Twelve years later, we still have no idea when the Eglinton Crosstown light rail line might be opening.
Begun in 2011, the project, which runs east-west through mid-town Toronto, was originally supposed to have been completed in 2020, which would have been bad enough, given that European and Asian cities seem to be able to build subway and rail lines within just a few years. Then it was 2021. Then 2022.
A final decision on the opening was supposed to have been announced by the end of the summer of 2023. But all we actually got was an admission that "we're not there yet", and no specific time frame. So, it could be 2024. Or 2025. Or not. According to Metrolinx's statement, "pretty much" all of the line and its stations are now built, but testing and commissioning is producing various "faults and issues" which will take an "unpredictable" time to fix. Hmm.
How can a project of this magnitude, millions of dollars over budget, have quite so little accountability? Phil Verster, the CEO of Metrolinx, the guy in charge of all this embarrassment, has just had his contract extended. Go figure.
Mayor Olivia Chow met the "news" with a "big sigh", but no-one seems unduly perturbed by this complete lack of culpability and dereliction of duty. Somehow, I can't imagine such equanimity in Tokyo or Stockholm. But then, in Tokyo or Stockholm, the rail line would have been opened years ago...
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