The Ford government says tunnelling has officially begun for the downtown segment of the Ontario Line, a 15.6-kilometre subway project meant to take pressure off the city’s transit system.
Premier Doug Ford made the announcement Thursday, noting it will be the first subway tunnels dug under the downtown core in over 60 years.
“Right now, two tunnel boring machines are about to begin digging twin tunnels which will run six kilometres from the launch shaft near Exhibition Station to just west of the lower Don River,” Ford said, calling it “historic.”
He made the announcement near the planned final stop for the project at Exhibition Place, along with Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria, Toronto MP Evan Solomon, Mayor Olivia Chow, and other dignitaries.
Solomon called the milestone “a major step forward” for the project.
“It’s one of those moments when a project moves from promise to proof,” he said.
The two tunnel boring machines will be digging twin tunnels, as deep as 40 metres below the surface, from Exhibition Station toward the Don Yard near the Don Valley Parkway and Lakeshore Boulevard.
That’s the point where Ontario Line trains will emerge from the tunnels an run above ground across the Lower Don Bridge.
Target opening now early 2030s
Announced by the Ford government back in 2019, the Ontario Line was last given a revised target date of 2031 for completion, though Metrolinx CEO Michael Lindsay recently said the agency is now aiming for the early 2030s. He confirmed Thursday that is still the case.
“The civil infrastructure component of this project is hitting its milestones,” Lindsay said.
However he cautioned at the same time that the “complexity of this job is tremendous” and that should be kept in mind.
“Even the start of tunneling operations on the Ontario line does not mark the start of major construction progress on this project,” he said.
The line currently has an overall estimated cost of $29.5 billion, according to the latest update from Metrolinx, with the federal government providing $4 billion toward that cost. The original estimate when it was announced seven years ago was $10.9 billion.
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