‘Nerve centre’ of new LRT route nears completion in Mississauga
Published January 3, 2024 at 4:34 pm
The “nerve centre” of the $4.6-billion Hurontario Street light-rail transit line being built between south Mississauga and Brampton is almost complete and ready to house LRT vehicles.
Project leaders overseeing construction of the 18-kilometre Hazel McCallion Line said in an update today on social media that “From overhead poles and maintenance bays to track work, the Operations, Maintenance and Storage Facility” is “nearing completion.”
Officials with Metrolinx, the provincial agency in charge of the massive transit project, added in the update that “the OMSF is nearly ready to welcome light-rail vehicles.”
The OMSF, located just south of Highway 407 on the Mississauga-Brampton border, will serve as the hub of the LRT route, or the “nerve centre,” officials said earlier.
The huge operations and maintenance site will house a repair shop, a vehicle cleaning facility and material storage space and will be able to accommodate 42 light-rail vehicles at a time.
A look from above at the nearly-completed Operations, Maintenance and Storage Facility expected to be the “nerve centre” of the Hazel McCallion Line. (Photo: Metrolinx)
Project leaders said in early December that a “major step” in the massive undertaking related to the OMSF was underway at that time.
“Key track work is happening” in north Mississauga (see diagram below), they noted.
“We’re building the complicated section of rail that will allow light-rail vehicles to divert from the centre of Hurontario Street to Topflight Drive to get to the Operations Maintenance Storage Facility and vice versa,” Metrolinx officials said in an online project update at the time. “The east side of the Topflight Drive intersection will be expanded to accommodate an increase in traffic.”
Diagram shows the work to be completed near the Hazel McCallion Line’s Operations Maintenance Storage Facility in north Mississauga. (Image: Metrolinx)
When open to passengers later this year or early 2025, the Hazel McCallion Line will whisk riders from the Port Credit GO station in south Mississauga all the way north into Brampton, with 19 stops along the way.
Initially scheduled to take its first passengers in fall 2024, the LRT route may be delayed, according to recent reports.
In recent weeks, crews have also been working on a main part of the LRT line in south Mississauga, namely the building of an underground station at Port Credit GO.
Metrolinx officials said the recent completion of major work in Port Credit now allows room for the LRT station to be constructed.
Map shows location of the Hazel McCallion Line’s Operations, Maintenance and Storage Facility at Hurontario Street and Topflight Drive in Mississauga.