After a five-month absence, streetcars are returning to their regular route on St. Clair Ave.

The TTC announced Friday that it had completed maintenance affecting the 512 St. Clair line earlier than expected, allowing streetcars to be redeployed to the entire route six weeks ahead of schedule.

“A TTC project is done ahead of schedule, and that’s good news for everybody,” said TTC spokesperson Brad Ross.

In June, the TTC replaced streetcars on St. Clair with buses operating in mixed traffic while the agency carried out work on the streetcar right-of-way and at St. Clair and St. Clair West stations.

Much of the work was to accommodate the TTC’s new low-floor, accessible streetcars. Platforms at each stop on the right-of-way had to be modified to allow the vehicles’ accessibility ramp to deploy.

The roof of the streetcar loading platform at St. Clair station also had to be replaced, and new elevators installed at St. Clair West.

According to a TTC news release, work completed in the last five months includes reconstructing the loading platforms and replacement of overhead wires at St. Clair station, upgrading streetcar tracks and overhead wires at St. Clair West station, and installing Presto fare gates at both stations.

Ross said streetcars had already been redeployed on the western section of the route between St. Clair West station and Gunn’s Loop on Labour Day, as scheduled.

They weren’t expected to return to the eastern section until the end of the year, but some work at St. Clair station was finished early. The rail vehicles go back into service Sunday.

“Essentially, the contractor moved work schedules around to make getting streetcars back a priority. There will still be ongoing work at the station, but it won’t interfere with streetcars,” said Ross.

In the summer, the closure of the right-of-way prompted complaints from some business owners on the street, who were upset that it had to be modified only six years after it was built at a cost of $106 million.

The original construction was contentious, with many locals claiming it wreaked havoc with traffic and even caused some stores to go out of business.

According to Ross, the total cost of the work on St. Clair was $5.7 million. The TTC is spending $58 million over several years on modifications to its network to accommodate the new streetcars, and hopes to deploy the new model cars on St. Clair in 2018.