GTA tunneling machines arrive in Ontario
The three tunnel boring machines (TBM) destined for work on two of the GTA transit projects have arrived on Ontario soil.
After a two-week journey across the Atlantic from Germany, the machines arrived at the Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority’s (HOPA Ports) Ontario ports on December 16.
The Scarborough Subway Extension TBM, which measures 12 metres in diameter, was delivered to the Port of Oshawa. The other two, which measure 6.5 metres each in diameter and will be used for the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension project, were delivered to the Port of Hamilton.
The machines are so large, they have to be loaded into vessels in pieces for assembly at their final destinations.
Scarborough’s TBM, weighing in at 2,000 tonnes, will help build the largest subway tunnel in Toronto’s transit history. The machine arrived at the Port of Oshawa aboard the heavy load carrier Jumbo Vision, where over the course of an entire week longshoremen will discharge the vessel and the TBM piece by piece.
Come spring, the Scarborough TBM will begin burrowing a single 7.8km-long tunnel – from Sheppard and McCowan to Kennedy Station – clearing an underground pathway for the three-stop Scarborough Subway Extension. Due for completion in 2030, the project will make it even more convenient and comfortable for Scarborough residents to travel back and forth to the downtown core.
The twin TBM cutter heads bound for the Eglinton Crosstown West project came through the port of Hamilton aboard the Federal Delta, handled by stevedore Federal Marine Terminals.
The Eglinton Crosstown West Extension, expected to be complete in 2030–2031, will extend the Eglinton Crosstown LRT another 9.2 kilometres farther west through Etobicoke and into Mississauga. The TBMs arriving through the Port of Hamilton will tunnel the section between Renforth Drive and Scarlett Road.
“Projects like the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension and the Scarborough Subway Extension will not only benefit the communities where they are being built, but the region as a whole,” said Phil Verster, Metrolinx President and CEO. “We’re happy to see these incredible machines arrive through local ports in Hamilton and Oshawa as part of their journeys to their respective launch sites.”
As bookends to the Greater Golden Horseshoe, Oshawa and Hamilton’s ports are key gateways to the most densely populated area of Southern Ontario and the country’s busiest construction zone.