By Ashley Karen
After over a decade of research, study, raucous and repeated Toronto City Council clashes, and many provincial government interjections, building has begun on the Scarborough Subway Extension.
Following initial work this spring, the construction team which was headed by Strabag, has started building on the launch shaft that is going to set TBMs to work under Scarborough.
On June 23, Mayor John Tory, Premier Doug Ford and some other officials were on-hand for the official excavation for the three-stop extension to the Toronto subway’s Line 2. About a decade ago, Ford was among the city councilors weighing Scarborough transit options varying from the single-stop subway, three-stop subway and a replacement light rail line.
In a release, Ford noted that it is one of the four “priority” projects which the Ontario government is pushing forward. He stated: “This long overdue project will create thousands of jobs, significantly increase ridership capacity and cut down daily travel times for more than a hundred thousand Scarborough commuters.”
This May, Strabag team has received a $757.1 million fixed-price contract for the 7.8 kilometers of tunnelling work by Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario who are the provincial agencies. The tunnel boring machines are planned to be launched next year.
Further contracts for station work, rolling stock and other aspects of the $5.5 billion extension will be awarded later.
Generally, the subway extension is anticipated to make up to 3,000 jobs per year during excavation. According to Metroilnx, crews are taking the target to have the line ready for passenger services by 2029-2030.
