Today, the Government of Canada celebrated continued progress on the construction of the Ontario Line subway. Tunnelling has officially started on the Ontario Line, marking a major milestone in the project. New names have also been unveiled for four downtown stations to better reflect the neighbourhoods they will serve and make the line easier for riders to navigate.
Two tunnel boring machines have started digging twin tunnels from Exhibition Station toward the Don Yard, as deep as 40 metres below the surface. At the Don Yard, Ontario Line trains will emerge from the tunnels and continue east above ground across the Lower Don Bridge. Once complete, the 15.6-kilometre Ontario Line will run from Exhibition Place to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT at Don Mills Road, with 15 stations, and more than 40 transit connections, including to TTC Lines 1, 2 and 5, multiple streetcar and bus routes, and three GO train lines. The line will also bring nearly 230,000 more people within walking distance of transit.
Four downtown stations will be renamed to better reflect well-known Toronto neighbourhoods, making them more recognizable for riders, residents and visitors and the Ontario Line more convenient to use. King-Bathurst will now be known as King West, Queen-Spadina as Chinatown, Corktown as Distillery District and Riverside-Leslieville as Leslieville.
The Government of Canada is investing more than $4 billion in the Ontario Line, the single largest federal public transit investment in Toronto. The Government of Ontario is leading the project's construction through Metrolinx.
The Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister Responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, joined the Honourable Doug Ford, Premier of the Province of Ontario, the Honourable Prabmeet Sarkaria, Ontario's Minister of Transportation, and her Worship Olivia Chow, Mayor of the City of Toronto, to celebrate the partnership and mark continued progress on this important project.
