RFQ issued for second Eglinton tunnel project
Infrastructure Ontario (IO) and Metrolinx have released a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the second Advance Tunnel Contract package on the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension – between Jane Street and the future Mount Dennis Station.
The Eglinton Crosstown West Extension is a 9.2-kilometre extension of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT (future TTC Line 5). The extension will run mostly underground, westward from the future Mount Dennis station to Renforth Drive.
“Since breaking ground on this priority project in July, we’ve made remarkable progress on the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension,” said Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney. “Ontario is more committed than ever to working with our partners to build subways faster.”
The province will also release a pre-qualification for the transit project’s elevated section of tracks from Scarlett Road to Jane Street in the coming weeks. Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx will evaluate the submissions and announce a shortlist of qualified proponents for both contracts in spring of 2022.
Those announcements will be followed by a separate contract for the balance of the work, which includes building the stations, fitting-out the tunnels and installing and commissioning the systems.
The Advanced Tunnel Contract 1, which calls for approximately six kilometres of tunnelling from Renforth Drive to Scarlett Road, is currently under construction. IO and Metrolinx awarded that contract in May to the West End Connectors P3 team, which includes Aecon Infrastructure Management Inc., Dragados Canada Inc., and Ghella Canada Ltd.
“Today’s announcement marks an important milestone in the progress of the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension,” said federal Infrastructure Minister Dominic LeBlanc. “As the project takes shape, it brings us closer to our goal of giving more residents across the Greater Toronto Area access to clean, modern and reliable public transit.”
The extension is one of four priority transit projects announced by the province in 2019 for the Greater Toronto Area. The other three projects include the Scarborough Subway Extension, the Ontario Line project and the Yonge North Subway Extension.
In May, the Government of Canada announced their commitment to fund up to 40 percent of eligible costs for Ontario’s four priority subway projects in the GTA, including the Ontario Line, the three-stop Scarborough Subway Extension, the Yonge North Subway Extension and the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension. Federal funding for the Yonge North Subway Extension is conditional on federal Treasury Board approval.