‘We’ve made a lot of headway’

Finch West LRT on track to open next year, says Metrolinx

Construction of the Finch West LRT infrastructure will be wrapped up this year, Metrolinx says, with the opening of the 10-kilometre light rail transit line slated for 2024.

“We’ve made a lot of headway, getting really close to the end of major construction,” said Andrew Hope, chief capital officer for rapid transit for Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency overseeing the project. “We are very confident at this point that the line is going to open next year.”

The 18-stop light rail transit line will run from Finch West Station to Humber College, replacing the notoriously slow 36 Finch West bus, and bring a faster connection to downtown for a part of the city that has long been starved for good, fast transit.

While the project was quietly delayed this summer — it was initially set to open this year — the Finch LRT has largely gone without the hiccups of its big brother, the notorious Eglinton Crosstown LRT. Even so, construction of the Finch LRT has been disruptive to locals, making Finch West one of the city’s most congested roads and prompting some residents to call for added safety measures at busy intersections.

While it took years to get shovels in the ground, construction on the Finch West LRT has progressed relatively smoothly since it began in 2019, save for a one-year delay, which Hope blamed on COVID-19. The project is now on track to be open as soon as possible next year, Hope said.

As of October, all of the rail for the Finch West LRT has been installed, as well as the catenary system, which is the system of wires overhead that power the trains, he said. All 18 vehicles that will transport passengers along the route have received their final acceptances and are ready to go.

The only aspect of LRT-related construction that may spill into next year is the construction of a multi-use path tunnel under the CP rail corridor just east of Weston Road, Hope said.

After the construction is done, Metrolinx and contractors will have to complete the testing and commissioning phase — ensuring that all of the systems work safely and reliably — and finish training drivers, Hope said. The TTC will operate the line.

The arrival of the LRT promises to be transformative for northwest Toronto, which has long been considered a transit desert. A faster, more efficient connection across Finch and to downtown will bring more opportunities. But the LRT also threatens to gentrify the area, which has a high proportion of immigrants and low-income households, compared to the rest of the city.

Earlier this month, three senior Jane and Finch residents told the Star they were excited for the line to open, joking that Finch Avenue West could become the new Queen Street, potentially drawing brands like Nike and Guess to the Jane Finch Mall.

But they also lamented the heavy toll the construction has taken on the community, and particularly on seniors and those with mobility challenges. They said construction worsened congestion in the area, angering drivers and making pedestrians feel unsafe. Infrastructure like bus stops and crosswalks had to be moved to make way for construction, and their replacements were haphazardly marked, leaving seniors unsure where to cross at intersections like Jane and Finch, sometimes finding themselves caught in oncoming traffic.

“You know how I cross? Like this!” said Ranie Diaram, 77, arms stretched out in front of her, palms flexed like human stop signs to repel cars.

Hope said because the Finch LRT runs above ground, the majority of the construction work has been utility relocations — moving water, sewer, hydro and telecommunications utilities buried under Finch.

“It’s very, very complicated to do that when you’ve got a busy road like Finch where you’re trying to maintain traffic and pedestrian flows,” Hope said, stressing safety is Metrolinx’s priority.

Diaram and two other seniors the Star spoke with said a crossing guard would make them feel more comfortable. When that request was communicated by the Star, Metrolinx spokesperson Andrea Ernesaks said “We will work with the community and the City of Toronto’s Transportation Services to assign a temporary crossing guard at Jane and Finch while construction finishes up.”

Hope’s confidence in Finch is in sharp contrast to what the public has heard from Metrolinx about the Eglinton Crosstown LRT — which, after years of delays and more than a decade of heavy construction, still has no opening date (or even an opening year, for that matter).

That’s because the Finch project is smaller and less complex than Crosstown, Hope said. Finch is just over 10-km long, with 18 vehicles, and all but one station is above ground. Eglinton, by comparison, is 19 km, with 76 vehicles, and has both underground and at-grade components. Finch also has a much simpler signalling and train control system, Hope added.

Hope praised the work of Mosaic Transit Group, the construction consortium building the project. “We’re quite pleased with the work they’ve done on the project and the way they’ve worked with us all the way along, especially in the last couple of years, to get the project to where it is today,” he said.

Two of the companies that make up Mosaic — Aecon and ACS Infrastructure Canada — are also involved in the consortium building the Eglinton LRT, Crosslinx Transit Solutions.

While things have appeared to calm down recently, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT has been beset by repeated clashes and lawsuits between Metrolinx and Crosslinx. In May, the then-CEO of EllisDon, one of the companies that makes up Crosslinx called the LRT “the most strife-ridden project” that he’s ever worked on.