Toronto is planning to build a Scarborough counterpart to the delay-plagued and overbudget Eglinton Crosstown LRT, and, to nobody's surprise, the new project's cost estimates are already ballooning into outrageous territory.

The proposed 27-stop, 18.6-kilometre Line 7 would serve a route following Eglinton Avenue East, Kingston Road, Morningside Avenue and Sheppard Avenue East, filling a missing link in Toronto’s transit network.

However, the project’s cost estimate has inflated to a shocking $4.65 billion, according to a report on advancing the proposed Eglinton East LRT prepared for consideration by the City's Executive Committee on December 5.

Proposed route of the Eglinton East LRT. Image via City of Toronto.

The City has already committed approximately $1.2 billion to the unbuilt and currently unfunded project and requires (apparently quite a sum of) further funding from higher-up levels of government to make the line a reality.

And should the City not press forward with the exorbitant cost estimate, now hovering at $250 million per kilometre, well, that will cost the municipal government a pretty penny in sunk costs.

The report warns that "should construction not proceed, the $9.5 million of funding related to the works identified in this report would be sunk costs for the City, along with life-to-date expenditures of $5.7 million."

As for the next steps, the report recommends that City Council approve the proposed alignment of the LRT line, work with Metrolinx to undertake the work at the proposed cost, and a handful of other considerations that will advance the project closer to a shovel-ready state.

Council will consider the recommendations at its next meeting on December 13.

Construction of the new line could begin as early as 2027, and serve Scarborough commuters as soon as 2034.

Granted, Toronto has been promised transit on Eglinton many times before, and as of the end of 2023, the city still awaits rapid transit along the corridor.

Meanwhile, a Crosston West extension is already well under construction. Unlike the two phases of the future Line 5 Eglinton, the Eglinton East LRT would be operated as a separate line, with passengers forced to transfer at Kennedy Station between the two disconnected Eglinton lines.