Here’s all the progress made on new Toronto transit lines this year

It’s been a mixed year of successes and setbacks for Toronto’s public transportation network, but as tempting as it may be to be negative about some projects, multiple others still hit some impressive turning points on their way to opening.

This month, it was revealed that the Eglinton Crosstown LRT is even more delayed than some anticipated, headed for a possible June 1, 2025, opening at the very best as tech issues keep showing themselves during testing.

Headway on the Scarborough Subway Extension is also being hampered by construction issues, while legal and funding problems are slowing down the Finch West LRT and Mississauga’s Hazel McCallion Line. Amid all of this news, Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster stepped down in late fall, as some community members had been calling for.

Good transit updates have also been abundant, though, even for some of the above projects — along with, most notably, the Ontario Line subway.

Ontario Line pushes full steam ahead

Residents have noticed that sites of the revolutionary route’s future stations have been changing by the day, with parts of old buildings completely gutted, relocated or demolished this year as crews set the stage for new entrances at Queen and Spadina, King and Bathurst, Pape and Danforth and others.

Work on bridges between some of the line’s 15 stops also kicked off before Metrolinx announced its two biggest milestones of the year: first, that work had officially commenced on all parts of the subway in September, and then, that ground had been broken for its tunnels in late November. These are both huge leaps from crews only being selected for some portions of the line in January.

Yes, it may come with a steep and ever-increasing price tag that is now over $1.74 billion per kilometre — and yes, this year included lots of criticism about Metrolinx’s project costs, too — but the transit offering is moving ahead toward its projected 2031 completion quite well, as proven by this year’s advancements.

Progress made on multiple LRT lines

But it’s not just the Ontario Line that had breakthroughs in 2024: tunnel boring machines finished digging for the Crosstown West Extension in spring, and underground segments were wrapped in June. On the opposite end of town, the Eglinton East LRT extending from the Crosstown’s eastern terminus waded well into its design and public consultation phase this year.

Meanwhile, officials announced the first test trip of a vehicle across the entire Finch West LRT in January, then the ultimate completion of the line in September, though continued testing and commissioning mean it isn’t in operation just yet.

Plus GO, the Northlander and more

There’s no forgetting the largest GO expansion in more than a decade, which started in April and is offering hundreds more trips and new stops, or the progress on reviving the Northlander train, which will connect Union Station to Muskoka and further north.

Designs for those trains were just released in December, alongside news that firms have been tapped for station assets.

And though the Crosstown failed to debut this past year as hoped, driver training along the 19 kilometres of track in August and signage began popping up to prepare customers for opening in November.

We can only hope that 2025 shapes up to be a year of even greater milestones — like perhaps citizens being able to actually ride any of the above lines.