When will major light-rail transit route open in Mississauga? The mayor has an idea

The Hazel McCallion Line, a 22-kilometre Mississauga-to-Brampton light-rail transit route initially set to open to riders this fall, might not be completed until 2026, Mississauga’s mayor says.

“I’d be happily surprised” if the $4.6-billion transit project, described earlier as the largest such undertaking in Mississauga’s history, opened in 2025, Mayor Carolyn Parrish told INsauga.com in a recent interview at city hall, agreeing it’s more likely to achieve a 2026 completion date.

“And I’m not worried about it because every single LRT that’s been built has been late,” she continued. “I think it’s one of those optimistic views (where you’re) going to have it done (on schedule) if everything goes perfectly smoothly, but it never does.

“You’re going down a main thoroughfare, a spine for our city,” Parrish noted of the transit route, which will feature nearly two dozen stops as it follows Hurontario Street from Port Credit in south Mississauga all the way north into Brampton. “You’ve got wires under there, you’ve got phone stuff, you’ve got pipes, you’ve got everything; so every time you touch the earth around a major street like that, you find things you didn’t know were going to be a problem.”

Rendering shows what part of the Hazel McCallion Line will look like once it opens to passengers. (Image: Metrolinx)

Metrolinx, the provincial agency overseeing the major transit initiative, has not yet committed to a completion date for the Hazel McCallion Line.

The agency has told INsauga.com on two occasions since September that “when construction nears completion and we move into the testing and commissioning phase, we will be in a better position to provide a specific opening date.”

Parrish said she’s fine with that.

“You just know with an LRT, it’s going to take longer. When people ask when it’s going to be (completed), I say ‘when it gets here,'” she said.

Mississauga’s mayor, who served as Ward 5 councillor prior to succeeding former mayor Bonnie Crombie earlier this year, suggested she’s even more excited about one particular — and major — component of the Hazel McCallion Line.

Mayor Carolyn Parrish says delays are commonplace with LRT projects.

Word came earlier this year the provincial government would once again include the “downtown loop” as part of the huge Mississauga-Brampton transit project after having dropped it from plans in a cost-cutting move in 2019.

“The loop is going to be a godsend,” said Parrish of the LRT feature that will allow the trains to veer off of Hurontario Street and into Mississauga’s downtown core by Square One.

As it circles the area, as far west as Confederation Parkway, the transit “loop” will serve, among others, the tens of thousands of people who live and/or work in the dozens of highrise condos and office buildings in the heart of the city.

City manager Geoff Wright told INsauga.com he regularly communicates with Metrolinx officials for the latest project updates and timelines.

He said the provincial agency has similarly told him it’ll “be in better position to provide an opening date once the construction is nearing completion.

“So, we haven’t been able to nail down an LRT opening date yet.”

Wright said as is the case with many other major projects, various factors have knocked the LRT work in Mississauga off schedule.

He pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic in particular, which struck in late 2019 and early 2020 just as construction on the Hazel McCallion Line was ramping up.

“That had an impact,” said Wright, noting supply chain issues were chief among several factors that caused delays.

At Wednesday’s general committee meeting, city councillors discussed a report that in more detail listed factors that have led to delays on the LRT line.

Issues with the tracks that will carry the trains are at the centre of the latest problems.

“The main reasons for the newly reported delays are special track procurement and track tolerance issues in certain areas of the project’s alignment,” the report stated.

Stops along the Hazel McCallion Line. (Image: Metrolinx)