Ontario’s Finch West LRT gets the go-ahead

On April 27, 2015, the Minister of Transportation of the Province of Ontario announced that construction would proceed on the 6.83-mile Finch West LRT project, located in the northwest suburbs of Toronto. Work would begin in 2017, with completion scheduled for 2021; estimated cost is C$1.2 billion.

This announcement dispels a cloud of uncertainty that had hovered over the project during the regime of former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who had maintained a negative policy toward LRT projects, and streetcars in general. Mayor Ford was replaced in the 2014 election by John Tory, who is seen as having a more moderate attitude in this regard.

The Finch West LRT will link the Toronto Transit Commission Finch West subway station, on the Spadina Subway northern extension (due to open in 2017, and on schedule) with Humber College, a major education institution situated at the line’s western terminus, Finch Avenue and Highway 27. The alignment will be entirely surface, except for a short tunnel section at the subway station.

Bombardier Flexity LRVs, ordered as part of a procurement for the under-construction Eglinton Crosstown LRT, will operate the service. The Finch West LRT will be physically isolated from the Eglinton line, which is located about four miles to the south. Thus, a small yard and shop will be necessary, to be built on Finch Avenue between Norfinch Drive and York Gate Boulevard.

The new LRT, in common with the Crosstown, is being built to railway standard gauge, rather than the TTC’s 4 feet, 10 7/8-inch gauge. That said, the existing Scarborough Rapid Transit was built to railway gauge. The stated reason for adopting the railway gauge is to allow for a possible future connection with the Hurontario Street LRT in the adjoining westerly city of Mississauga, for which funding was also recently approved.

Both Toronto projects are being managed by Metrolinx, the comparatively new provincial transit umbrella agency, rather than the TTC. However, it is possible that both operations will be staffed and maintained by the TTC. Preliminary design and engineering work on Finch West is under way, as well as readying the project for procurement.

The area to be served by the Finch West LRT is generally low-density commercial and residential development dating from the 1970s and 1980s, with pockets of high rise apartment buildings. The project’s Environmental Assessment was completed in 2010, although that for the yard and shop will be undertaken in the near future. The Finch West LRT will represent the first incursion of rail transit to this area of Toronto.