Ontario Construction Report staff writer
Metrolinx has launched a naming contest for the pair of massive tunnel boring machines (TBMs) that will carve out the southern section of the Ontario Line subway project through downtown Toronto.
Community members are invited to submit creative names for the TBMs through an online survey open until June 23. The transit agency is encouraging the public to draw inspiration from local landmarks, historical figures, cultural references, or distinctive features of the communities the TBMs will pass under. Since the machines will work in tandem, twin-themed names are welcome.
The Ontario Line will add 15 stations from Exhibition Place to the Ontario Science Centre. The full trip is expected to take less than 30 minutes—less than half the current time it takes using existing transit routes.
Excavation started near Exhibition Station where a 16-metre-deep shaft is the starting point for two TBMs that will dig a roughly six-kilometre pair of twin tunnels — the first subway tunnel project to start in Toronto’s downtown core in more than 60 years.
Two twin tunnels created by the TBMs will run from just east of Exhibition Station to just west of the Don River. Following tunnelling, the launch shaft will become the portal where Ontario Line trains will transition, travelling east, from above to below ground.
= Metrolinx will release a shortlist of proposed names for a public vote. Winners will be credited and invited to participate in a photo opportunity with the machines at the tunnel launch shaft.
Metrolinx began excavation for the TBM launch site last November, digging a 16-metre-deep shaft just east of Exhibition Station. The two machines will dig parallel six-kilometre tunnels stretching to an area just west of the Don River, forming the southern segment of the new subway line.
To submit names and read the rules for the Ontario Line naming contest, visit metrolinx.com/NameOurTBMs.