Eglinton Crosstown opens but may face crowding from limited capacity

The Eglinton Crosstown opens Sunday after a 15-year construction period; the article reports the line’s trainsets and platform design have much lower capacity than a Toronto subway, which could lead to crowding on the busy western segment.

The Eglinton Crosstown opens Sunday at 7 a.m., ending a 15-year construction project that drew widespread attention. The line combines surface light-rail in the east with a subway-like segment in the west, and the western portion is expected to attract heavy use. The article reports that the trains selected for the Crosstown have under half the passenger capacity of a typical Toronto subway and that platform design is not optimized for extremely high loads. Multiple government bodies handled portions of planning and construction, and the piece says that fragmented decision-making left capacity constraints in place. Key points: - The line opens Sunday at 7 a.m. after about 15 years of construction. - The eastern section runs above ground and is unlikely to draw subway-level crowds. - The western section functions like a subway and is expected to be heavily used. - Trains on the Crosstown are reported to have less than half the capacity of a typical Toronto subway train. - Multiple agencies managed aspects of the project, which the article reports led to inconsistent planning decisions. Summary: The Crosstown will add a major new transit corridor but, according to the article, limited train capacity and platform design mean crowding is a real possibility on the busy western segment. Undetermined at this time.