Advance Tunnel for the Eglinton Crosstown West extension

In the Great Lakes region, the multicultural city of Toronto is moving toward notable structural transformations of its sustainable transport infrastructure. One of the most predominant is the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension, a future rapid transit line that will make it easier to travel across the City of Toronto and connect to the nearby city of Mississauga. Now the sixth largest city in Canada, its population has doubled over the past twenty years with over 700,000 residents in 2021 and targeting a million in 2040.

The ECWE will extend the Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit another 9.2 kilometres farther west, creating a creating a continuous line along Eglinton Avenue, from the east of Toronto as far west as Mississauga. The extension will run from the future Mount Dennis Station to Renforth Drive. The extension will also provide connections to other key transit lines, including the Union Pearson (UP) Express, GO Transit’s Kitchener line, as well as GO buses, TTC bus services in Toronto and and MiWay bus services in Mississauga. Plans are also being explored to connect the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension to Toronto Pearson International Airport.

The project aims to reduce traffic, travel times, and greenhouse gas emissions, offering a new option of highly sustainable travel. These are the significant advantages for the many commuters traveling each day in the Greater Toronto Area.

A Few Numbers

The advance tunnel contract involves the construction of various elements: the construction of launch and extraction shafts, twin tunnels roughly 6 kilometers long and 5.75 metres in diameter dug with two earth pressure balance tunnel boring machines, the cladding of the tunnels in prefabricated concrete elements, nine transversal tunnels, end walls for the seven future subway stations, as well as a vast program for the transfer and protection of existing services. 

The Eglinton Crosstown West Extension will attract 69,700 daily boardings by 2041, bring 37,500 more people and 23,600 more jobs within walking distance to transit, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5,800 tonnes a year.

“The operation of the two EPB TBMs will be demanding and challenging both from the geological conditions of the subsoil - ranging from solid shale to weak soil deposits with possible boulders - and from the urban setting environment. The company has deployed the best technologies and staff for a successful project, and we are proud to be here."

Dott. Geologist Emidio Tamburri, Tunnel Construction Manager