Chants of “Line 5” and a brief New Year’s Eve-style countdown rang out in a transit station in Toronto on Sunday morning as some of the first customers to ride the Eglinton Crosstown passed through wide open fare gates, marking the opening of a light rail transit line 15 years in the making.

Much of the frustration Torontonians have felt over the Eglinton LRT’s troubled rollout was missing on the faces of those who lined up for hours in frigid temperatures to ride the line on its opening day.

Rockwell Cui and Elliott Stone, two beaming high school seniors who were toddlers when LRT construction began in 2011, said they camped overnight in Mount Dennis Station, arriving at 9 p.m. the day prior to be first in line.

The pair said they felt like a part of history shortly before boarding the first train to leave the line’s current western terminus, bound for Kennedy Station in the east.

Trains service the newly opened Eglinton Crosstown LRT on Sunday.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail

Cheers erupted as the train pulled away from the station shortly after 7:35 a.m., and again as passengers watched the snowy scene outside slip away when the LRT vehicle dipped underground.

Despite the celebratory mood, passengers told The Canadian Press they had mixed emotions about the LRT finally opening.

The LRT, also known as Line 5, was marred by construction delays and budget overruns that caused it to open six years behind schedule with a price tag much higher than originally anticipated.

A report last fall from Metrolinx said the project had incurred a cost of over $13 billion, a billion more than a revised budget for the project set out in a 2018 auditor general’s report.

Owen Webbe, a transit enthusiast who said he couldn’t feel his toes after waiting two hours in line to ride the Eglinton LRT, said Torontonians are “very justified” in their frustration over the line’s botched rollout.

“These are our tax dollars. We work hard to earn money and we pay the government, trusting them that they’ll get this done on time and on budget and they didn’t,” Webbe said.

Webbe said he wants to see a public inquiry into the LRT’s construction – an idea that Premier Doug Ford recently shot down, saying it would be a waste of time despite acknowledging mistakes were made during the project.

Calls for a public inquiry have been growing in recent weeks as critics have taken aim at the province and Metrolinx over transparency and accountability concerns, especially as they are set to deliver other major transit projects in the coming years, including the Ontario Line.

The LRT, also known as Line 5, officially opened on Feb. 8, six years behind schedule and 15 years after construction began.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail

Josh Matlow, a city councillor whose ward was impacted for years as LRT construction carved up Eglinton West, said mistakes made during the project can “never be repeated.”

“Public agencies and governments need to answer when things go wrong,” he said, reiterating his call for a public inquiry. “Why did the cost go up over a billion dollars? What were the actual reasons for the delays?”

Matlow added he was “not in the mood to celebrate” the opening of the LRT.

The TTC did not hold an official grand opening for the line’s launch, as the transit agency had done just two months prior for the opening of another Toronto LRT on Finch West.

The TTC said it will hold a “celebratory event” for the Eglinton line once it’s running at full capacity.

Service levels are set to increase over the next six months as part of the phased introduction of the LRT. The TTC said it will announce the start of “full service once all partners are confident in the line’s performance.”

When the Finch West LRT opened in December, it faced almost immediate backlash from the public over service disruptions and complaints that the line is slower than the bus it will replace.

Speed didn’t appear to be an issue as the Eglinton LRT launched out of the gate, with passengers onboard remarking at how fast it was running.

Chants of 'Line 5' and a brief New Year’s Eve-style countdown rang out in a transit station in Toronto Sunday morning as some of the first customers to ride the Eglinton Crosstown passed through wide open fare gates, marking the opening of a light rail transit line 15 years in the making.

But already, the line has seen its first interruption.

The TTC announced Sunday morning there were delays westbound at O’Connor station as they worked to fix a mechanical issue. An update minutes later reported regular service had resumed.

The TTC did not answer questions from The Canadian Press about what caused the mechanical problem.

Before the delay, passengers travelling west said they were concerned the Eglinton LRT would be plagued with many of the same reliability issues that have befallen the Finch West line.

The Eglinton LRT has large aboveground stretches that expose the line to frigid temperatures and weather, as well as red traffic lights and cars turning left where the line shares the road with motorists.

LRT passenger Lucas Postlethwaite said he fears Line 5 will move at a “snail’s pace through intersections,” as the Finch West line has.

Riders travelling west Sunday morning were stopped by red lights on Eglinton West as they emerged from the line’s underground section and booed each time the vehicle was halted.

The City of Toronto is pushing to implement transit signal priority for both the Eglinton and Finch West LRTs, which would allow transit vehicles to communicate with traffic lights to cut down time spent waiting at intersections.

Marvin Alfred, president of the union representing TTC operators, including those driving the Eglinton LRT vehicles, said he’s already concerned that service issues will arise with Line 5.

“When people are frustrated at the system, they take it on who they have access to,” Alfred said.

TTC operators have already faced verbal abuse from riders of the Finch West LRT over slow service, he added.

Alfred said he fears issues of transparency during the Eglinton LRT’s construction will persist now that the line is open. He’s calling for Metrolinx and the TTC to be as forthcoming as possible about future service issues, should they arise, so transit riders don’t direct their anger at operators.

According to the province, the Eglinton LRT is estimated to move 123,000 riders each weekday and will reduce travel times between Kennedy Station and Mount Dennis Station by nearly an hour.

The 19-kilometre line will eventually be extended west to Renforth Drive. The province said it is making “major progress” on the extension.

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