Line 5 Eglinton, also known as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT or the Crosstown, is a light rail transit line in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) as part of the Toronto subway, it has 25 stations and is 19 kilometres (11.8 mi) long. Service on the line began on February 8, 2026, as part of a phased opening. It uses standard gauge rather than the broad Toronto gauge used by the three older heavy rail subway lines.
The line was conceived in 2007 during the administration of Toronto mayor David Miller as part of Transit City, a large-scale transit expansion plan that included several light rail lines proposed across the city. While the plan was later dropped by successive municipal governments, only the Eglinton Crosstown LRT received support and funding from the Government of Ontario under Premier Kathleen Wynne.
The line's construction was overseen by Metrolinx in two phases. The first phase of the 19-kilometre (12 mi) line includes 25 stops along Eglinton Avenue, from Mount Dennis station mostly underground to Laird station, after which it runs predominantly at-grade within the street's median to Kennedy station in Scarborough, where it connects underground with Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, and GO Transit. Automatic train control is used in the tunnelled sections. This first phase had an estimated cost of CA$12.82 billion; the cost when the contract was awarded was pegged at $9.1 billion, although the cost was originally estimated at $11 billion.
A second phase, a 9.2-kilometre (5.7 mi) westward extension from Mount Dennis, will run mostly underground or elevated to Renforth station, with seven new stations. The second phase is expected to cost $4.7 billion and to be completed by 2031. Construction of the westward extension to Renforth station began in July 2021. The extension would bring the Toronto subway system into Mississauga.
Two future extensions were planned: an eastern extension to the University of Toronto Scarborough and a northwestern extension towards Toronto Pearson International Airport. In 2022, the city of Toronto converted the eastern extension into a city project and a separate line known as the Eglinton East LRT using light rail technology incompatible with the Line 5 technology.
Construction of the first phase of the line began in 2011 and was originally planned to be complete in 2020, but the opening date was revised several times, with Metrolinx next expecting the line to be substantially complete by September 2022. After revising the opening date of the central section to 2023 and then, amid ongoing legal action against Crosslinx (the construction consortium), Metrolinx stated they believed there was no credible schedule to complete the project. By September 2023, the central section was estimated to be 97 percent complete, although Metrolinx refused to provide an estimated completion date. On December 2, 2025, after a 30-day trial of the line, Metrolinx announced it would hand over operations to the TTC, which would determine an opening date. In early February 2026, the TTC set February 8, 2026, as the start date for a phased opening.
Contents
History
Background
The origins of Line 5 Eglinton can be traced to the 1985 Network 2011 plan conceived by the Metropolitan Toronto government. The plan included a busway along Eglinton Avenue, to be completed by 2003. In 1986, a coalition of City of York and Etobicoke Metro councillors and the Regional Municipality of Peel persuaded Metro Council to include an Eglinton West line in a new Transit Network Plan. Work on a new 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) subway line began in 1994 at an estimated cost of CA$740 million, with the line extending the subway westwards from Cedarvale station (then known as Eglinton West station) to Black Creek Drive. However, construction was halted following the election in 1995, which saw Mike Harris take power and led to the cancellation of the Eglinton West line, with the existing tunnel quickly filled in.
Original concept
Line 5 Eglinton was originally conceived as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, a partially underground light rail line, announced in 2007 by Toronto mayor David Miller and TTC chair Adam Giambrone. It was part of the Transit City plan, which included the implementation of six other light rail lines across Toronto. The original version of the line would have run from Pearson Airport along Silver Dart Drive to Convair Drive. The line would have then turned southwest to a bridge over Highway 401 to reach Commerce Boulevard on the other side, where it would run south to reach Eglinton Avenue and the east end of the Mississauga Transitway. The rest of the line would run east along Eglinton Avenue, including a portion along which the cancelled Eglinton West subway line would have been built. The line would then traverse the city, connecting with Line 1 Yonge–University, Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, and Line 3 Scarborough.
There were 43 stops planned for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, 13 of which would be underground. Surface stops would be spaced on average 500 metres (550 yd) apart and the underground stations would be 850 m (930 yd) apart on average, as constructing numerous underground stops would be costly. The average speed would be 28 kilometres per hour (17 mph), compared with the existing bus routes along Eglinton that have an average speed of 16 to 18 km/h (9.9 to 11.2 mph). The line would terminate at Kennedy station to the east in Scarborough where it would meet Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, the proposed Scarborough Malvern LRT and GO Transit's Stouffville line. The expected cost was $4.6 billion. As a result of provincial funding cuts, construction of the line was divided into two phases: phase one would end at Jane Street, and phase two would terminate as had been planned at the Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Rob Ford–era redesigns
Miller's successor, Rob Ford, announced the cancellation of Transit City on December 1, 2010, the day he took office. He proposed an alternative titled the "Eglinton–Scarborough Crosstown line", which put the 19-kilometre (12 mi) line along Eglinton Avenue completely underground. The line would have then followed the route of Line 3 Scarborough, thus forming a single line continuously from Black Creek Drive to McCowan. The cost would almost double to $8.2 billion and, compared to the original plan, 18 fewer stops were planned, including the elimination of the connection to Pearson Airport. Most of the additional cost would have come from putting 12 additional stations underground and for converting the Scarborough RT.
On February 8, 2012, in a special meeting, Toronto City Council, led by Karen Stintz, voted 25–18 to override Mayor Ford's modifications to the project. The vote reinstated the original proposal to only construct the portion between Laird Drive and Keele Street underground while the remainder of the line is built along the surface. On November 30, 2012, the environmental assessment was revised, such that the east tunnel portal location would be moved from east of Brentcliffe to east of Don Mills; however, this was reversed in May 2013 after receiving community feedback. In January 2013, city councillors from Scarborough put forward an alternative plan to proceed with the construction of the Eglinton Avenue portion of the line as planned but to exclude the Scarborough RT. In July 2013, plans for an "Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown" line were abandoned, thereby reverting the entire line back to the plan that had been conceived under Transit City.
Location of tracks at Leslie Street
In 2012, Metrolinx discovered that there would be minimal cost differential between tunnelling under the West Don River at Leslie Street (the proposed location of the Sunnybrook Park stop) versus laying the track on the surface. Metrolinx also stated that tunnelling through that section would have provided "significant improvements to construction staging, schedule and traffic impacts". Thus, in December 2012, Metrolinx proposed an extension of the tunnel and eliminating the planned Sunnybrook Park surface stop. An underground station at Sunnybrook was considered too expensive given low projected ridership. Local residents objected to the elimination of their stop, and by mid-2013, Metrolinx had relented and the surface stop had been restored.
Construction and implementation
Procurement
The line was built in two separate phases. To expedite construction, tunnelling took place first, followed by construction of stations, rail and other systems.
In July 2010, Metrolinx ordered four tunnel boring machines (TBMs) from Lovat for $54 million. Each TBM was 10 metres (33 ft) long, 6.5 metres (21 ft) in diameter, and weighed 400 tonnes (390 long tons; 440 short tons). The TBMs were named Dennis, Lea, Don, and Humber, after Mount Dennis, Leaside, the Don River, and the Humber River, respectively. The names Dennis and Lea were chosen in reference to Canadian poet Dennis Lee.
In September 2012, Metrolinx awarded a $320-million contract to Crosstown Transit Constructors (a joint venture between Obayashi, Kenny Construction, Kenaidan Contracting and Technicore Underground) to dig a 6.2-kilometre (3.9 mi) tunnel from Black Creek Drive to Yonge Street. In November 2013, Metrolinx awarded a $177-million contract to Aecon and ACS Infrastructure Canada / Dragados to dig a 3.25-kilometre (2.02 mi) tunnel from Brentcliffe Road to Yonge Street.
In January 2013, Infrastructure Ontario issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) to shortlist companies that would design, build, finance and maintain the line as part of a public–private partnership. The contract would include the design, construction and commissioning of:
25 new stops and stations
track, power, signalling and other mechanical and electrical systems
a vehicle maintenance and storage facility
a new train storage facility
The contract would also include financing of the project, as well as maintenance of the line for a period of 30 years.
In December 2013, Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx released a request for proposals (RFP). Two teams were shortlisted through the RFQ process – Crosslinx Transit Solutions (a consortium including SNC-Lavalin, ACS Infrastructure Canada, EllisDon, Aecon, Dragados and IBI Group) and Crosstown Transit Partners (a consortium including Strabag, Bechtel, Obayashi, Fengate Capital Management and OHL Concesiones). The RFP process closed in February 2015.
Construction timeline
In August 2011, preparation for construction of a launch shaft for tunnel boring machines at Black Creek Drive began, while in October of that year, the first part of tunnel construction started. On November 9, 2011, in Keelesdale Park, Mayor Rob Ford and Premier Dalton McGuinty officially broke ground on the new project. In May 2012, the TTC considered that a 2020 opening date was unlikely and that a more realistic in-service date would be between 2022 and 2023. The main reason given was that the project management had been transferred from the TTC to Infrastructure Ontario. A private contractor would complete the project, effectively requiring that contractor to redo all design work already completed by the TTC.
In February 2013, TBMs Dennis and Lea arrived in Keelesdale Park. In June 2013, the TBMs Dennis and Lea began tunnelling on the line. Traffic on Eglinton Avenue near Keele Street was reduced to one lane in each direction.
In March 2014, work began at Brentcliffe Road to set up the eastern launch shaft. By April 2014, the TBMs had arrived at Caledonia station. In April 2014, The Globe and Mail reported that the two western tunnel boring machines were excavating "approximately 1,000 cubic yards [760 m3] of spoil" per day. For the year prior to May 2014, the two TBMs Dennis and Lea had been excavating and installing concrete tunnel liners at a rate of approximately 10 metres (33 ft) per day. The tunnels were lined with precast concrete liner segments. Six 2.5-tonne (2.8-ton) segments form each ring. In early December 2014, Dennis and Lea arrived at Eglinton West station. Dennis stopped to allow Lea to catch up so that they would arrive at Eglinton West station at the same time.
On the weekend of April 18 and 19, 2015, the tunnel boring machines Dennis and Lea were lifted out of a shaft west of Allen Road and moved about 100 metres (330 ft) to a shaft just east of Allen Road. In April 2015, merchants along Eglinton Avenue West were complaining of lost revenue (up to a 35 percent dip in sales), because construction was discouraging customers with snarled traffic, limited parking options, reduced foot traffic and dusty sidewalks. On September 24, 2015, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca issued a statement saying the Crosstown would not operate until September 2021, in order "to mitigate disruption to the local community and infrastructure as much as possible". The earlier plan had been to open in 2020 with tunnelling and station construction to start in 2012. In September 2015, TBM Don started to bore the north tunnel from the Brentcliffe Road launching site westwards towards Yonge Street. TBM Humber would start boring the south tunnel approximately one month later.
Opening
A phased opening began on February 8, 2026. A phased opening of the line was decided upon following the recommendations from a public inquiry into the launch of the Confederation Line of Ottawa's O-Train system. From the start of the phased opening, the TTC was making service adjustments to fine-tune operations, and Line 5 service was ending early at 11 p.m.
Speed in the tunnel was limited to 60 km/h (37 mph), and the end-to-end run time was 50 to 55 minutes versus 105 minutes for buses. Giving Line 5 trains priority over left-turning road traffic was to be implemented later. When full service begins, trains will operate to 1 a.m. the next calendar day, and the tunnel speed will be raised to a maximum of 80 km/h (50 mph).
By mid-March 2026, the city had made changes to traffic light signals at nine intersections between Kennedy and Don Valley stations to give Line 5 trains priority over left-turning road traffic. Priority at Leslie Street would be deferred for further testing. The TTC indicated further enhancements would follow.
Starting April 5, 2026, Line 5 trains ran until 1:20 a.m. the next calendar day (until 12:30 a.m. Saturdays), eliminating late-evening replacement buses. Service frequency was every four minutes in peak periods and every six to ten minutes in the off-hours. In future phases, there would be additional trains, better trip time reliability and completion of signal priority.
Route description
Line 5 Eglinton begins at the surface Mount Dennis station and heads east, immediately crossing a wye to the Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility to the north. After passing over Black Creek Drive, it enters a tunnel portal to begin its approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) underground run. At Cedarvale station, it interchanges with the western branch of Line 1 Yonge–University, and then passes a diamond crossover just east of the platform. Immediately east of Avenue station, it enters a large-diameter tunnel section containing both service tracks and a third centre track used to store trains. It interchanges with the eastern branch of Line 1 at Eglinton station (located at Yonge Street), and traverses another crossover. The easternmost underground station, Laird, hosts both a crossover and a centre track, both housed within single tunnels to the west and east respectively.
The line then rises to the surface at a tunnel portal at Brentliffe Road to begin its run along the median of Eglinton Avenue and uses "green track", which is track with vegetation growing beside and between the rails, with paved gaps at intersections and stops. It soon reaches the first on-street surface stop, Sunnybrook Park, at Leslie Street, next to the overpass for the CPKC Belleville Subdivision. Approaching Don Mills Road, it dives underground and arrives at Don Valley station, an underground through-station within the surface section. East of Don Valley, it rises to the surface for another 6 km (3.7 mi), serving nine more surface stops, with several crossovers in between along this section, and a centre track at Sloane. The line returns underground at its eastern terminus at Kennedy station, which provides connections with Line 2 Bloor–Danforth (which also has Kennedy as its eastern terminus) and GO Transit's Stouffville line.
Design
The underground sections consist mostly of twin tunnels bored with TBMs and stations built using the cut-and-cover method. However, Avenue, Laird, and Oakwood stations were constructed using the sequential excavation method (SEM). The mined caverns at Avenue and Laird both contain their train platforms and their aforementioned adjacent special trackwork in single semicircular tubes. According to Crosslinx, SEM is more common in Europe and Line 5 was the first project to use the technique in Toronto.
On-street stops are located at signalized intersections and have platforms with level boarding, barriers along the street to protect waiting passengers, Presto machines, screens displaying the next vehicle arrival time and advertising, platform illumination, and covered glass waiting shelters with benches and an assistance intercom for passenger security.
Each section of green track has irrigation chambers, a water supply, and a power source for the irrigation system. Green track dampens train sounds, absorbs runoff water, reduces ambient temperatures in summer, and minimizes the spread of dust.
Pattison Outdoor Advertising is responsible for advertising within the grade-separated stations, while Bell Media via Astral Media is responsible for advertising for the on-street stops.
Stations and stops
During the early planning stages of Line 5 Eglinton, numerous stations and stops received temporary working names that closely resembled or duplicated those of existing Toronto subway and GO Transit stations. To prevent confusion among passengers, a report presented to the TTC board in November 2015 recommended giving unique names to all stations within the system, including those on Line 5. Thus, the stations and even on-street stops with non-unique working names were given permanent names that mostly reflected the surrounding neighbourhoods: for instance, the stations at Weston Road and Dufferin Street were given the names Mount Dennis and Fairbank respectively, and the stop at Warden Avenue was named Golden Mile.
The working names of some on-street stops were not used as final names even though they did not conflict with existing station names. The Aga Khan Park & Museum stop was given the working name Ferrand after the nearby Ferrand Drive, and Sloane had the working name Bermondsey.
Initially, the stop at Hakimi Avenue and Lebovic Road had the working name Lebovic. Metrolinx renamed it Hakimi after the TTC noted that Hakimi Avenue offered access to prominent local landmarks, such as Centennial College's Ashtonbee Campus. Ultimately, the stop was named Hakimi Lebovic after both streets.
To avoid confusion with Eglinton station, Eglinton West station was renamed Cedarvale in 2025.
Following the permanent closure of the original Ontario Science Centre location near Don Mills and Eglinton in June 2024, it was decided to rename the unopened Science Centre station. The name Don Valley was chosen in March 2025.
All the line's grade-separated stations are subtitled with the cross street under the station name on the platform walls, even if they are actually named after said streets (e.g. Fairbank–Dufferin Street and Oakwood–Oakwood Avenue).
As of 2026, alternate names for stations along the under-construction western extension at cross streets (Kipling Avenue, Islington Avenue, Royal York Road, Jane Street, and Martin Grove Road) that conflict with the names of existing stations or stops on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth and Line 6 Finch West have not been announced.
Architecture and public art
Architecture
The architectural concept for the line was designed by architects gh3* from Toronto and Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker from Montreal. Specific stations were then designed by Arcadis, Dialog and NORR, with surface stops designed by Arcadis. Beth Kapusta, the former head of design excellence at Metrolinx, described the theme of the line as "simple, light-filled boxes", and that it would be a "strong, coherent system of clarity and simplicity".
Architectural features of station buildings include natural light from large windows and skylights, steel structures painted white, and orange accents (the colour of the line). The Toronto Subway typeface is used both on supergraphics (station names screen-printed onto glass at street level) as well as on platform wall signage. The entrances to Chaplin, Keelesdale, and Fairbank station are set in landscaped plazas with planting and seating.
The design of each station is similar, with all having island platforms with white structural elements and white concourse levels that follow the theme of Metrolinx's GO stations. The station names are emblazoned on the platform walls along wide strips coloured either black, grey, or orange and placed over unadorned concrete that displays them in a standard size over a pattern of vertical white dots, which is broken by the names in larger-size block letters extending the full height of the strips.
Reviewing the line, Alex Bozikovic, the architecture critic of The Globe and Mail, stated that the line was, "in architectural terms, a modest success despite its troubled beginnings", with Azure magazine calling the design "sensitive and streamlined".
Two heritage buildings were reused as part of the line – the main entrance at Mount Pleasant station uses the façade of a former branch of the Imperial Bank of Canada (later CIBC) in a building originally designed by architect Herbert Horner in 1928, and Mount Dennis station uses Kodak Building 9 (a former industrial building) as the station building.
Public art
Eight stations on the line feature artworks. Six of these stations – Mount Dennis, Caledonia, Cedarvale, Eglinton, Don Valley and Kennedy – were chosen because they serve as major interchanges and are expected to host high passenger volumes. Rather than being added after the fact, each piece is integrated into the station's architecture from the outset. The art budget was roughly $10 million, with about $1 million used for digital art to appear on screens. Due to the controversy surrounding the LightSpell artwork at Line 1's Pioneer Village station, which commuters could have used to display inappropriate messages, none of the Line 5 artworks are interactive.
Operations
Operating characteristics of the line include:
There will be three types of train control on the line. Automatic train control (ATC) without a driver onboard is used within the Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility. In the underground segment between Mount Dennis and Laird stations, a driver will operate train doors and push a button to depart a station, with ATC controlling the train until the next station. Between Laird and Kennedy stations, the driver controls all train functions.
On the surface, the line will have dedicated right-of-way transit lanes separate from regular traffic and usage of priority signalling at intersections to ensure certainty in travel times – unlike the streetcars in downtown Toronto and southern Etobicoke or on St. Clair Avenue in midtown Toronto.
Light rail vehicles and subway trains can both travel up to 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph). However, actual speed is determined by the spacing of the stops and the dwell times at stops. Line 5 vehicles were planned to have an average speed of 28 kilometres per hour (17 mph). As a comparison, the average speed of the Line 2 Bloor–Danforth subway is 32 kilometres per hour (20 mph). The maximum operating speed is 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph) on the tunnelled portion of the line and 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph) on the street-level sections.
The projected ridership of the line is 5,400 passengers per hour in the peak direction by 2031, but the capacity of the vehicles is 15,000 passengers per hour per direction.
The surface section of the line runs on a proof-of-payment system but the underground stations will have subway-type fare gates and staff; Presto cards will be available for use across the entire line.
Metrolinx requires 76 Flexity Freedom LRVs to operate the line.
Annual operating and maintenance costs are estimated to be $80 million upon opening of the line. However, fare revenue and the costs saved by eliminating Eglinton bus service would result in a net annual cost of $39 million.
Rolling stock
As the line is owned by the province of Ontario, Metrolinx chose the Bombardier Flexity Freedom light rail vehicle, which uses standard gauge rather than the TTC's own slightly larger gauge. Metrolinx wanted to avoid using a custom gauge in order to secure a better price from the manufacturer and to create a standard for other light-rail projects in the province. The vehicles have an operator's cab at only one end of the vehicle; thus, the LRVs must be run in back-to-back coupled pairs. Trains use automatic train control within the tunnelled portion of the line. Like the Flexity Outlook vehicles Bombardier built for the TTC's streetcar system, initial work building the chassis was performed at Bombardier's Mexican plant in Ciudad Sahagún, Hidalgo, with final assembly at Bombardier's plant in Thunder Bay.
In 2010, Metrolinx ordered 182 Flexity Freedom vehicles not only for Line 5 but for other light-rail projects in Ontario. The first two deliveries were expected in the second quarter of 2015 but had not arrived by May 2017. After being unsure if a timely delivery of the Bombardier vehicle order could be relied upon, Metrolinx reduced the Bombardier order from 182 to 76 to supply just Line 5 and made a contingency order with Alstom for 61 Citadis Spirit vehicles, of which 44 would be for Line 5 and the remaining 17 for Line 6 Finch West. If the Flexity Freedom order did arrive after all, surplus Alstom vehicles would be used on other Metrolinx projects (most likely the Hurontario LRT in Mississauga in Peel Region). On October 30, 2018, Bombardier announced that the first Flexity Freedom vehicle had completed its in-house testing and would be delivered for on-site testing in Toronto in November 2018. However, the first vehicle arrived late, on January 8, 2019. As a commissioning test, each vehicle must travel at least 600 km (370 mi) before accepting passengers.
Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility
A maintenance and storage facility is required for Line 5, given the new technology employed, track gauge and the number of vehicles ordered. The Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility (EMSF) has storage for 162 Flexity Freedom LRT vehicles and has extensive maintenance facilities to keep them running smoothly. The facility is located near the line's western terminus at Mount Dennis station on lands formerly occupied by Kodak's Toronto campus and near the Mount Dennis bus garage.
The site includes a backup power facility adjacent to the CN/CP rail corridor at the northwest corner of the EMSF. In the event of a widespread power outage, the new facility will provide Line 5 vehicles with up to four hours of electrical power. The facility will use lithium-ion batteries, which will be charged overnight in order to reduce peak-period power demands and operating costs. The batteries will have a capacity of 10 MW / 30 MWh, equivalent to what is needed to power 8000 homes for a year. The roof of the facility will have about 250 solar panels to generate 90 kW DC of electricity.
Extension to Renforth and Pearson Airport
The line is being extended west of Mount Dennis station to Renforth, the eastern terminal station of the existing Mississauga Transitway, a bus rapid transit line in the adjacent City of Mississauga. The 9.2-kilometre (6-mile) extension will add seven new stations – four underground, two elevated and one within an open trench. Preliminary construction work began in 2020 when the first phase of Line 5 was still under construction, with the tunnelling contract awarded in 2021. Forecast to serve 96,700 daily riders, the project was estimated in 2026 to cost $3.97 billion to construct. Metrolinx has proposed extending the line farther still to Toronto Pearson International Airport in the future.
Eglinton East LRT
Under Mayor John Tory, Toronto City Council approved an eastern extension for Line 5 Eglinton on March 31, 2016, and it is a City of Toronto project still in the proposal stage. However, in May 2022, the Eglinton East LRT (EELRT) became a proposal for a separate line rather than an extension of Line 5.
Between 2016 and 2021, the City of Toronto proposed that the EELRT be an eastward extension of Line 5 Eglinton, extending from Kennedy station to Malvern Town Centre via Eglinton Avenue East, Kingston Road and Morningside Avenue. By 2022, the city had decided that the EELRT would be a separate, independent line with no rail connection to Line 5 at Kennedy station. Unlike Line 5 Eglinton and its western extension, which are Metrolinx projects, the EELRT is a City of Toronto project.
By 2022, city planning staff had concluded a through-service connection with Line 5 at Kennedy station was not feasible as an EELRT tunnel would be only 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) above the SSE tunnel at Kennedy station, and the SSE tunnel structure would not be strong enough to safely support an EELRT tunnel above it. As a separate line, the EELRT would use trains 50 metres (160 ft) long or less. The EELRT would use its own distinct vehicles (i.e. different from those used on Line 5 Eglinton) in order to better adapt to the line's conditions: no running in tunnels, shorter trains and platforms, and a better ability to climb steeper grades to avoid expensive road infrastructure changes that would otherwise be required if the EELRT were a Line 5 extension. It would also connect with Line 2 again at Sheppard Avenue East and McCowan Road, as well as with a potential Line 4 extension.