The 14 km (8.7 mi), 17-stop route is planned to extend from McMaster University to Eastgate Square via downtown Hamilton.

[10] On May 26, 2015, the Government of Ontario announced a shorter route between McMaster University and Queenston Circle, but also including a segment of the A-Line to provide a direct connection to West Harbour GO Station, as well as a pedestrian corridor to the Hamilton GO Centre.

[13] On March 28, 2017, Hamilton City Council chose to delay the crucial Environmental Assessment vote to April 19, 2017,[14] citing they needed more time to read it for themselves.

On April 26, 2017, the province announced with the money saved from removing the spur line from King and James to the West Harbour GO Station, they would work with the City to get the 3 km (1.9 mi) Eastgate Square extension included in the capital funding.

On August 4, 2017, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change approved the Environmental Project Report (EPR) Addendum for Hamilton's Light Rail Transit (LRT) plan.

[17] On August 30, 2018, property acquisitions and other spending related to the project were put on hold by the newly elected provincial government.

On October 22, 2018, Eisenberger was re-elected to a second consecutive term (and third overall) receiving 54% of votes and claimed that the results indicated a "strong mandate on LRT to move forward.

"[21] On March 29, 2019, Ontario Transit Minister Jeff Yurek announced that project-related spending could resume after an eight-month freeze.

[22] Four days later, Metrolinx announced the purchase of a 14.5-acre property which will be the site of an operations, maintenance and storage facility (OMSF) for the light rail vehicles.

[25] On April 16, 2018, teams shortlisted by IO and Metrolinx allowed to bid on designing, building, financing, operating, and maintaining the LRT are:[26] The procurement of a dedicated fleet of light rail vehicles and the construction of a maintenance and storage facility were included in the deal.

[26][22] As of 2019, no vehicles have been chosen, but the trains could be similar to the Flexity Freedom cars to be used in Waterloo Region's Ion rapid transit and Toronto's Eglinton Crosstown LRT or the Alstom Citadis Spirit cars ordered by Metrolinx as a backup fleet for Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

[31] As a consolation, the provincial government offered the city $1 billion (the original estimated cost of the LRT line) to spend on other transit improvements.

Laborers' International Union of North America's Joseph Mancinelli cited the project as an ideal stimulant of economic recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario.

This change followed a decision by the City of Hamilton to convert Main Street from one-way to two-way traffic and is intended to save cost.

The 3 packages recommdned were:[44] On November 6, 2024, Metrolinx released an RFQ for civil works and utilities, using an Alliance delivery model.