Eglinton Crosstown

The route uses Flexity Freedom vehicles.

The Eglinton Crosstown, also known as line 5, is a light rail rapid transit line, that was first proposed in 1975.de

Tunnel boring machines were launched in April 2013, with completion anticipated in 2020. However due to construction delays, the opening date kept getting pushed back. Finally metrolink officials refused to name an opening date. Finally, on Tuesday, February 3rd, it was announced that the 25 station line would open Sunday february 8, 2026.

The western terminus of the route is at Weston Road and Eglinton Avenue, and the easternmost terminus is the Kennedy subway station on the TTC's Bloor-Danforth line. The Weston Road station is adjacent to rail line that carry the GO Train that runs from Union Station, to Kitchener, Ontario, and a new stop will be added to the GO Train, to enable inter-city commuters to leave the GO Train earlier.

Planners decided that for the easternmost portion of the route Eglinto was wide enough that two parallel tracks could run down the centre of the street, at street level. Traffic lights would be coordinated with the trains, so they always got a green light. Most of the western portion of the route was built underground.

Route

Mount Dennis, the western terminus, lies west of the ravine that carries Black Creek, and the route travels above ground, for several hundred meters, until it gets to the other side of the ravine

Rolling stock

The Flexity Freedom vehicles were designed and built by Bombardier's Rail Division, to a design similar to the Flexity Outlook vehicles used by the TTC's fleet of streetcars. Unlike the streetcars, the Flexity Freedom vehicles have doors on both sides. The vehicles are owned by the provincial agency, Metrolinks, so they use standard gauge, not the slightly wider gauge used by TTC subways and streetcars.

Construction

While the underground portion of the line was made using tunnel boring machines, the stations were mainly excavated using cut and cover. first, narrow trenchs were cut, and filled with concrete, to construct a box for the station. Then Eglinton was temporarily narrowed, by putting both east and west traffic on one side of the street. Enough of the other side was excavated that metal plates could be laid across the road, and that side could be re-opened for traffic, while the rest of the excavation for the station could take place under the deck. This plan minimized the inconvenience to motorists. But the planners had not taken into account how inconvenient this plan was for the small businesses, and many went bankrupt.

One source of delay was tunneling under the north south subway at Yonge Street and Allen Road. Eglinton Station was, originally, two levels deep. Adding support for the Crosstown required three more levels.