ONxpress to Serve as Go Transit Operations and Maintenance Partner
Written by Carolina Worrell, Senior Editor
Metrolinx photo
Metrolinx recently announced that ONxpress Operations Inc. (OOI), a member of ONxpress Transportation Partners (ONxpress), will serve as the new operations and maintenance partner for the agency’s GO Transit system in the Greater Golden Horseshoe Area over a 23-year term, beginning Jan. 1, 2025.
ONxpress is a consortium comprised of Aecon, FCC Construcción S.A. (FCC), Deutsche Bahn International Operations and Alstom. Each partner holds a 25% interest in ONxpress and Aecon Concessions holds a 28% interest in OOI, a partnership with Deutsche Bahn International Operations.
Through OOI, ONxpress will operate and maintain the trains, work with Metrolinx on train service planning and in the network operation center, introduce new operational technology and process solutions, and provide maintenance services for new assets, such as electrification and signaling.
This is an important milestone for OnCorr, the second and largest piece of the GO Expansion program, as one of two proposals making up the development phase, according to Metrolinx.
“We are pleased to reach this important milestone and look forward to playing a key role in providing improved and expanded train service across the GO Transit network,” said Aecon Group Inc. President and CEO Jean-Louis Servranckx. “Aecon’s role in building, operating and maintaining this project demonstrates our multidisciplinary expertise in delivering complex infrastructure solutions.”
Aecon says it also holds a 50% interest in the project’s civil construction partnership with FCC, which is advancing work to finalize another contract by the end of 2024 for the design and construction scope of the OnCorr project. Early construction activities are ongoing, and the development phase will conclude upon finalizing this contract.
By 2041, the GO service area (which includes the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Region (GTHA), Kitchener-Waterloo, Barrie, and Niagara) is expected to grow to more than 12 million people, according to Metrolinx.
With much of the transportation network already congested and travel demand expected to increase by more than 50%, the agency says there is a need for transit systems to “get people where they need to go, better, faster and easier.”
According to Metrolinx, the GO Expansion program “will bring more train service by delivering new transit infrastructure and operations that will reduce journey times and add more passenger capacity.”
“The GO Expansion program is already transforming our region in ways greater than previously imagined,” the agency stated in a release.
“With $11 billion of work currently under way to add more stations, more track, and enhance the customer experience across the network, customers are already benefiting from upgraded new and upgraded stations, including Agincourt, Bloomington, Cooksville, Kipling, Milliken, Old Elm, Rutherford and Unionville GO,” Metrolinx added.
