A request for proposals for the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit (LRT) is slated to be released this month and will include elements such as the stations, tracks and signalling, according to Metrolinx.

This comes on the heels of the LRT’s second tunnelling contract being awarded to Aecon Dragados Joint Venture for $177 million, two public meetings and the recent revelation of preliminary designs for stations and stops between Avenue Road and Wynford Drive.

Tunnelling activity will begin this month at Laird, Bayview and Mount Pleasant stations, said Metrolinx’s director of community relations and communications for Toronto transit projects, Jamie Robinson. He expects tunnel work to be complete in mid-2016.

Coun. Josh Matlow said Metrolinx has agreed to fix its plans, which would have forced people transferring from the TTC to the LRT at Yonge station to cross above ground and then go back underground.

“While the focus has to be doing this on budgets and on time, at the same time, it has to be functional,” said Matlow. “And I don’t want Metrolinx to cut corners because they’ve got limited budgets.”

Sherwood Park Residents’ Association president Ben Daube attended the public meetings and said his main concern is shelter for LRT passengers waiting to connect to buses at most stations.

“At the moment, there’s no indication that in bad weather … people are going to be protected when they have to wait for a bus,” he said. “There’s no Tim Hortons or waiting area in the stations where people can see the bus coming and then jump out and get onto it.”

Although final designs are still to come, Robinson said, in most cases, LRT travellers transferring from an underground station to a bus will need to wait outside.

“There will be canopies outside each of the stations so people will be able to stand there and wait for the bus,” he said, “but [there will be] no sort of waiting area and seats inside.”