TORONTO, ONTARIO – Carlos Santos, President of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 113, released the following statement regarding reports that Crosslinx, the public–private (P3) Consortium building Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown LRT, is suing Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario:
“In the latest blow to Metrolinx’s disastrous P3 model, Crosslinx, the private consortium hired to build the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, has filed a lawsuit against Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario using the COVID-19 pandemic as cover for its failures, consistent delays and other issues that started well before the pandemic.
This is yet another example of why all aspects of transit – it’s construction, maintenance, ownership and operation – must be kept public. These unaccountable P3 consortiums always put profits ahead of public interest.
Torontonians have had enough with major cost and schedule overruns that are far too common with Metrolinx’s failed P3 model. Torontonians will not only have to wait “well into 2022” for the Eglinton LRT to be operational but taxpayers will now be on the hook to pay for Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario’s defense in the courts.
These problems are in addition to Presto, one of Metrolinx’s other infamous privatization schemes that have cost the public $73.5 million a year in lost revenue thanks to its faulty technology.
Torontonians deserve better when it comes to public transit, such as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. Once operational, skilled and trusted TTC workers – not problem-plagued private corporations like Crosslinx– should maintain and operate the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.”