New Metrolinx CEO promises to start talking in effort to finish Eglinton Crosstown LRT [Video]

The new head of Ontario’s beleaguered transit agency says he plans to “start talking” to construction partners and government stakeholders as he tries to finally open the Eglinton LRT after more than a decade of construction.

On Monday, Infrastructure Ontario CEO Michael Lindsay was appointed as the head of the provincial transit agency Metrolinx to replace the departing Phil Verster.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Lindsay’s top priority was to open the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, which began construction in 2011 and was initially due to be finished in 2020.

“I’m honoured to have been asked by the premier and the minister of transportation to go over and provide temporary leadership to Metrolinx,” Lindsay said on Tuesday, speaking for the first time since his appointment.

“I will do everything I can, in partnership with government, to bring that project online as quickly as possible.”

Lindsay indicated he would immediately start conversations designed to help him succeed where Verster …