Scarborough transit line gets $10M boost

Toronto city council has added $10 million to speed up planning for the Scarborough East Rapid Transit line and declared it the city’s top unfunded transit priority. (toronto.ca) Council considered the move during its April 22-24, 2026 meeting after the Executive Committee adopted Mayor Olivia Chow’s motion on April 15. The money will come from the City Building Fund Reserve and is meant to push the project to 30 per cent design. (toronto.ca) The line, now branded Scarborough East Rapid Transit, was previously known as the Eglinton East Light Rail Transit project. City staff describe it as a 27-stop route from Kennedy Station to Sheppard-McCowan Station and Malvern Town Centre. (toronto.ca) The route would serve the University of Toronto Scarborough and Centennial College, and the city says it would bring higher-order transit to eight neighborhood improvement areas. Staff also say it would connect with Line 2, Line 5, GO Transit, the future Scarborough Subway Extension and a possible Line 4 Sheppard Extension. (toronto.ca) The project has been on the books since 2009, and its current proposed length is 18.6 kilometres from Kennedy Station to Malvern Town Centre. CBC reported this month that council had tied its development to the Waterfront East Light Rail Transit project when it prioritized both lines in 2022. (cbc.ca) That link became more important in late March, when Toronto, Ontario and Ottawa announced funding for the Waterfront East line but not for Scarborough East. Chow said on April 15 that the Scarborough route was now the city’s “top priority” for the next funding round. (toronto.citynews.ca; cbc.ca) Council’s motion asks Ontario and the federal government to each fund one-third of the construction cost, matching the city’s proposed share. It also asks the province to streamline regulatory requirements and asks Ottawa and Queen’s Park to say what version of the project they would support funding. (toronto.ca) City staff said in 2023 that the full line was expected to cost about $4.65 billion, and Chow pointed this month to more than $330 million already set aside by the city for the project. CityNews reported that the city had already spent $18 million on design work alongside the Waterfront East line since 2023. (torontotoday.ca; toronto.citynews.ca) The politics around the line have sharpened in recent weeks. Councillor Brad Bradford said the mayor had missed a first-quarter 2026 deadline to advance the design to 30 per cent, while Chow said staff were preparing an update and that other transit deals had not delayed Scarborough work. (cbc.ca) Council also ordered a Scarborough Transit Working Group with representatives from the city, the Toronto Transit Commission, Metrolinx and senior governments, and directed staff to report back by the second quarter of 2027. The extra $10 million buys time and drawings now; the bigger test is whether Toronto can turn that into a three-government funding deal. (toronto.ca)