Metrolinx, the Government of Ontario’s transit funding, planning and construction agency, recently announced cutbacks to the Hurontario Light Rail project in. The stated reason for the changes was to help reduce Ontario’s multi-billion-dollar budget deficit.
Ottawa (Ontario) City Council, in a landmark 19-3 vote, has approved Stage 2 of the city’s Confederation Line LRT project, as well as a crucial extension to the Trillium Diesel Multiple Unit operation. This represents the largest capital project in the National Capital’s history. However, Stage 1 of the Confederation Line continues to experience delays. Meanwhile, in Alberta Province, the Government of Canada, through its agency Infrastructure Canada, recently announced federal funding totaling more than C$1 billion for two Edmonton LRT projects.
Work on Toronto’s 12-mile (19-kilometer) Eglinton Crosstown LRT project, the city’s largest, is heading toward the last lap. The line is scheduled to open in September 2021.
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) and the City of Toronto recently announced that commencement of construction of the Downtown Relief Subway would be moved up by two years, perhaps to 2020. The plan would require the city committing C$325 million for design and engineering work, property acquisition, utilities relocation, etc., as well as equipment procurement and contracts tendering. Given this priority, the Relief Subway could be carrying its first passengers by 2029.
The first Bombardier Flexity Freedom LRV for Toronto’s new Eglinton Crosstown LRT arrived Tuesday, Jan. 8., on the property. Meanwhile, delivery of the Toronto Transit Commission’s much-delayed order of Flexity Outlook LRVs has improved since the opening in 2018 of a second production line at the company’s Millhaven, Ont., plant.
Design and planning work continues on Hamilton’s 10-mile (14-kilometer) LRT line, despite ongoing political uncertainty over the project’s future. Meanwhile, the planned and approved expansion of GO Train service to Grimsby, St. Catherines and Niagara Falls has experienced a recent potential setback. And on Oct. 30, the author, representing Railway Age, visited the Bombardier Transportation rail division plant at Millhaven, Ontario, located a short distance west of Kingston.
Rick Leary, recently confirmed as CEO of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), is an American who made the move to Canada from Boston’s Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA, or “T”), initially with a 4-1/2 year stint running York Region Transit (YRT), on Toronto’s northern border.
Opening of Ottawa’s C$2.1 billion Confederation LRT line has been delayed to the first quarter of 2019 from November 2018, OC Transpo General Manager-Transportation John Manconi recently announced.
Rick Leary has been confirmed as Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), following an earlier recommendation by the board. He was chosen from a lengthy list of Canadian and international applicants.
The Ontario Provincial Government—now run by Premier Doug Ford, brother of the late Rob Ford, Toronto’s scandal-plagued former mayor— is planning to take over Toronto’s subway and Scarborough Rapid Transit system, currently owned and operated by the Toronto Transit Commission, totaling 48 route-miles.