New Mississauga light rail transit line expected to cut greenhouse gases by 39,000 tonnes a year
Published January 24, 2023 at 12:20 pm
A new light rail transit (LRT) route being built in east Mississauga that may eventually connect with Pearson Airport is expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions by some 39,000 tonnes each year, project leaders say.
It’ll be a while yet, though, before that environmental benefit is realized as the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension (ECWE) isn’t expected to take its first passengers until sometime in 2030-31.
The massive transit project remains on schedule, according to project leader Metrolinx, despite recent word and controversy that the parent project, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT in Toronto, is significantly behind schedule.
Metrolinx is the provincial agency overseeing the major transit projects.
When completed, the ECWE will further link Mississauga and Toronto and is expected to eventually extend to Pearson Airport as well in delivering some 37,000 daily rides to passengers.
At the moment, two huge tunnel-digging machines are busy clearing underground paths in which the LRT trains will eventually travel part of the 9.2-kilometre route linking east Mississauga with parts of west Toronto.
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Shipped from Germany in December 2021, the tunnel-boring machines (TBMs) will carve out a significant portion of the ECWE that, when completed seven or so years from now, will bring the Eglinton Crosstown LRT from Toronto west to Renforth Dr. in east Mississauga.
A proposal to extend the ECWE an additional 4.7 kilometres from Renforth Dr. to Pearson Airport in Mississauga is also being strongly considered.
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Tunnel work for the ECWE is expected to take about 20 months, according to Metrolinx, with the TBMs travelling eastward at a rate of 10 to 15 metres per day.
The most recent project update, provided on Jan. 20, shows one of the TBMs has tunnelled nearly 2.7 kilometres so far while the other is at the 2.2-kilometre mark.
When finished, the ECWE will operate underground from Renforth Dr. in Mississauga to just west of Scarlett Rd. in Toronto, where it will then transition to a 1.5-km elevated section that runs east of Jane St. before heading underground again and connecting to the future Mount Dennis Station.
Meanwhile, the Hazel McCallion Line, an LRT route to run 18 kilometres along Hurontario St. between Port Credit in south Mississauga and Brampton, remains on target for a fall 2024 opening, according to Metrolinx.
When it’s completed, the $1.4-billion Hurontario line will make 19 stops between the two Peel cities.
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