LRT tunnelling machines resurface above Eglinton
Metrolinx says work on 15 underground stations is now underway
Part of a massive boring machine was pulled from beneath Toronto streets Monday morning, signalling the start of a new phase of construction of the Eglinton-Crosstown light rail project.
Now work begins building stations and putting rail tracks into the newly carved underground pathways.
The $5.3-billion LRT project, one of the largest construction works in the province’s history, was initially set to be ready by late 2020, but the date has been pushed back to 2021.
Anne Marie Aikins, a spokesperson for the Metrolinx transit authority, said Monday that work is on track to meet that deadline.
After a decade of construction, the new line along Eglinton Ave. is expected to have 25 stations that will link to dozens of bus routes, several subway stations and GO Transit.
To start pulling a piece of the tunnel machine above ground, traffic briefly came to a halt on Eglinton Ave. near Yonge St. A circular hunk of the 10metre long, 6.5-metre wide, 400tonne digging behemoth was then lifted out by a large crane.
The piece belonged to a machine called “Don,” one of four tunnelling devices that have been burrowing below the city streets on the project.
Last August, “Don” finished its 3.3-kilometre stint digging the north LRT tunnel, after starting from Brentcliffe Rd. in September 2015.
Aikins said beyond being a “spectacle” to witness, the extraction of the tunnelling machines is a visual reminder that the project is making progress. “We know the community has been through a lot and they are continuing to go through a lot,” Aikins said.
“This neighbourhood, they’re impacted. You can’t build the largest transit project in the country, one of the largest in North America, without it being disruptive. We know that.”
Aikins said work on building 15 underground stations is already underway.
John Brown, who was responsible for leading the project’s tunnelling work, said the job was pretty standard for a tunnelling project, but that the site’s placement in the middle of a city made things more challenging.
“It’s the urban aspect. We’re pretty much at the junction at Yonge and Eglinton, so that’s the part that makes it a little more interesting and a little bit more of a feat,” Brown said.