Eglinton Crosstown West Extension LIVE - July 13, 2021

We’re currently developing the station designs and have taken birds into consideration. Any glass used at the to elevated stations will be designed with bird protection built into them. At our last open house we showed an image of the design and that material is still available on the Metrolinx Engage website. If you have any trouble finding it just email the team and they’ll send it to you. Also, Metrolinx recently published a blog about bird protection and how it’s a key part of any glass structures. You can also find that through the Metrolinx news channel.

Access to the gold course, which is on the south side of Eglinton, will not be impacted.  

Kipling station is the one station where the platform will be built in the right of way, underneath Eglinton, just west of Kipling. This is because of the proximity of the townhouses on the north side and also because we want to limit as much as possible any tree loss in the area. However, although the station platform is in the middle of the road underground, the station building itself is envisioned on the north west corner. At all other stations, both the platform and the station building is on the north west or east corner fully outside of the roadway.  We know that traffic and tree protection in the area is very important to the community and we’re working to find a balance for both. Stay tuned for an engagement on Kipling Station and all stations later this year. In the meantime, if you’d like to understand more about the station locations please reach out to our community relations team and they will set up time to discuss it further.

The tunneling contract is starting now and expected to be complete in 2024/25. Work on the launch shaft site for the tunnel boring machine at Renforth Drive and Eglinton Avenue West has begun. Over the summer, crews will be performing construction activities there in preparation for tunneling to begin in Spring 2022.

The Royal York station will be located fully outside the roadway at the northwest corner at the Royal York and Eglinton Ave W intersection. You can view the station location maps on our website at Metrolinx.com/EglintonWest under the “neighbourhood updates” section. We will have more information to share about station footprint and early designs for feedback at an engagement later this year!

The federal funding will help deliver the project through the mixed alignment. We appreciate there have been many discussions on how to deliver rapid transit along Eglinton West over the years. The mixed alignment moving forward  provides an optimal trade-off between the ease of local access and the speed of travelling, and outperforms all other options in offering the best network connectivity and travel experience for people living and travelling along the corridor.

We understand many residents in the buildings use the driveway today and we are working with the City of Toronto to fully understand the impact the closure will have to traffic in the area and map out a plan to address that. We are currently assessing the overall traffic and transportation network in this area. There are a host of potential mitigation measures that can be used if necessary – such as changes to signals to adjust flow, which in some cases does the trick. Other options can include extending turning lanes on to Scarlett or Eglinton to provide additional space. We will keep the community updated as the traffic impact analysis work is completed. We have a few years before the driveway would need to close (approx. 2025) so there is time to work together on the best way forward.

When the tunnel boring machines launch next spring they will operate 24hrs a day, 7 days a week. They dig through approximately 10m per day, so the work is continuously moving forward. The TBMs operate at approximately 15-20m below the surface therefore vibrations will likely be perceptible while they are in close proximity, but the vibrations will be below structural damage thresholds. Geotechnical engineers will develop a zone of influence to the north and south of the alignment to assess impacts based on proximity. If a property falls within the zone of influence, then they will conduct a pre and post condition assessment. This is standard practice. Noise and vibration levels will also be continuously monitored throughout the dig.

Most importantly, though is that we are designing the tunnel and construction methods to comply with the regulatory requirements and standards. The assessments and monitoring mentioned above are what will help ensure the commitment is met. 

The completion date for the ECWE project is 2030-31. The Scarlett station will be elevated above Scarlett Road, just to the north of Eglinton.  

In terms of the overall alignment, we’re trying to balance a number of competing needs including minimizing impacts to trees as well as impacts to traffic. With that in mind, yes the station will be on the north west side and we anticipate some tree loss, however we will only remove trees that are necessary to build the station. Right now, we are in the midst of a full tree inventory which will tell us what trees would be impacted and we will share that information with the community.  The station designs themselves are also still in the very early stages and we will have an engagement later this year to get your input into the designs before they’re finalized. Avoiding impacts to trees is the best-case scenario and we always strive to do that first, but there is also a lot of work happening now to plan for local tree planting as part of the compensation of tree loss. We expect to have more information in September so please stay tuned.

The key consideration is that the area between Scarlett Road and Jane Street is in an identified flood plain zone. Tunnelling would require building underneath three flood-prone waterways (under the Humber River) and present significant environmental and technical challenges to building and operating the line. Elevating the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension between Scarlett Road and Jane Street eliminates these challenges and will help to prevent potential service disruptions along the corridor during times of heavy rain and flooding.

The key consideration is that the area between Scarlett Road and Jane Street is in an identified flood plain zone. Tunnelling would require building underneath three flood-prone waterways (under the Humber River) and present significant environmental and technical challenges to building and operating the line. Elevating the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension between Scarlett Road and Jane Street eliminates these challenges and will help to prevent potential service disruptions along the corridor during times of heavy rain and flooding.

Safety and accessibility are always at the center of our design thinking and process at Metrolinx. Opportunities will exist along the entire Eglinton West corridor, and we continue to engage with our project partners like City of Toronto, TTC and TRCA to be sure that the project is considering all users of the corridor and all community members. This includes not just transit users travelling by subway or bus but also pedestrians and cyclists. The stations will prioritize connections made by transit, walking and cycling. All stations will offer bike parking.

The Renforth station will be located near the existing Renforth station at the eastern terminus of the 19km Mississauga Transitway. The new station will be designed and built for a seamless customer experience. It will be a mix of underground/above ground like the BRT route is already, with a direct connection between stations. Information about station layout including station entrances is in the early design stage. Stay tuned for an engagement later this year where we will provide more information for feedback.

We are looking at the design options now with the GTAA, the City of Toronto and Mississauga. In 2019, the GTAA announced $40 million in funding to advance technical work for the extension and there is a business case underway that will lay out the options and predicted costs etc. When that work is complete, we will share it for review.

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT project construction on Eglinton began in the summer of 2011. The project is expected to be complete in 2022. The extension of that project is the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension for which we are starting construction now. MX and IO are working together to deliver the project by 2030-31.

That type of decision is and work is beyond our scope and best addressed with City of Toronto transportation services. As for cycling and pedestrian connections to stations – safety and accessibility are always at the center of our design thinking and process at Metrolinx. Opportunities will exist along the entire Eglinton West corridor, and we continue to engage with our project partners like City of Toronto, TTC and TRCA to be sure that the project is considering all users of the corridor and all community members. This includes not just transit users travelling by subway or bus but also pedestrians and cyclists.

We don’t anticipate any additional stations on this route but we’re also not excluding the potential. In the early design stages, many different stations were considered along the route. The design we’re moving forward with is seven new stations and each of those connect with the major surface, local bus connections available. We’ve maximized the locations based on nearby people, destinations, and local transit connections. Although it is not impossible to add an additional tunneled station in the future, it would be a huge undertaking and would likely require shutting down the line.

The Renforth station will be located near the existing Renforth station at the eastern terminus of the 19km Mississauga Transitway. The new station will be designed and built for a seamless customer experience. It will be a mix of underground/above ground like the BRT route is already, with a direct connection between stations. Information about station layout including station entrances is in the early design stage. Stay tuned for an engagement later this year where we will provide more information for feedback.

The federal funding will help deliver the project through the mixed alignment. We appreciate there have been many discussions on how to deliver rapid transit along Eglinton West over the years. The mixed alignment moving forward  provides an optimal trade-off between the ease of local access and the speed of travelling, and outperforms all other options in offering the best network connectivity and travel experience for people living and travelling along the corridor.

Information about station layout is in the early design stage. Stay tuned for an engagement later this year where we will provide more information for feedback.

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT project construction on Eglinton began in the summer of 2011. The project is expected to be complete in 2022. The extension of that project is the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension for which we are starting construction soon! Construction will begin this summer on the launch shaft for the tunnel boring machine. MX and IO are working together to deliver the project by 2030-31. Metrolinx is an agency of the Government of Ontario which makes it a public owned organization.

Light rail vehicles are planned to be used for this extension. We do anticipate that it will be the same vehicles used on the Crosstown LRT because they will be running from end to end across the line and stored in the same facility at Black Creek/Eglinton.

The design we are moving forward with is seven new stations and each of those connect with the major surface, local bus connections available. So, we’ve maximized the locations based on nearby people, destinations, and local transit connections. The tunneled alignment in that area is going through a controlled access highway area of 401 and 427. From a construction perspective we have a lot of constraints in terms of what we can do in the area because of all the other road infrastructure that exists. If there are changes in the future, we have protected for the ability to include stations however that’s very complicated to do and would likely require suspending service during construction. In short, no infill stations are anticipated but we have protected for the future possibility.

The Royal York station will be located fully outside the roadway at the northwest corner at the Royal York and Eglinton Ave W intersection. You can view the station location maps on our website at Metrolinx.com/EglintonWest under the “neighbourhood updates” section. We will have more information to share about station footprint and early designs for feedback at an engagement later this year!

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT project construction on Eglinton began in the summer of 2011. The project is expected to be complete in 2022. The extension of that project is the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension for which we are starting construction now. MX and IO are working together to deliver the project by 2030-31.

Stations will offer easy transit connections and bike parking, but they will not include motor vehicle parking.