If you walk along Hurontario south of the QEW, you can see rails in the street and a station going in beneath Port Credit GO. So when will a train actually pull in?
The short answer is that the trains have been moving, just not here. Every light-rail vehicle that has run on the Hazel McCallion Line so far has done it near Highway 407, at the far end of an 18-kilometre line. Port Credit is where the line ends, and the vehicles haven't gotten there yet. Metrolinx has also tied the opening date to a testing phase that hasn't started, so the timing at our end of Hurontario depends on a sequence that runs from the north end down.
Every test run so far has started at the other end of the line
The line's first vehicle movement happened this spring, well away from the lake. In early May, INsauga reported that Metrolinx CEO Michael Lindsay had announced a vehicle "moved under its own power" for the first time. That happened at the line's Operations, Maintenance and Storage Facility, just south of Highway 407 on the Mississauga-Brampton border. The facility will hold up to 42 light-rail vehicles.
After that, the testing moved out a little at a time:
- August 11 to 18, 2026: Metrolinx scheduled vehicles to run at 10 km/h from the maintenance facility, along Edwards Boulevard and Topflight Drive, to Hurontario Street.
- September 21 to 25, 2026: A second notice scheduled slow-speed testing on the same route, this time continuing to Hurontario and Derry Road.
CityNews explained why the first tests run there. Hurontario at Topflight Drive is the junction where every light-rail vehicle will enter and leave service. Every vehicle starts its day in the north. A train reaches Port Credit GO by running the whole line south, and the tests so far have stayed near Derry Road.
What the stretch between the QEW and Park Street is still waiting for
Metrolinx's Fall 2026 construction notice for Mississauga South covers Hurontario between Park Street and the QEW. That's the part of the line Port Credit and Mineola see every day. The notice lists three kinds of work underway now: track installation and maintenance, electrical and telecommunications work, and roadwork.
The list of upcoming work is longer, and it shows how much is left before this section can carry a train:
- More trackwork
- Landscaping and boulevard restoration
- Moving traffic signals from temporary spans to permanent signal infrastructure
- Installing the LRT stops
- Putting up overhead catenary poles and the cables that power the trains
- Light-rail vehicle testing, and energizing the LRT stops
The overhead wires feed power to the vehicles, so a train can't run on its own power until the poles and cables are up. The notice also says some work may happen overnight and on weekends, and that driveways facing Hurontario may be blocked from time to time.
The station going in under Port Credit GO
Port Credit's own piece of the project is further along than the street suggests. The terminus at Port Credit GO is underground. Metrolinx says an underground passageway will keep northbound and southbound LRT vehicles apart as they enter and leave the station. The FAQ also mentions laydown areas on both sides of the station.
In his spring progress update, Lindsay said Metrolinx had "finished the structural steel works at Port Credit." He listed it with other milestones: all traction power substations installed, platform bases finished for 11 stops, and the elevated guideway over Highway 403 complete. So the station's frame is up. What it's waiting on is the line north of it.
Construction has also changed how the GO station is used. Before you change your routine, check GO Transit's Port Credit GO construction page for current parking and entrances.
Why there's no opening date, and when one could come
Metrolinx has been consistent about the order of events, even without giving dates. At a virtual town hall on June 25, project vice-president M. Mashrab A. Qayom said a public timeline will only become clear once the line enters testing and commissioning. As reported by the Mississauga News, he said: "Once the project enters that testing and commissioning phase, we will have a better answer and be in a better position to provide a tentative opening date."
In April, Metrolinx told INsauga that it would announce a final completion date after systems integration, once the project reached the Revenue Service Demonstration phase.
That full testing phase follows the civil construction. On August 11, Lindsay gave CityNews his clearest timeline yet:
"We hope to have all civil infrastructure on this project complete by roughly this time next year, and at that point we'd enter the kind of testing phase that this jurisdiction saw from Eglinton and Finch."
"This time next year" points to about August 2027. When he spoke in August 2026, Lindsay said 75 per cent of the track work was done and eight of 14 traction power substations were energized. CityNews also looked at the two lines Lindsay compared it to. Testing and commissioning on Line 5 Eglinton and Line 6 Finch West took months. On that basis, CityNews said the Hazel McCallion Line could open at the end of 2027 or slip into 2028.
Put Metrolinx's statements in order, and you can see why Port Credit is the last part to be settled:
- The civil infrastructure across the whole line gets finished, around August 2027 if Lindsay's goal holds.
- The project enters the testing and commissioning phase used on Eglinton and Finch.
- Metrolinx gives a tentative opening date once that phase is underway.
- Passenger service starts.
Before any of that happens at the south end, the Hurontario section between Park Street and the QEW still needs its overhead wires, stops and stop power.
How the target date has moved
The line was first supposed to open in fall 2024. Since then, the dates have come from the mayor, from reporting on private briefings, and from Metrolinx's own goals for parts of the work:
- November 2024: Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish told INsauga she would be "happily surprised" by a 2025 opening and that 2026 was more likely.
- November 2025: Parrish told INsauga, "I don't expect to see anybody on (the Hazel McCallion Line) before 2029."
- April 2026: Global News reported that Lindsay had privately pointed to spring 2028 for finishing construction on the first route. Metrolinx would not confirm it.
- May 2026: Parrish posted on X that "2028 is starting to look like a realistic completion date," as INsauga reported.
- August 2026: Lindsay's public goal was finishing civil infrastructure by about August 2027, followed by testing.
None of these is a Metrolinx commitment to an opening date. The mayor's figures are her own estimates, and the City of Mississauga's April 2026 staff report says the City doesn't set construction schedules. Metrolinx leads the work, and Mobilinx is its contractor.
What this fall's lane closures were for
The construction south of the QEW this fall was civil work for the line. It wasn't the testing that leads to an opening date.
Metrolinx scheduled 24-hour construction at Hurontario and Harborn Road/North Service Road from October 13 to November 17. Drivers couldn't cross east-west or turn left, but right-in and right-out access stayed open. Closer to the lake, crews were scheduled to install new sanitary infrastructure at Hurontario and Eaglewood Boulevard from November 11 to 16, followed by milling and repaving. The notice listed left-turn restrictions, lane shifts and overnight closures, detours by way of Mineola Road, Eaglewood Boulevard and Inglewood Drive from November 14 to 16, and a flagger running single-lane alternating traffic on Hurontario from November 13 to 15.
Both were scheduled to wrap up by November 17. Work like this falls under step one of the sequence above, and the Fall 2026 notice says there's more of it ahead between Park Street and the QEW. To watch for the next stage, look for a Metrolinx notice announcing vehicle testing south of the QEW. So far, every testing notice has named Topflight Drive or Derry Road.
When the line opens, it will run 18 kilometres with 19 stops, linking Port Credit GO to the Brampton Gateway Terminal. On the latest timeline Metrolinx has given, the earliest point an opening date could come is after the civil work finishes around August 2027, once testing begins.
If you own near the Hurontario corridor and want to know how the line's timing fits into a sale or purchase over the next few years, Martin Group can walk you through recent local sales and what they suggest about your home's value today. Ask us for a free home valuation, and we'll keep it grounded in the facts.
