolinx Board of Directors meeting, Verster was quoted as saying that the transit agency "will announce an opening date for the Eglinton Crosstown three months before opening day," adding, "we are not there yet."

Today, at the public session of the Metrolinx Board of Directors meeting (watch live: https://t.co/sKAQ34VRdv), Phil Verster, CEO shared details around the status and progress of the @CrosstownTO project:

“We will announce an opening date for the Eglinton Crosstown three months… pic.twitter.com/9Rt8AI4EqE

— Metrolinx (@Metrolinx) November 30, 2023

Verster said that — while passengers prepare to wait out another cold winter huddled in bus shelters along a construction-riddled Eglinton Avenue — Metrolinx is "making sure everything is built right and operates correctly and safely."

"Our contractor, CTS, is finding issues that must be fixed before we can open the Eglinton Crosstown for safe and reliable passenger services," said Verster.

Back in late September, Verster promised an update on the project in two months. That the announcement has now been revealed as an announcement that another announcement will be made at an undetermined date has people fuming on social media.

Two months ago you said that in two months you would have an update. This is neither an update nor "details around the status and progress of the project" as your post indicates. You still have nothing.

— is Pepsi ok? (@djwesallen) November 30, 2023

Many comments responded to Metrolinx's tweet, calling out the non-announcement as a delay tactic.

In other words, metrolinx CEO doesn’t want to be out of a job, so they keep extending the opening date

— Shapeshifter 🇨🇦 (@generalthemoon) November 30, 2023

The Metrolinx CEO promised that media would be given a preview of the line's Eglinton-Yonge station in early December, saying that it is the largest and most complex station on the Crosstown, "where the final pieces of construction are now nearing completion."

Previews of the line, like a series of videos and blog posts Metrolinx has produced, are all the public has of the future TTC Line 5 for now.

Questions of when the Crosstown will open have swirled for years, and the masses seem to be growing more impatient by the day. Metrolinx had announced in May that the line would complete construction in 2024, four years later than its initial expected completion date of 2020.

Meanwhile, the project cost has swelled to over $12.8 billion from the initial contract of $9.1 billion following a series of delays, a global pandemic, cost overruns, legal battles, and political finger-pointing.