We’ve followed transit tunnels from the ground up.

So it’s a big deal when they reach a new stage of development along Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit (LRT) route. New images from Mount Pleasant Station show the team has removed the final pieces of tunnel within the station area.

Large tunnel boring machines – often called ‘TBMs’ – dug the tunnels which now run under Eglinton Avenue, and the stations themselves have excavated down to meet the tunnels where they are building the platform and station areas. With these last pieces, all stations have removed the tunnel segments from their station boxes.

Crosstown is also tapping into more power. Recently, the east end of the Crosstown system was plugged into its permanent power feed. The Traction Power Substation 10 building at Victoria Park is completed and is now powering the surface section.

A substation helps convert electric power from the public utility and converts it to the needed current type to run the light rail trains that will be used for Crosstown.

The new images also capture work at Leaside Station, as rebar installation has reached street-level at the main entrance.

Not as sexy as tunnels and high energy stations, but work that supports so much else for Crosstown.