Toronto Eglinton Line 5 | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

[Westey]

The province offered him an olive branch by offering him an extra $2 billion so Sheppard would be a success if the east end was reverted to at grade. But his stubbornness on this point killed his Sheppard plan.

If only Sheppard, from Don Mills to Morningside, had transit as good as Finch West.

 

[Westey]

Building the whole line as a tunnelled subway would have been crazy expensive, but of course that's not the only option. The eastern part could have been elevated, like the Ontario Line, REM, or Skytrain. For that matter, the western extension from Mt Dennis to Renforth should also be elevated instead of tunnelled. I would be very interested to see a cost comparison of elevating both the east and the west vs. the current weirdness of building the east as a tramway and putting the west in a tunnel.

I think the question was posed to Metrolinx and they said both cut-and-cover and elevated would either be more expensive or not technically feasible.
Translation - they had no problems lying to build what the Provincial Gov't wanted.

 

[SkyScraaaper]

Ummm, I'm as critical of Line 5 as anyone......but your sense of cost needs some tweaks.

The lowest tunnel cost anywhere in the world is 200M per km currently, and the average much higher.

That would get you over the 2B mark, w/o the surface section, the stations, the MSF and the rolling stock.

Over 10km of tunnel, 19km route length, 25 stations stops, 15 underground.

The cheapest you could get would be in the 9B range and that's unrealistic.

***

Yes, the stations could be finished more nicely, no question. But that doesn't get you an 80% price discount.

Fair enough, I'm older too, so maybe my sense of inflation isn't as good as it should be. I'm just so so disappointed for what we received as taxpayers for the cost. I still believe we should audit this project and if only to make sure we never have this happen again.

 

[Northern Light]

Fair enough, I'm older too, so maybe my sense of inflation isn't as good as it should be. I'm just so so disappointed for what we received as taxpayers for the cost. I still believe we should audit this project and if only to make sure we never have this happen again.

I get the disappointment. However, I would say, I think we all know from discussions here what went wrong.

At the earliest stages of design, politics made a hash of things.

The P3 process was utter nonsense.

Some City staff, when those in a working group pointed out design flaws, declined to reopen the matter, be it out of laziness or ego.

The P3 consortium, by their own admission, miscalculated a number of things and failed to own up to taking the hit for that; meanwhile, Mx was headed by someone who was nothing short of temperamental jerk who never
met a problem he couldn't make worse.

There are some details we could nitpick, but fundamentally those aren't the big let downs, nor the big cost drivers. Bad process, poor leadership and oversight, both bureaucratic and political got us here. I'm afraid that an audit will not only not un-do any damages, but won't mitigate any in the future either.

I could show you countless Auditor General's reports whose recommendations were never followed going back decades.

We simply need to demand better, in real time, not await a report 2 years from now that will likely gather dust.

its when people are hot about the issue that change is possible.

 

[hw621]

Ummm, I'm as critical of Line 5 as anyone......but your sense of cost needs some tweaks.

The lowest tunnel cost anywhere in the world is 200M per km currently, and the average much higher.

That would get you over the 2B mark, w/o the surface section, the stations, the MSF and the rolling stock.

Over 10km of tunnel, 19km route length, 25 stations stops, 15 underground.

The cheapest you could get would be in the 9B range and that's unrealistic.

***

Yes, the stations could be finished more nicely, no question. But that doesn't get you an 80% price discount.

Are those costs of a full subway, or a light metro like Line 5?

 

[nfitz]

I'd say the vast majority of comments here have been positive to bery positive. Especially about the underground sections.

Ultimately - it was very negative for the first 2 or 3 hours after opening - but those folks seem to have gone quiet about how slow it is.

There will be legitimate issues that bubble to the surface, such as frequent emergency breaking due to intrusions.

I'm sure there'll be issues - there always is. Braking might be an issue too, in addition to it breaking!

Are those costs of a full subway, or a light metro like Line 5?

The cost of Line 5 from Laird to Weston should be similar to a full subway like Line 4 is now. Stations wouldn't be cheaper, and the tunnel for the LRT is bigger than the subway, because of the catenary.

 

[robmausser]

The P3 process was utter nonsense.

The Crosstown was basically a P5 process as I call it. There were too many cooks in the kitchen. Too much involvement from every branch of government and Crosslinx.

Its my opinion that either a P3 should be a complete hand off of a project to a private firm, including maintenance and operation, with strict contracts dictating what the intended outcome objectives need to be, or don't bother outsourcing the work at all.

This whole half assed P3, where every person gets a tiny little say in every aspect of the project was a disaster for obvious reasons. Not only for delaying the project and creating cost over runs, but everyone can point fingers and blame everyone else when things go tits up.

 

[Northern Light]

Are those costs of a full subway, or a light metro like Line 5?

Tunnel costs the same. Tunnel construction costs are agnostic of vehicle type
they vary by technique (ie cut and cover vs bored) and by depth as well as under pinning needs where applicable.

Station costs are a bit smaller with smaller trains due to reduced length of platform, but its only about a 15-20% savings per station when fixed costs are considered. The big way to cut costs on stations is to have them be shallow. But you can't do that if the tunnel is deep.

 

[robmausser]

Are those costs of a full subway, or a light metro like Line 5?

Thats basically irrelevant. The immense cost of subterranean transit is due to the tunnelling, whether its a light metro, LRT or heavy rail system that rides in it barely affects the cost.

 

[nightstreak]

First impression of Line 5

I guess they haven’t found a budget to hire caretaker staff.

Snark aside, is this going to be a problem? The TTC was already operating in the red, short tens of millions each year, is the supposed new ridership going to be enough to cover running 2 new lines? What about the Ontario Line? Where are the operating funds going to come from?

Added thought: Perhaps fare evasion could lessen because fewer people will be accessing the TTC via POP (buses) and more through fare gates. Certainly not enough to operate these new lines.

 

[nfitz]

Station costs are a bit smaller with smaller trains due to reduced length of platform, but its only about a 15-20% savings per station when fixed costs are considered.

Can't a 90-metre (100-metre?) platform be a full subway. That's all we are getting on the Ontario Line - but with the design for a 90-second frequency, it would exceed the current capacity of Line 2.

 

[jmi22]

New frontpage story on the opening:

Eglinton Line 5: Major Game Changer Opens, Awaits Tweaks | UrbanToronto

After more than 15 years of construction and over $12 billion, Eglinton Line 5 carried its first passengers on Fabruary 8, 2026. While 'the Crosstown LRT' has finally opened to the public following over half a decade of delays, it has not yet reached full service levels, with frequencies and...

urbantoronto.ca

 

[Mind_the_gap]

I wonder if that thick orange border is meant to signify that this station will be under Ontario Line construction for years. That to me is the only plausible reason for this update at Don Valley.

I can assure you, it's not the reason for Don Valley.

Guess I was correct about using the orange border for showing that the station is under ongoing Ontario Line 3 construction...

Interesting to see that Don Valley has morphed into a Metrolinx wayfinding hybrid.

 

[jmi22]

The Crosstown was basically a P5 process as I call it. There were too many cooks in the kitchen. Too much involvement from every branch of government and Crosslinx.

Its my opinion that either a P3 should be a complete hand off of a project to a private firm, including maintenance and operation, with strict contracts dictating what the intended outcome objectives need to be, or don't bother outsourcing the work at all.

This whole half assed P3, where every person gets a tiny little say in every aspect of the project was a disaster for obvious reasons. Not only for delaying the project and creating cost over runs, but everyone can point fingers and blame everyone else when things go tits up.

Yep, a highly independent consortium structure, where the private sector fronts the capital, takes the risk and designs the line, but is guaranteed returns per each rider from the government is the way to go. This is how the REM was built and it essentially represents a miracle of delivery speed and value per dollar spent.

 

[drum118]

​ Line 5 Eglinton​ ​

Line 5 Eglinton is officially open!​ ​ The new line is another major step in expanding the region’s rapid transit network, helping more people get where they need to go, safely and efficiently. On top of seamless connections to major destinations like the Aga Khan Museum, Sunnybrook Park, Golden Mile and Yonge and Eglinton, the new LRT provides connections to local and regional transit systems. On February 8, 2026, the TTC officially began service on Line 5 Eglinton, formerly known as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. The brand-new line features 25 stations and stops along 19 kilometres of Eglinton Avenue between Kennedy Station in the east and Mount Dennis Station in the west, with more than 10 kilometres running underground. Line 5 Eglinton is expected to move 123,200 daily passengers by 2027 and will link to 68 bus routes, three TTC subway stations, UP Express and the Kitchener and Stouffville GO lines, providing important transit connections to get people to where they need to go faster than ever before. To ensure a smooth transition from the commissioning of the line to its operations, service levels will gradually increase over the first six months, a standard approach for major LRT projects worldwide. Line 5 hours of operation On opening day, the TTC will begin an introductory service period on Line 5 Eglinton with light rail vehicles operating until 11 p.m. Service levels will be: Monday to Saturday – 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sundays – 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Holidays – 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. During peak periods Monday to Friday (7 a.m. to 10 a.m., 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.), light rail vehicles will operate approximately every 4 minutes. In the coming months, TTC will introduce regularly scheduled service. Please check the TTC website for full-service details and to stay up to date on future Line 5 service increases.​ Learn more​