'We're not there yet': Metrolinx CEO won't provide opening date for troubled Eglinton Crosstown LRT
CBC
Metrolinx is refusing to provide an update on an opening date for the long-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT line, citing technical issues in the testing and commissioning phase that are continuously pushing the finish date further down the road.
"Any prediction of an the opening date in the project will just be an estimate, and I'm not comfortable giving that," said Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster.
"When I give you a date it must be something I believe in and we're not there yet."
Philip Taberner, the project's vice president, says construction is "pretty much" complete except for a small section near Eglinton-Yonge.
He said testing and commissioning is considered a "high-risk" part of the project, and that they're anticipating "faults and issues" that will take an "unpredictable" amount of time to rectify.
"We want the tests to be rigorous, and we want to identify these issues," he said. "This then gives us the assurance that we've got a robust, safe and reliable railway."
Verster says Metrolinx intends to give an update every two months, with the next one slated for November.
The 25-stop, 19-kilometre line was last slated to be up and running in the fall of 2022, but construction has stretched on long past that.
Work began on the Crosstown in 2011 and Metrolinx previously announced completion dates of 2020 and 2021.
The repeatedly delayed and over-budget project has been stymied amid reports of some 260 quality control issues including improperly laid track, as well as legal threats from the consortium of companies building it.
The transit line, also known as Line 5, is expected to run along Eglinton Avenue from Mount Dennis in the west to Kennedy in the east.
MPP Stan Cho — speaking as associate minister of transportation before a recent move to minister of long-term care — said last month that construction on the project was 98 per cent complete.
Internal Metrolinx documents obtained by CBC Toronto last year show that the budget for the project has ballooned to nearly $13 billion, a figure that includes 30-year maintenance costs. That's more than double the initial estimates.
Whitehorse city council is considering a proposal to study 14 lots throughout the city for housing development.
In the closing days of the NDP leadership race, Avi Lewis's past activism has resurfaced. But the front-runner's campaign is standing by his past work and a decade-old vision that's been both criticized within the New Democrats' ranks and weaponized by their opponents.
Some rural municipalities want the province to know ambulance response times and basic care in their communities are not meeting the mark.
The sighting of a sniper on Saturday during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Waterloo was met with fear and shock by some partygoers, but one policing expert says this was a proactive measure designed to keep the crowd safe.
A 25-year old Prince Edward Island man has been sentenced to six months in jail for firearms offences.
Closing schools, stalled housing starts — not common headlines in Alberta's booming cities.
Two MLAs and the Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation chief say they welcome the territory’s new trespassing legislation because they believe it will help address concerns about uninvited guests intruding in people’s homes and refusing to leave.
U.S. President Donald Trump is struggling to persuade other nations to help protect commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a development that analysts say is partly the result of treating allies with contempt since returning to the White House last year.
The actions of an Alberta judge who lost his temper and briefly jailed a defence lawyer in the middle of a trial were “unacceptable,” ruled the Judicial Inquiry Board, which recommended a 30-day suspension without pay for Justice Gordon Yake.
Irish-born chef Liam Brannigan says there are four words he loves to hear about the food he serves as he drives his food truck around southwestern Ontario.
Last spring, the Newfoundland and Labrador government announced a loan guarantee program for restaurants — but so far, businesses haven't tapped into it.
Several organizations and groups in Greater Sudbury, Ont. remain closed or operating under a modified schedule after a major storm hit the region Sunday night.
As Halifax scraps plans for a sobering centre, staff at similar facilities across Canada say they’re a crucial part of the continuum of care needed to address homelessness and addiction.