CANADA: Construction of the Ontario Line metro in Toronto was officially launched with a groundbreaking ceremony at the future Exhibition Place station site on March 27.
Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford, and Transport Minister Caroline Mulroney were joined for the celebrations by Federal Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra and the Mayor of Toronto John Tory, as well as Phil Verster, CEO of the Greater Toronto Area transport authority Metrolinx.
Intended to alleviate overcrowding on the Yonge – University Line, the 15·6 km Ontario Line will start from Exhibition (Ontario Place) in the west and run through the city centre under Queen Street before turning north to reach Ontario Science Centre.
It will have 15 stations, including interchanges to Line 1, the Bloor–Danforth Line 2, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT now under construction and GO Transit suburban rail services. The line will also connect with several TTC tram and bus routes.
Total cost of the programme is put at C$10·9bn, of which the federal government has agreed to contribute up to C$4·02bn.
The line is expected to be completed by 2030, but Verster told local media that the exact timeline had yet to be finalised.
‘Post-Covid, we’re seeing huge variations in terms of what gets bid’, he explained. ‘By the end of April we’re getting the first two or three of the commercial bids in. Once we see those we’ll be able to judge when the completion date will be.’ Prequalification for the initial batch of civil works contracts began last year.
‘For decades, governments of every stripe have been talking about the need for new subways in the GTA’, said Ford. ‘They’ve been studying it forever. There’s been endless reports, endless committees, but finally, we’re the government that got it done. Today, we’re delivering on our promise and getting shovels in the ground to begin construction on the new Ontario Line.’
