Ontario Takes Next Steps in Building Signature Subway Line

news.ontario.ca
Nov. 18, 2022

The Ontario government is awarding a major contract and issuing two Requests for Qualifications (RFQ) for the Ontario Line subway, marking important milestones in the province’s plan to deliver faster and better transit for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

“These milestones bring us one step closer to delivering a world-class transit system for the GTA,” said Caroline Mulroney, Minister of Transportation. “Our government continues to work at an unprecedented pace to move the Ontario Line forward, alleviating gridlock on our roads and creating thousands of good local jobs.”

The province has officially awarded the Rolling Stock, Systems, Operations and Maintenance (RSSOM) contract to Connect 6ix. The contract includes designing and supplying the Ontario Line fleet of trains, as well as designing and building the maintenance and storage facility.

The Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the northern segment of the Ontario Line will support the building of underground stations and tunnels underneath Pape Avenue between the Gerrard portal and the Don Valley bridge and the construction of three kilometres of elevated tracks in Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park.

“Public transit is key to improving Canadians’ quality of life -- it reduces gridlock on our roads, shortens commute times and improves air quality. In collaboration with the Government of Ontario and the City of Toronto, we are delivering on major transit projects for residents in the Greater Toronto Area,” said the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities. “These investments will ensure that the region can keep welcoming more residents in the coming years and decades.”

Ontario’s bold transit plan for the Greater Toronto Area is the largest joint investment in transit in the region’s history -- which includes the all-new Ontario Line, the three-stop Scarborough Subway Extension, the Yonge North Subway Extension and the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension.

Quick Facts

• The 15-stop Ontario Line will extend 15.6-kilometres from Exhibition/Ontario Place to the Ontario Science Centre and will offer more than 40 transit connections to other subway, bus, streetcar, light-rail transit and regional rail services, linking communities from east to west, north to south.
• The Province also released a sample of the subway train renderings prepared by Connect 6ix, showing early-concept designs that will be finalized after further consultation with municipal partners and communities.
• The trains will be packed with the latest technology and feature onboard Wi-Fi, digital passenger information screens, charging points, dedicated spaces for bicycles, double wheelchair areas, and continuous, connected carriages.
• On November 9, 2022, the Province awarded the South contract, which includes a six-kilometre twin-bore tunnel, as well as four new underground stations (King-Bathurst, Queen-Spadina, Moss Park, Corktown), two underground stations that will integrate with the existing Osgoode and Queen TTC subway stations, and one above-ground station that will integrate with the existing Exhibition GO Station served by the Lakeshore West line.
• Early works construction for the Ontario Line is already underway at Exhibition Station, at the site of the future Corktown and Moss Park stations, and in the joint corridor west of the Don River.
• By 2041, the Ontario Line will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 14,000 tonnes annually and cut overall fuel consumption by more than 7 million litres a year -- the equivalent to nearly 120,000 fill ups at the pump.
• Improving public transit is vital to supporting Ontario’s economic development and recovery. Every $1 billion invested in transit helps support 10,000 jobs and boosts Ontario’s real GDP by another $1 billion.