Many Torontonians are frustrated over a video of Eglinton Light Rail Transit (LRT) vehicles being washed, as the public has been waiting for over a decade for the route to go into service.
Behind-the-scenes footage of the storage facility where vehicles are inspected, maintained and cleaned was posted to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT Instagram account by transit agency Metrolinx on Thursday.
The video opens with an aerial view, showing a number of parked LRT vehicles.
“How do we clean so many light rail vehicles?” the video’s narrator asks. “In the train wash building, of course!”
Scenes similar to a typical car wash occur next, showing glimpses of the LRT getting wet by jet streams of water as it enters the wash bay tunnel, followed by scrubbers gently cleaning the front of the vehicle.
The first phases of construction for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT began in 2011, with an aim to connect Toronto’s east and west ends through Midtown. From Mount Dennis to Kennedy, there will be 25 stations along the 19-km route, which will link to over 50 bus routes as well as TTC subway stations and GO lines. Metrolinx says the line will be up to 60 per cent faster than current travel times.
Its projected 2020 completion date has been pushed multiple times over the years, and over a decade later, there is still uncertainty on when exactly the service will open.
Since then, construction has severely impacted several businesses and decreased foot traffic in areas such as Eglinton West, where 140 businesses have closed from Black Creek Drive to Yonge Street according to a 2020 report by Black Urbanism TO, and its been estimated that between 500 and 800 people have lost their jobs.
Over the last few years, the Eglinton Crosstown Instagram account has steadily been posting updates and sneak peaks of the stations to come. However, the light-hearted Thursday post was met with unhappy social media users, with many questioning why the vehicles are being cleaned if the LRT service is not yet in operation.
“Are you really promoting LRT vehicles sitting totally unused in a stockyard as businesses and residents suffer from your horrific neglect?” an Instagram user commented under the video. “What an absolute joke.”
“I love seeing empty, shiny trains that will never be open for the public to use,” another user said.
“I’d prefer trains that are servicing the population of Toronto, but are a little dirty, over clean trains that I can’t ride,” one user wrote.
“Whoever is green-lighting posts like this oughta be fired,” another user said. “Literally nobody is asking how you keep your trains clean and you’re doing everything to dodge answering when the thing will actually open.”
Metrolinx says that cleaning the vehicles “is a necessary part of regular maintenance,” as the agency has been performing test runs along the route.
“We are currently in the testing and commissioning phase which ensures the line works safely and reliably for customers,” Metrolinx told Now Toronto in an email on Friday.
The agency also said that as of Friday, it has received 36 of the 40 required occupancy permits from the City of Toronto, an essential document that is mandatory for any structures where people will be occupying space such as in stations and other structures like at-grade stops, and non-passenger facilities like buildings and the maintenance facility.
As for when the line will actually be open, that is still unsure to the public. Nevertheless, the agency says it is continuing to make progress and will release a date once it is known.
“We need to have confidence that key milestones are being met and once we have an opening date, we will share that with the public,” Metrolinx said.
