Eglinton: The Subway Toronto’s Been Waiting For

If you’re not from Toronto, you’d think it’s finally done. The lights are on, the escalators work, and the facade looks ready for passengers. But if you live here, you know—it’s not open. This is Line 5 Eglinton, better known as the crosstown that never crosses anywhere.

It was supposed to open in 2020. Then 2021. Then 2022. Now they’re saying maybe 2025. From the outside, it looks finished. But the truth is, the software isn’t ready, the testing isn’t complete, and there’s still no official launch date. Fourteen years have passed since construction began. Some kids born that year are now in high school.

Outside, nothing’s changed. The same traffic. The same buses. It’s like renovating your entire house but never getting the keys. Eglinton West used to be full of life—barbershops, restaurants, music spilling into the streets late at night. But when the construction started, everything began to fade. Some businesses moved. Others closed. The sound of the neighborhood slowly disappeared.

The project didn’t just bring delays, it drained the life out of a community.

Most stations now stand complete—platforms built, tracks laid—but no trains, no passengers, no updates. Every year there’s a new excuse: signal software, contractor disputes, handover problems. Construction is done, but operations are not. The budget ballooned from 9 billion to nearly 13 billion dollars—enough to build an entirely new subway line in Scarborough.

People just want to get somewhere. To go home. To start their day without waiting 14 years for a train. But until the tracks finally open, it’s Torontonians who keep things moving—without rails, without trains, still hoping to cross the crosstown.