Crowds organize impromptu celebrations for Eglinton Crosstown LRT on 1st day of service

The Toronto Transit Commission has been at pains to stress the tentative nature of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT’s phased opening on Sunday.

The agency did not organize a ribbon-cutting or a ceremonial inaugural ride; it didn’t hand out collectable tokens or merchandise, and it didn’t hold a party. It even started running commercials asking people to report their frustrations with the new light rail route.

“We want to be ultimately guaranteeing that the performance reflects where we need to be from the operator, from the system integrator, from the asset owner,” TTC CEO Mandeep Lali said earlier in the week. “Once we achieve that, we’ll then be able to do a full opening.”

But the TTC’s low-key approach didn’t dampen excitement on Sunday morning, as transit riders queued through the night to ride the first train, and others brought their own take on an official launch.

At Mount Dennis Station, the Crosstown’s western terminus, transit enthusiast Chris Drew was handing out magnets and buttons on behalf of the volunteer group CodeRedTO to commemorate the launch.

“I think it’s just the crescendo on 15 years of advocacy,” he told Global News. “It’s a really fun and exciting feeling, a long time to get here. It just brings a lot of joy and all the friends and people you meet on the day of.”

Nearby, at the same station, workers from neighbourhood cafe Supercoffee set up a stall giving riders free hot drinks on a freezing morning to celebrate the milestone.

“We’re hoping for more foot traffic, we’re just excited, took like 15 years to finally open up. Now it’s here, I’m glad to be here to celebrate,” Sonam Lama, working at the stall, explained. “Giving to the community, spreading positivity during this cold weather.”

Across the line, growing crowds braved frigid temperatures to try to sample the city’s newest transit line. The first packed train departed Kennedy Station heading westward, kicking off a day where transit enthusiasts, families and curious locals took advantage of free trips to see what the new line was like.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria both made appearances later in the day at Kennedy Station to commemorate the opening of the line.

The launch marks the culmination of some 15 years of construction on a transit line many thought might never open.

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT was first pitched by former mayor David Miller as part of his Transit City vision in 2007 and, after being briefly dashed by his successor, Rob Ford, began construction in November 2011.

Construction on the line was led by provincial transit agency Metrolinx in a public-private partnership with a construction consortium. The two parties presided over a myriad of delays, legal cases and cost overruns.

By 2023, Metrolinx had given up on providing the public with an opening date, promising only that the public would get three months’ notice before the line opened. Ultimately, that didn’t happen.

Metrolinx instead announced in December 2025 that it finally believed the project was complete and accepted it from the construction consortium, handing it to the TTC, which will run its timetables and operations.

Behind the scenes, the provincial transit agency aggressively campaigned to open the Crosstown before the end of 2025, but a more restrained approach from the TTC won out.

Its CEO privately pushed to open the line on Feb. 8, during a December meeting, but publicly refused to confirm the date. CEO Mandeep Lali finally announced the same opening date at a meeting on Tuesday, after Premier Doug Ford had told reporters that was when he expected the line to open.

Until the eleventh hour, Lali would not confirm Sunday’s opening date, complaining that unexplained activations of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT’s emergency brakes left him concerned the system was not ready.

Sometime in the week leading up to the opening, he said he was given a satisfactory explanation for the emergency brake incidents, and said he was ready to open the line.

Still, the TTC is framing the opening almost as a pilot. The agency said trains will initiate and terminate service earlier than intended and travel at slower speeds during a phased opening.

The line will operate from roughly 5:30 a.m. on weekdays and 7:30 a.m. on weekends. It will close at 11 p.m. daily.

“As part of the phased opening of Line 5, the TTC is advising customers that there will be no grand opening ceremony, formal event, or commemorative merchandise on Sunday at any location,” the transit agency wrote in a statement.

Despite the low-key nature of the launch, the TTC admitted it expected crowds to ride the line all day Sunday.

Premier Ford chided journalists for being “negative” about the long-delayed Crosstown ahead of its launch on Friday and urged Torontonians to celebrate the fact it has finally opened.

“You’re beating a dead horse here; we’ve been going through this for years, the same old questions,” he said. “Let’s celebrate a new line.”