Contract negotiations underway for Toronto’s GO Expansion programme

CANADA: Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area transport agency Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario have selected a consortium to negotiate the largest single contact for the GO Expansion passenger rail enhancement programme, and have also appointed a programme delivery partner and awarded the Lakeshore West Infrastructure Improvements contract.

The GO Expansion programme will introduce all-day, two-way passenger services in the Toronto area, with trains from Union station running every 15 min or less to Burlington on the Lakeshore West Line, Bramalea on the Kitchener Line, Bradford on the Barrie Line, Unionville on the Stouffville Line and Oshawa on Lakeshore East.

The largest single package under the programme is the On-Corridor Works contract. This covers design and build of the infrastructure including new and upgraded stations, electrification, additional tracks and signalling, and 25 years of train operation and maintenance.

Following a technical evaluation, the first-ranked ‘negotiations proponent’ is the ONxpress Transportation Partners consortium of Aecon, FCC Construcción, Deutsche Bahn International Operations, WSP and Alstom. Aecon holds a 50% interest in a joint venture with FCC which would undertake construction, and a 28% stake in an operations & maintenance partnership with Deutsche Bahn International Operations.

Negotiations are underway to confirm the technical and financial details in the bid, ahead of commercial close in the coming months. Early works and a two-year collaborative development phase are expected to commence in Q2 2022, with operations and maintenance anticipated from Q2 2024.

The second-ranked negotiations proponent is EnTransit, which includes Keolis, SNC-Lavalin, SNCF, Hitachi Rail, Engie, Eiffage and TSO.

Meanwhile, Metrolinx has appointed the MCS consortium of Mace, Comtech and Systra as programme delivery partner, responsible for establishing integrated development, implementation and improvement systems for the project.

EllisDon Infrastructure Transit has been awarded a C$443m fixed-price contract to design, build and finance the Lakeshore West Infrastructure Improvements project.

This includes Long Branch station improvements, accessibility works, Burloak Drive grade separation, Drury Lane pedestrian bridge replacement and enabling works for electrification. The project is being delivered through a PPP model designed to transfers ‘appropriate’ design, construction and financing risk to the private sector.