The Province of Ontario says tunnelling for the Ontario Line through downtown Toronto has officially begun as of Thursday, marking a milestone in the construction of the subway line.
Forty metres below the surface, twin tunnels are to be dug by two boring machines from Exhibition Station toward the Don Yard, near the Don Valley Parkway and Lakeshore Boulevard. Trains will emerge from the tunnels at Don yard and continue east above ground.
The six-kilometre stretch will be dug out in phases – the first boring machine will dig the eastbound track, followed by the second, which will dig the westbound track. The machines have been named Libby and Corkie – after Liberty Village and Corktown respectively – which are the neighbourhoods they will be tunneling through.
“For the first time in more than 60 years, we are tunneling a subway through the heart of this city – this is a historic moment for Toronto,” said Mayor Olivia Chow at a press conference on Thursday morning.
“When the Ontario Line is complete, nearly 230,000 Torontonians will live within walking distance of rapid transit,”
Major construction also continues at Exhibition station, which will connect commuters to GO Transit and connect to Exhibition Place as well as provide subway service to Liberty Village. It’s estimated that during rush hour, the station will serve 12,000 people daily.
The Province has not committed to an opening date yet, only estimating that it will be in the “early 2030s.” But in a press release, they say “major progress” is being made at several other downtown stations, which have been named to “better reflect well-known Toronto neighbourhoods.”
Excavation is complete at King West near King and Bathurst, Distillery District in Corktown and Moss Park. Excavation at the station at Queen and Spadina, named Chinatown station, is nearly complete as well.
Provincial Minister of Transportation, Prabmeet Sarkaria, said that steady progress is being made across the entire line as well. Recently, crews have broken ground on a three-kilometre stretch of track known as the “elevated guideway,” which will connect Don Valley, Flemingdon Park and Thorncliffe Park stations – which are already under construction. Ground has also been broken at Cosburn station.
“The civil infrastructure component of this project is hitting its milestones,” added Metrolinx CEO, Michael Lindsay.
“The Ontario Line will support almost 390,000 daily boardings and reduce travel times from Thorncliffe Park to downtown Toronto from 40 to 25 minutes,” says the Province’s release. They also estimate that during peak times, the Line will help reduce crowding between Bloor-Yonge and Wellesley stations on the TTC’s Line 1 by 15 per cent.
With the federal government contributing $4 billion towards the construction of the Ontario Line, Premier Doug Ford hailed it as proof of the progress that can be made when all three levels of government work together.
“Nowhere in North America are they even coming close to doing what we’re doing here, which is a game changer,” said Ford, listing other transit projects like the newly announced Waterfront East LRT, Eglinton Crosstown West extension, the Scarborough subway extension and the Yonge North subway extension.
“And as we build, our Buy Ontario rules mean that we will be using Ontario steel, lumber, machinery and anything else we can so that Ontario tax dollars support Ontario workers.”
The Ontario Line will run from Exhibition Place to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT at Don mills Road. It will span 15.6 kilometres with 15 stations.
The site of the proposed Corktown Station, part of the Metrolinx new Ontario line, is seen in Toronto, on Friday, June 21, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young