The outgoing head of Toronto’s transit agency is casting doubt over the tentative September opening date for the years-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

At a Toronto Transit Commission meeting Thursday, outgoing CEO Greg Percy said it would be “a reach” to open the new transit line by September.

“We’re looking still at this fall to get something happening,” he said in response to questions from Coun. Josh Matlow.

“I think September’s a reach but this fall is plausible and certainly by year-end. There’s lots and lots of stuff going on that we need to fix to open safely.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation said September remained the target for the project.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

“As our CEO Michael Lindsay has said, we are making major progress on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. All civil infrastructure for the project is now complete, operator driver training is now complete and in June we formally transferred operations of the line to the TTC’s command centre at Hillcrest,” Metrolinx said in a statement.

“We are currently relentlessly stress testing the system to ensure it is safe and reliable on the day it opens.”

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT has been without an opening date for years as it has encountered construction issues, software problems and legal battles involving the consortium building it.

Phil Verster, the former CEO of provincial transit agency Metrolinx, previously said the public would be given a three-month heads-up that the line was due to open.

“It’s an enormous stretch to have it open by September,” Toronto Coun. Dianne Saxe said on Thursday. “There are several testing phases that are meant to take place…. I haven’t seen any sign they’re within 90 days of being able to open and we haven’t got the notice they promised.”

It’s unclear if that is still Metrolinx’s plan. It has not been mentioned in recent statements. To meet September, it would need to have been made in June.

“As we have said, we are targeting September for substantial completion,” the agency said in its statement.

As recently as early June, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he believed the project was on track to open in September.

Roughly one month ago, the TTC took control of trains on the line as final tests stepped up towards opening day.

&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Federal prosecutors have withdrawn terrorism allegations against a Yemeni man arrested in the Toronto area three months ago.

The case against Husam Taha Ali Al-Sewaiee was dropped at a court appearance on Thursday, his lawyer said in a statement.

The move came after the RCMP received new information that satisfied initial fears about the 33-year-old.

He still faces a threatening charge.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Al-Sewaiee was initially arrested in Mississauga, Ont., on April 15 for uttering threats. Four days later, he was arrested again.

This time, the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team alleged he had attempted to leave Canada to join a terrorist organization.

He was not charged with terrorism. Instead, prosecutors asked the court for a terrorism peace bond that would restrict his movements in the name of public safety.

“Mr. Al-Sewaiee has always maintained this peace bond application was baseless and the allegations against him were entirely without merit,” his lawyer Rebecca Amoah said.

“Mr. Al-Sewaiee has been wrongly prosecuted, arrested, and detained. He has spent almost two months in custody, without being charged with any related criminal offence, pending the determination of a baseless peace bond application that the Crown has now withdrawn.”

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca

&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Service has resumed on the majority of Toronto’s downtown subway system after it was abruptly shut down on Thursday evening while commuters poured out of work to head home.

Around 5:05 p.m., the Toronto Transit Commission announced there would be no service on Line 1: Yonge-University between College and St George stations because of a fire.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

That section covers the entire downtown loop of Line 1, which serves University Avenue and Yonge Street south of Bloor Street and connects the rest of the network to Union Station and the GO train network.

The TTC said the fire was at track level between Union and St. Andrew stations.

“Service is suspended between College and St George to allow fire crews to investigate,” the agency said. “Customers in the U are encouraged to consider surface routes and take Line 1 North at College, St George, or Spadina.”

Toronto Fire told Global News the fire was “not serious.” They said they were clearing smoke and hotspots.

By 5:50 p.m., trains were running again.