By Lynda Myer
Commissioning a Strabag led team’s tunnel boring machine on the Scarborough Subway Extension scheme in Toronto, Canada, the tunneling process on its three stop, which are 7.8km subway, was commenced last month.
Extending Toronto Transit Commission’s Line 2 from Kennedy Station to Sheppard Avenue and McCowan Road, a team that includes Strabag, Arup Canada and Brian Isherwood & Associates is working on the project’s advance tunneling contract, while it covers 6.9km of the subway tunnel. May 2021 was the date of final conclusion of this contract.
The TBM Diggy Scardust, which is 2,000t machine and was shipped from manufacturer Herrenknecht’s factory in Schwanau, Germany, reached to its launch shaft site at Sheppard Avenue East and McCowan Road, at early 2022.
Advancing towards Eglinton Avenue East and Midland Avenue, where crews have already started work on the project’s extraction shaft site, the daily performance of the TBM is due to be 10-15m during the next couple of years.
As the first subway tunnel in Toronto to contain two subway tracks operating in both directions, it will be 10.7m wide.
The Scarborough Transit Connect, that is the development partner for the project’s stations, rail and systems will be responsible for construction of the remaining portion of the tunnel. In the previous year, this contract was granted to the consortium, comprising Aecon Infrastructure Management and FCC Canada, with Mott MacDonald leading the design team.
In order to delivering the Scarborough Subway Extension, Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario are working together and the expected date for its completion is 2029-30.
Including the Ontario Line, the Yonge North Subway Extension as well as the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension, this project is a key part of Ontario’s C$28.5bn (£17.6bn) subway expansion program.
