By Ashley Karen
Metrolinx has awarded VINCI Construction Grands Projects in a 50/50 joint venture with Ferrovial for the civil contract of the design-build-finance of a significant portion of the new Ontario Line.
The construction is a part of the future 15.6km Ontario Line subway that will operate from the Ontario Science Centre to the Exhibition/Ontario Place in Toronto. The contract which is worth CAN$6bn (€4.4bn), includes financing, design and building of the civil engineering, except rail equipment, or a 2 x 6km twin-tube tunnel, jointly with seven new stations, six of which are below the ground, on a general contracting basis. Partially mobilized by the contractor, the financing comprises a bank structure mobilizing a global pool of eleven banks, containing three Canadian. The project is expected to be complete after 89 months and in 2030.
The Line is a significant infrastructure project that is said to relieve congestion, reduce travel times and drive sustainable development in the City of Toronto. It will put 227,500 more people within a short walk of transit and accommodate 388,000 daily rides by 2041. Also, it will considerably reduce congestion on the current metro line 1, plus road traffic and the related greenhouse gas emissions by as many as 28,000 vehicles taken off the roads each day.
The contract enables VINCI Construction, a critical player in building mobility infrastructure in North America, to additionally strengthen its presence in Canada. This new significant project emphasizes its expertise in urban mobility, already revealed by its work on the extension of Ottawa’s Confederation Line, which covers the design, construction and financing of 27.5km of new track, 16 stations and the related engineering structures.
