Ontario Line


The Ontario Line is a rapid transit line under construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its northern terminus will be at Eglinton Avenue and Don Mills Road, at Don Valley station, where it will connect with Line 5 Eglinton. Its southern terminus will be at the existing Exhibition GO Station on the Lakeshore West line. The Ontario Line was announced by the Government of Ontario on April 10, 2019., the estimated cost for the line is billion with an estimated completion in 2031. Originally, the cost was estimated at $10.9billion with completion by 2027. A groundbreaking ceremony for the project took place on March 27, 2022. Upon opening, the plan is for the line to be designated "Line 3". This identifier was used by Line 3 Scarborough until its closure in July 2023.

Project history

Downtown Relief Line

Plans for an east–west downtown subway line date back to the early 20th century, most of which ran along Queen Street. In the 1980s, plans first emerged for a "Downtown Relief Line" that would provide capacity relief to the Yonge segment of Line 1 and the Bloor–Yonge interchange station, and extend subway service coverage in the city's east end.
Efforts to increase capacity on Line 1 included longer, walk-through trains, as well as the transition to automatic train control to increase the frequency of service. However, by 2012, the Toronto Transit Commission stated that a relief line will be required by the 2030s, given the overcrowding and high demand along the Yonge corridor.
Since the early 21st century, studies proposed a line that would run south from Line 2 Bloor–Danforth at a point east of the Don River before bending westward along Queen Street into Downtown Toronto. The Relief Line was included in the regional transportation plan The Big Move and was noted as one of Metrolinx's top 15 transit priorities.
In the mid-2010s, the City of Toronto developed plans for this line, known as the "Relief Line South", between Pape station on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth and Osgoode station on Line 1 Yonge–University. In August 2018, an alignment was approved by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. It was estimated that the Relief Line South would cost around and open in the late 2020s. In early 2019, the Ontario government announced its intention to take over subway construction in Toronto from the TTC.

Ontario Line

In a surprise announcement in April 2019, the Ontario government under Premier Doug Ford presented the Ontario Line proposal, which at that time appeared to incorporate much of the routing and many of the station locations of the Relief Line. Unlike the city's design, the Ontario Line would be a "standalone" line, one that would use lighter rolling stock and shorter trainsets than the Toronto Transit Commission's existing subway lines. Members of Toronto City Council expressed their concerns that the new line would set back the delivery of rapid transit and potentially waste money the city had already spent on the Relief Line's design.
Metrolinx prepared the plan for the Ontario Line in just three months based on a proposal by transit consultant Michael Schabas. Metrolinx hired Schabas in December 2018 to lead a team to transform the Relief Line plans into the Ontario Line. Schabas supported using lighter metro vehicles such as those used in London's Docklands Light Railway, as such vehicles were deemed more suitable for steeper grades and elevated structures. A draft plan was ready by January 31, 2019. Doug Ford approved the plan after a February 26 presentation. Metrolinx did not disclose details of the project until the provincial government chose to announce it on April 10.
As initially announced in April 2019, the route of the Ontario Line seemed to follow much of the route of the Relief Line, beginning either at Exhibition Place or Ontario Place, travelling northeast to King and Bathurst Streets, then northeast to Spadina Avenue and Queen Street. It then proceeded eastward through downtown along Queen Street before turning southeast in the area of Parliament Street south to Eastern Avenue. The line had one station on King Street and Sumach Street, then made an east–west crossing of the Lower Don River to a station at Broadview and Eastern Avenues. The line proceeded northeast to Pape Avenue and Danforth Avenue and continued north along Pape Avenue, making a north–south crossing of the Don River to the Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood. The line continued northeast along Don Mills Road to terminate at Don Mills Road and Eglinton Avenue.
The initial announcement was ambiguous whether the line would terminate at Ontario Place or Exhibition Place. The Ontario Place alignment stirred controversy, as Ford had spoken of transforming Ontario Place, previously a family-oriented venue, into an adult-oriented casino complex. Some suspected that the plan to extend the line to Ontario Place was aimed at out-of-province gamblers, not Ontarians. Ford denied that the extension was related to any casino plans. The Globe and Mail reported that no previous plan had ever considered making Ontario Place a rapid transit destination and that the announcement surprised everyone, including mayor of Toronto John Tory. The Ontario government ultimately chose the Exhibition Place alignment.
In July 2019, the Toronto Star obtained and reported on confidential documents from Metrolinx. The documents showed that the proposed route would be markedly different from that of the Relief Line South and involve significant lengths of at-grade or elevated track. The Ontario Place station was eliminated, with an Exhibition station added near the Exhibition GO Station. The section between Queen/Sherbourne and Gerrard stations would come to the surface and mostly follow a railway right-of-way instead of being tunnelled. The new route would substitute a Corktown station about west of the proposed location for Sumach station on the Relief Line. The Ontario Line would share less than half the planned route of the Relief Line between Osgoode and Pape stations.
In October 2019, Tory and Ford reached a tentative deal in which the city would endorse the line and the TTC's subway network would not be taken over by the provincial government. The deal was later approved by Toronto City Council in a 22-to-3 decision.

Procurement

The Ontario Line project is being delivered through various public–private partnerships, progressive design–build and traditional procurement contracts, which are all being staged accordingly for their successful delivery. The contracts are:

Rolling stock, systems, operations and maintenance (RSSOM)

On June 2, 2020, Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx issued a request for qualification for rolling stock, systems, operations and maintenance, part of the first phase of procurement for the Ontario Line. On November 17, 2022, the contract was awarded to Connect 6ix with a projected in-service date of 2031.
The contract covered the design, construction, operation and ongoing maintenance for the entire Ontario Line, for a 30-year term, including:
  • Rolling stock, to be designed, supplied, and maintained by consortium member Hitachi Rail and operated by Transdev
  • An operations, maintenance and storage facility for the rolling stock
  • An operations control centre and backup operations control centre, where staff control train operations in coordination with GO Transit and Toronto Transit Commission
  • Train operations, including an automated unattended train operation system
  • Systems, including track, communications, and traffic control systems
  • Fare equipment coordination with Presto

    Southern civil, stations and tunnel

On June 2, 2020, Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx issued an RFQ for the southern portion, part of the first phase of procurement for the Ontario Line. On November 9, 2022, the contract was awarded to Ontario Transit Group, with a projected completion date of 2030.
The contract included the design and construction of:
  • A tunnel through downtown Toronto from Exhibition GO to Don Yard portal
  • Seven stations, including four new standalone underground stations, two underground interchange stations and one above-ground station
  • Advance civil engineering work

    Pape tunnel and underground stations

On November 17, 2022, Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario issued an RFQ for the northern portion between Gerrard station and the Don Valley Bridge. On January 17, 2024, the contract was awarded to Pape North Connect.
The contract included the design and construction of:
  • of tunnel underneath Pape Avenue from the future Gerrard portal to the Don Valley bridge
  • Two underground stations – one standalone and one interchange
  • Advance civil engineering work prior to mechanical and electrical systems installation under RSSOM

    Elevated guideway and stations

On November 17, 2022, Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario issued an RFQ for the northern portion between the Don Valley Bridge and Don Valley station. On February 20, 2024, the contract was awarded to Trillium Guideway Partners.
The contract included the design and construction of:
  • of elevated guideway
  • Five elevated stations, including connections to Line 5 Eglinton at Don Valley
  • Advance civil engineering work before mechanical and electrical systems installation by the RSSOM contract

    Joint use corridor

In addition to the above contracts, there will also be a series of early-works projects for bridge, track and other preparatory activities to help advance the delivery of the Ontario Line primarily at two locations: Exhibition GO Station to Strachan portal and Don Yard portal to the future Gerrard Station. These contracts were procured traditionally by Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario.

Revision of estimates

In July 2019, the estimated completion date was 2027. By December 2020, the completion date had been revised to 2030. Metrolinx said that the original completion date was based on market conditions that since 2019 had changed dramatically. By November 2022, the completion date was being reported as 2031.
In 2019, the estimated design and construction cost of the line was expected to be $10.9billion. By November 2022, that estimate had nearly doubled to $17 to 19billion, including not only design and construction but also financing costs, operation, and maintenance. The provincial government claimed that the higher estimate was due to inflation and supply issues.
In late June 2024, a Metrolinx rapid transit project report showed the cost of the Ontario Line project had risen to $27.2billion to build and operate, a 43 percent increase from the 2022 estimate. The project had spent $5billion in construction costs, with almost $600million spent between January and April 2024.