When will the Eglinton Crosstown LRT open? Metrolinx to give possible dates by end of summer

Toronto residents should have an idea by the end of summer as to when the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit line will be up and running, the head of Ontario's provincial transit agency says.

Phil Verster, CEO of Metrolinx, told reporters at a news conference on Thursday that an announcement is coming and the agency has made "excellent progress in many aspects" of the much-delayed and over-budget transit line.

"As we get closer to the end of summer, we'll be announcing what we think is the range of dates when we will have in service," Verster said.

Verster said it's not possible to provide a firm date for the LRT's opening because it the project remains in the testing and commissioning phase. 

"This is when technical, complex issues are found, fixed, rectified," he added.  "And it's not really clear before you have found the problem how long it's going to take to rectify it." 

The 25-stop,19-kilometre line was last slated to be up and running in the fall of 2022. Work began in 2011 and Metrolinx previously announced completion dates of 2020 and 2021.

The transit line, known as Line 5, is expected to run along Eglinton Avenue from Kennedy in the east and Mount Dennis in the west.

Vester said he was previously "very concerned" about improperly laid tracks and fact that some of the trains weren't running as smoothly as they should be. He said there was a derailment during testing because of the track condition but that problem has been solved. He said "long term fixes" are coming as well.

Transit line to be 'game changer' for Toronto: CEO

This week, Metrolinx and the TTC signed off on when the trainers who will train the operating crew will themselves be trained, a development that he called a "key milestone event "

Verster said a huge amount of work has been done to figure out what would be a credible schedule for the line, which he said was also critical to completion.

"It's going to be a game changer for Toronto and we're very excited about that," he said.

Stan Cho, Ontario's associate minister of transportation, said construction on the Eglinton Crosstown is 98 per cent complete. He said the priority for the provincial government is making sure that the line is safe to operate.

"You don't want to rush and open a line," Cho said. "People have suffered long enough waiting for this Crosstown to be completed. We're going to open when it's safe to do so."

Internal Metrolinx documents obtained by CBC Toronto last year show that the budget for the project has ballooned to nearly $13 billion, a figure that includes 30-year maintenance costs.

That's more than double the initial estimates.