Province breaks ground to tunnel Toronto’s Ontario Line – On-Site Magazine

The Ontario government recently announced that excavation has started on the launch shaft for the Ontario Line subway tunnels at Exhibition Station in Toronto. The 16-metre-deep launch shaft will be the starting point for two tunnel boring machines that will dig six kilometres east, from Exhibition Station to the Don Yard, west of the Don River. Once tunnelling is complete, the launch shaft will be repurposed as a tunnel portal where Ontario Line trains will transition from above to below ground.

“The Ontario Line subway is part of one of the biggest partnerships to construct public transportation in Canadian history,” said Ahmed Hussen, minister of international development, on behalf of Sean Fraser, minister of housing, infrastructure and communities.

Exhibition Station is expected to be a vital transit hub once the line is open, serving both the future subway and existing GO rail customers. The government says a trip across the city from Exhibition Place to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT at Don Mills Road will take 30 minutes or less. That trip takes roughly 70 minutes today. The Ontario Line will offer more than 40 connections to other subway, bus, streetcar and regional train services, bringing hundreds of thousands more people within walking distance of transit.

Ontario is investing nearly $70 billion over the next decade to build public transit. This includes the Ontario Line, the Scarborough Subway Extension, the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension and the Yonge North Subway Extension. Work on the Ontario Line is expected to support 4,700 jobs annually during its construction over the next 10 years.

“By building fast, underground transit, we’re providing people with more options and reducing gridlock,” stated Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma. “Our government is also seizing a unique opportunity to create vibrant, mixed-use communities known as transit-oriented communities, TOCs, which will bring more housing, jobs, retail and community amenities. These TOCs will be all along the Ontario Line and will create more than 13,000 new homes.”

“With station, bridge and above-ground track construction now underway across the route, we are gaining critical momentum on a project that will curb crowding on transit lines and roadways by putting 227,500 more people within easy reach of fast, safe and reliable transit,” added Phil Verster, president and CEO of Metrolinx.

www.ontario.ca

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