page_title: Line 5 Eglinton
section_title: 2019
hierarchical_section_title: Line 5 Eglinton / Construction and implementation / Timeline / 2019
caption_attribution_description: English: By April 7, 2019, construction crews have started to lay rails on the east side of the O'Connor stop at Eglinton Square.
context_page_description: Line 5 Eglinton, also known as the Eglinton Crosstown Line or the Crosstown, is a light rail line that is under construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Metrolinx and operated by the Toronto Transit Commission, the line will be part of the Toronto subway system as its fifth route. The first constructed phase of line will run entirely along Eglinton Avenue for 19 km from the future Mount Dennis station underground to the future Sunnybrook Park station, after which it will run predominantly at-grade within the street's median to Kennedy station, where it will connect underground with Line 2 Bloor–Danforth and Line 3 Scarborough.
  The line was conceived in 2007 during the administration of Toronto mayor David Miller as part of Transit City, a large-scale transit expansion plan. The first phase of the line will include 25 stops and was originally expected to be completed in 2020; it has been delayed more than once, with its most recent opening date set for May 2022. Future extensions, with proposed termini at Toronto Pearson International Airport in the west and the University of Toronto Scarborough in the east, were approved by Toronto City Council on March 31, 2016.
context_section_description: On January 8, 2019, Bombardier delivered the first Flexity Freedom vehicle to the Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility, which, according to Metrolinx, was "substantially complete and ready to receive the vehicles" by this date.
  In January 2019, the first concrete pour for the surface section occurred at the location of the future O'Connor stop at Eglinton Square. Before being encased in concrete, conduit pipes were laid to support communications and power cables for the Crosstown's stations and stops.
  From July 1 to late August 2019, Leslie Street at Eglinton Avenue was closed for the installation of tracks and infrastructure at the intersection. During this time, the TTC 51 Leslie bus route turned back at Leslie and Eglinton at a temporary bus loop. The temporary closure allowed work to be completed in one section instead of two, thus eliminating joints in the road and track. This provided a higher quality result, reducing future maintenance. The closure also reduced the construction period at the intersection from six months to two.
  In November 2019, Crosslinx informed Metrolinx that it expected the line not to be completed before May 6, 2022, and that the construction costs would total $12.58 billion, an increase of $330 million over previous estimates. The main problems reported were defective caissons (underground watertight compartments) built in the 1950s at Eglinton station, groundwater at the Avenue station site and construction difficulties at the CP Rail bridge adjacent to the Mount Dennis station.
  On December 14, 2019, testing began between the Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility (EMSF) and the Western portal using Flexity Freedom vehicles, initially testing track clearances at slow speed. On December 17, Crosslinx conducted an inaugural run with staff and guests from the handover platform at the EMSF to the elevated guideway over Black Creek Drive. At that time, overhead wire had been installed between the EMSF to just short of the Keelesdale platform.
caption: Laying rails at the O'Connor stop
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