Media gets firsthand look at progress on Eglinton Crosstown LRT
From Science Centre to Birchmount, new photos & video take you to east end of the Crosstown LRT.
Oct 15, 2021
There is light at the end of the tunnel.
This week (Oct. 12), media were invited to a tour of the eastern portion of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.
Local journalists and camera persons started their tour at Science Centre station with a chat with Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster.
Media were then guided inside Science Centre station, one of the most advanced stations on the line. Construction began in 2016 and is now about 90 per cent complete.
Check out a quick video of the tour:
For those not familiar with the project, Science Centre Station will serve as a mobility hub, linking passengers to a bus terminal that will include seven bus bays for TTC bus connections. It will also be an interchange station for the Ontario Line subway project.
Customers will be able to access both the Eglinton Crosstown and the Ontario Line from entrances at both the southwest and northeast corners of Don Mills Road and Eglinton Avenue.
Local media interview Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster at the recent Eglinton Crosstown LRT media tour. (James Wattie photo)
Metrolinx officials say the new Science Centre transit hub will connect people across the transit network with new opportunities for employment – an estimated 9,200 jobs will be within walking distance of the station by 2041.
Finally, Science Centre Station is one of six Crosstown stations that will have an integrated art component.
The brand new Crosstown LRT vehicle then entered the underground station allowing media members to hop on board.
The vehicle exited Science Centre station heading east to Birchmount.
When open in 2022, Crosstown will have 25 stations or stops, with 15 of them underground and the other 10 at street level.
The LRT travelled along the surface-level section of the line giving journalists a view of the green track-beds, which will cover 60 per cent of the area between Brentcliffe and Ionview.
Some of the above ground sections of the Crosstown LRT feature a ‘greenscape’ – grass that grows around the tracks. (James Wattie photo)
Residents along Eglinton from Mount Dennis to Scarborough will see more train testing in 2022 – as by the end of this year rail will run continuously from the maintenance and storage facility, located in the west end of Toronto on the site of the former Kodak lands, all the way to Kennedy Station.
Keep an eye out for the Crosstown trains testing in the coming weeks and months. To get the latest updates or to tag a photo of the vehicles in action, follow the Crosstown project and Metrolinx on social media.
by James Wattie Spokesperson
