Toronto's Eglinton Crosstown LRT construction just hit yet another snag
A station on the beleaguered Eglinton Crosstown LRT will be undergoing one month of noisy construction, marking yet another setback for the delay-plagued light rail line impatiently awaited by Toronto commuters.
On Friday, Metrolinx quietly announced the start of reconstruction for the line’s surface-level stop at Sloane Avenue, between the Don Valley Parkway and Victoria Park Avenue, stating that an uneven layer of concrete would be repaired.
The stop along the line’s at-grade section in the centre median of Eglinton Avenue East was built in 2020, and just three years later, it is undergoing noisy remediation work that will be causing locals much frustration during the coming weeks.
Metrolinx states that “This work requires chipping of the platform and placing new concrete,” a brain-rattling process “using an excavator and jackhammer to remove concrete and hardened material.”
The transit agency says that the work will be carried out Mondays through Fridays between 7 am and 5 pm for approximately one month.
News that a station requires rebuilding before even entering service came just one day before a bombshell investigative report from the Toronto Star‘s Lex Harvey, which revealed that the provincial government is deliberately keeping potential Crosstown opening dates from reporters.
Metrolinx had previously announced a delay in the line last September, and in the final weeks of 2022, The Star reported on an internal Metrolinx memo detailing many construction deficiencies, including damaged concrete similar to what is now being repaired at the Sloane stop.
There were earlier hints that the line may, in fact, enter service this coming summer, but based on the latest news and these current repairs, an opening anywhere before the fourth quarter of 2023 seems unlikely.
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