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You may have seen fences and cranes going up for construction on the Ontario Line, but all three levels of government gathered Thursday to announce “a milestone” as work begins somewhere we can’t see.
Tunneling has officially started on the downtown segment of the 15.6-kilometre long transit line, announced Premier Doug Ford.
“If we don’t act now, too many people are wasting time in traffic,” he said at Thursday’s news conference.
This marks a “historic moment” for Toronto and will eventually bring rapid transit access to nearly 230,000 residents, said Mayor Olivia Chow.
Two tunneling machines will dig 40 metres underground from Exhibition Station in the west toward the Don Yard, near Lakeshore Boulevard and the Don Valley Parkway, said a news release from the province.
The Ontario Line, which will also have above ground sections, is planned to run between 15 stations and more than 40 transit connections.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Premier Doug Ford took part in a news conference Thursday to announce the start of tunneling for the downtown segment of the Ontario Line. (Keith Burgess/CBC)
Ontario Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria said work is already happening “right across the line.”
That includes the elevated sections that will stretch from Don Valley Parkway to Thorncliffe Park stations, as well as connecting to the city’s Pape Village neighbourhood for the first time, he said.
The line is expected to open in the “early 2030s,” according to Metrolinx CEO Michael Lindsay.
He said despite tunneling taking place, it doesn’t yet mark the start of “major construction progress on the project.”
“The complexity of this job is tremendous,” said Lindsay, adding the downtown tunneling work is near an existing rail line “that has to keep providing service.”
WATCH | Experts warn digging through the downtown core won’t be easy:
What’s happening with the Ontario Line?
Construction is progressing on Toronto’s Ontario Line, with excavation now complete at the future King–Bathurst station. With five years until the projected opening, experts hope lessons from the Eglinton Crosstown LRT will keep the project on track, but warn that digging through a densely built downtown core won’t be easy.
All levels of government pitching in for project
Ford said “unbelievable” progress is being made to expand transit in the GTA.
The federal government has put $4 billion towards the Ontario Line project, which is its largest transit spend in the GTA, said federal Minister Evan Solomon, who oversees artificial intelligence innovation and federal economic development for Southern Ontario.
“When governments work together, we build together and we build fast,” he said.
Solomon added that these transit projects aren’t just about getting people from point A to point B, but about addressing the time and money residents spend commuting.
