First LRT stop takes shape as part of $4.6B Hazel McCallion Line in Mississauga
Published April 4, 2024 at 5:33 pm
The first of more than 40 passenger shelters on the $4.6-billion Hazel McCallion light-rail transit route is in place at a stop in the north end of Mississauga, but some potential future riders are questioning the design of the structure.
Officials at Metrolinx, the provincial agency in charge of the massive Hazel McCallion Line project, took to social media late last week to unveil the new passenger shelter/platform canopy at the Hurontario Street and Derry Road stop.
It’s one of some two dozen similar stops that’ll be in place along the 21-kilometre Hurontario Street LRT route that’ll whisk riders from south Mississauga all the way north into Brampton when it opens in 2025.
“This canopy will protect riders from the elements and light up at night,” Metrolinx officials said in their post to X (formerly Twitter), adding the design will also protect the ticket machines and mounted route maps on site.
Each stop will offer two passenger shelters, officials pointed out.
With an open-air, canopy-style design that includes a V-shaped roof, the structures are being questioned by some people who wonder how that particular design will protect waiting passengers from rain, snow and wind.
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The platform passenger canopy at Hurontario Street and Derry Road. (Photo: Metrolinx)
A dozen or so of the people who commented on the Metrolinx post expressed just such sentiments.
“This is the final design?” asked one person. “What happens when it’s raining or snowing or windy?”
Another commenter agreed.
“Protect riders from the elements? Designed like that? Hope it’s never windy at all. What a joke.”
One other person who left a comment took issue with the shape of the roof, asking: “Won’t this just collect snow/ice? Why that roof shape?”
A Metrolinx spokesperson told insauga.com in an email the canopies “are designed to collect water from the roof before channeling it through internal drains to the existing drainage network.”
In addition, the spokesperson noted, the shelters “will also offer transit riders protection from the elements and illumination in the evenings with integrated lighting.”
Seating for 10 riders will also be in place at each stop, Metrolinx said, with the exception of the Brampton Gateway Terminal, which will have four larger shelters and seating for 80 people.
“Customers will also benefit from fast, frequent service meaning reliable journey planning and less waiting time at stops,” the Metrolinx spokesperson said.
When completed in early 2025 (initially scheduled for late 2024 completion), the Hazel McCallion Line will whisk riders from Port Credit GO in south Mississauga all the way north into Brampton via Hurontario Street, with more than 20 stops along the way.
Metrolinx received the go-ahead from the province in February to extend the line by three or four kilometres into downtown Brampton and reintroduce the “downtown loop” to the City Centre area of Mississauga. The latter component will add several stops to the route.
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