Toronto's new game-changing subway line just passed a huge milestone

Tunnelling has officially kicked off for the new Ontario Line subway that will carve through Toronto and bring rapid transit to another 230,000 local residents.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow were on hand Thursday morning to announce the official start of tunnelling work for the hotly anticipated Ontario Line, a 15.6-kilometre subway route that will add 15 stations and more than 40 transit connections to the TTC subway network.

The announcement marks a major step forward for the line, kicking off a years-long crawl for twin tunnel boring machines which will carve a path as deep as 40 metres below downtown Toronto to form the initial section of tunnels between Exhibition Station and the Don River.

"The start of tunnelling is a historic milestone for the Ontario Line, which, once complete, will help cut travel times for commuters across Toronto by 40 minutes," said Premier Doug Ford, adding that the provincial government "will continue to fight gridlock and keep workers on the job by leading the largest expansion of public transit in North America."

Tunnelling work is launching from Exhibition Station, which will serve as the southern terminus of the line, featuring platforms and station entrances on either side of the rail corridor — providing links with the GO Transit network and serving more than 12,000 passengers during peak hours.

Ontario Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria hails this "major milestone" as bringing the province "another step closer to delivering world-class transit for people across the GTA while supporting thousands of good-paying jobs."

The downtown tunnelled section will feature underground stations throughout the downtown core, which are all now being readied for the arrival of tunnel boring machines.

Excavation work is now complete at stations in the King West, Moss Park, and Distillery District neighbourhoods, while a station in Chinatown is almost complete with its dig.

Formerly known as Queen-Spadina Station, the new underground stop at this major intersection has been renamed "Chinatown Station."

Tonny Louie, Chair of the Chinatown BIA, welcomes the renaming, stating that "Naming Chinatown Station honours the Chinese railroad workers who laid tracks from sea to sea, binding Canada together."

"Their hands built the very routes that made this station possible — yet their names have long been absent from the landmarks they helped create. Chinatown Station will finally give history its proper stop."