Toronto's downtown relief subway line could be finished 2 years early

Toronto mayor John Tory announced Thursday morning that the city's long awaited (and desperately needed) downtown relief subway line might be finished by 2029.

Sure, that's still a decade away, but completion was initially scheduled for 2031—and 10 years are better than 12, right?

That's two years less of annoying construction. Two years less of dangerous overcrowding. Two years less of people griping about how puny our subway system is compared to other major cities. And it'll only cost the TTC an extra $162 million...this year.

"People have made it very clear to us, and we understand, as do the experts, that we need relief when it comes to our transit system," said Tory during a press conference at Pape Station this morning.

Proud to be at Pape Station this morning to talk about the TTC's proposal to speed up the Relief Line timeline by two years. pic.twitter.com/ba6v15gQDp

— John Tory (@JohnTory) January 17, 2019

"That's been clear in every poll conducted on transit," the mayor continued. "It's been clear in every expert report and it was very clear in terms of what the people had to say to us at the time of the last election."

To accelerate construction, Tory said that $325 million would need to be added to the TTC's capital budget over the next two years— a pittance, really, contrasted against the project's total expected cost of at least $6.8 billion.

The money would go towards such things as technical equiment and utility relocation, should City Council approve the modified 2019 TTC budget.

Once complete, the downtown relief subway line will provide a direct link between Osgoode and Pape Stations, hopefully alleviating some congestion on the busy Yonge-University-Spadina line.