eglinton lrt

A car just got stuck on the brand new Eglinton LRT tracks in Toronto

Listen, driving in Toronto can suck — especially along Eglinton Avenue, where construction has been causing incessant traffic jams for more than seven years now.

But you know what will make the hellish experience of seething through gridlock traffic even longer? Trying to get "creative" with your route and winding up lodged in some train tracks.

Dozens of motorists have learned this the hard way after entering the Queen's Quay streetcar tunnel in downtown Toronto and getting stuck, but not until this week has anyone been trapped (to the point of needing rescue) on the yet-to-open Line 5 Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

This could be due to the fact that said tracks were only just finished a few weeks ago, and that people aren't aware of the fact that they're live and currently being used for testing.

Let's hope so, anyway, because it took the TTC a lot of time and money to finally remedy the Queen's Quay tunnel sitch, and Metrolinx doesn't need that kind of hassle too.

The provincial transit agency's chief spokesperson told blogTO this morning that a driver travelling eastbound on Eglinton "took a hard left off the guideway and onto the alignment" late in the evening Wednesday night near Leslie.

"We immediately cut power to the tracks," said Metrolinx's Anne Marie Aikins, noting that she wasn't aware of any injuries and that there did not appear to be any damage to the LRT infrastructure.

The vehicle that entered the tracks, however, was damaged and needed to be removed.

"Local residents, pedestrians, cyclists and drivers who need to cross Eglinton need to be aware that LRTs are out testing and it is important to take care and follow the rules of the road," said Aikins.

"I've not heard of an incident like this before but we know people are just getting used to the infrastructure being live. We've been doing a safety campaign to remind people."

Alongside trapping its first motorist, the new light rail transit line marked another (more important) milestone this week: Six Eglinton Crosstown LRT vehicles travelled for the first time ever from Laird Station back to the Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility (EMSF).

This moves Toronto one step closer to the opening of the long-awaited and completely-transformative east-west public transit line, which will eventually operate as Line 5 on the TTC network.

Lead photo by

Anne Marie Aikins


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