Eglinton Crosstown LRT vehicles now so old due to delays that they're adding more delays

Oh, Eglinton Crosstown LRT, why hast thou forsaken our city? Because yes, the latest update is that the ill-fated transit line is not actually on track to open in September as previously forecasted.

After the TTC re-deployed operators to the route in the spring and took over the reins from Metrolinx crews in June, it seemed that a September 2025 debut — a date that was earlier leaked by anonymous insiders — was not just possible, but likely; a huge deal after more than 13 years of construction and five years of delays.

But, as has been the case far too many times to count, the stakeholders behind the project have let the public down once more, with the timeline ever-complicated by issues uncovered during a drawn-out testing and commissioning phase.

Eglinton Crosstown LRT's September opening date looking less and less likelyhttps://t.co/Uacf4tVoTK

— blogTO (@blogTO) July 3, 2025

In a press conference about the unrelated Yonge North Subway Extension on Wednesday, Metrolinx interim CEO Michael Lindsay was, naturally, asked about the more pressing transit initiative on all of our minds: the Crosstown.

"We're in the middle of serious trial-running of the system right now," he told reporters, adding that "these vehicles are 10 years old and they're only just now beginning to run the kilometres intended for revenue service. As we do that, we find out what their maintenance profile is and we get a picture of how to keep them in service."

Yes, you read that right: the reason for the new delays on the line is the countless past setbacks that have left our once-new LRT vehicles unused, unridden and aging.

Lindsay identified "vehicle reliability and availability" as the key problems found during this current "deliberate period of stress testing," saying that he's hoping teams are only "a few weeks away" from being able to declare these problems as resolved.

Following that, there will be a 30-day revenue service test "to demonstrate the system is safe and reliable when it opens," which, if it proceeds hiccup-free, will enable Metrolinx to declare the line substantially completed.

Michael thinks this time may come, based on the latest data, "toward the end of September," but reiterated that it's all contingent upon what other bugs make themselves known in the coming weeks.

"It is all dependent upon safety and reliability. I am happy that we're discovering right now the things that we have to fix before we open this line," he said.

Unfortunately, this explanation is one we've heard before, like all the way back in December 2023, when construction executives said the repeatedly pushed-back opening date was because "some of the changes made at one point during testing cascade to other systems."

Eglinton Crosstown LRT likely delayed yet again and absolutely nobody is surprisedhttps://t.co/ksvDhaq8xF

— blogTO (@blogTO) July 18, 2025

Even at that time, residents were assured that crews were "relentlessly and with urgency focusing on getting the fixes in place."

Fast forward nearly two years, and still, more technical problems keep cropping up, making even a fall 2025 launch look less and less plausible.