Eglinton East LRT

The Scarborough Malvern LRT was part of the Transit City proposal announced on 16 March 2007, to be operated by the Toronto Transit Commission. It was expected to cost approximately $1.26 billion including vehicles, property, escalation and an apportioned cost of the maintenance and storage facilities. With construction originally scheduled to begin in 2014, the line was expected to open in 2019 as the last of the seven Transit City lines.

The Scarborough Malvern LRT was approved by Toronto City Council on 30 September 2009,[2] and the environmental assessment received a notice to proceed from the Government of Ontario on 15 December 2009.[3] However, it was cancelled by Rob Ford on 1 December 2010, when he announced the cancellation of the entire Transit City initiative.[4][5] While LRT lines on Sheppard East, Finch West, and Eglinton were revived through a new agreement between the City of Toronto and Metrolinx, the Scarborough Malvern LRT was not included.[6]

The Scarborough Malvern LRT was still included in Metrolinx's regional transportation plan The Big Move within that plan's 25-year horizon.[7] Aspects of the Scarborough Malvern LRT were then incorporated into the 905 Eglinton East Express bus (formerly the 198 U of T Scarborough Rocket).

On 20 January 2016, Toronto City Council approved revisions to the Scarborough subway plan that would include reviving much of the original plan for the Scarborough Malvern LRT, as a 12-kilometre (7.5 mi) eastern extension to Line 5 Eglinton to University of Toronto Scarborough, rebranded as "Crosstown East".[8] In December 2020, the council directed staff to study the entire original route to Malvern Town Centre[9] and begin the 10% design.[10]

In 2022, the council confirmed that the line would not be connected to Line 5 Eglinton and also could be extended farther to the under-construction terminus of the Line 2 Scarborough extension at Sheppard Avenue and McCowan Road.[9]

By the end of 2023, the 10% design should be completed, along with a draft of the environmental project report (EPR) and the start of the transit project assessment process (TPAP). Public consultation began in May 2023.[10]

The Scarborough Malvern LRT line would run for 18 kilometres (11 mi), with 25 new proposed stops between Kennedy station to its terminus at Sheppard Avenue and McCowan Road. The southern terminus of the line would be built at Kennedy station at Kennedy Road and Eglinton Avenue, with a connection to Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, Line 5 Eglinton, and the Stouffville GO Line. The whole line would be built within Scarborough.[10]

The line would run along Eglinton Avenue East until it reaches Kingston Road, then continue northeast until Morningside Avenue is reached. It would then continue north to Ellesmere Road, turning west into University of Toronto Scarborough before returning to Morningside Avenue, continuing north until Sheppard Avenue East, where it would have originally met the now-cancelled Sheppard East LRT. The line would then continue west on Sheppard Avenue to Neilsen Road, where it would split into two branches.[10]

The first branch would travel along Nielsen Road and terminate at Malvern Town Centre, while the second branch would proceed along Sheppard Avenue along the alignment of the cancelled Sheppard East LRT to McCowan Road, where a station is, as of 2023, being constructed as the future terminus of Line 2 Bloor–Danforth. It has also been proposed that Line 4 Sheppard be extended from Don Mills station to Line 2's new eastern terminus (also along the alignment of the now-cancelled Sheppard East LRT).[10]

In the original 2010 study, the TTC indicated that stops would be spaced on average 400 metres (1,300 ft) apart. The distances between the stops varies, but thelikely candidates were, from north to south:

• Line 5 Eglinton
• Toronto streetcar system
• Toronto subway

• Official TTC site