Toronto Tunnel Partners, the consortium that is helping to expand the Kitchener GO line, has completed excavation of one of two rail tunnels underneath highways 401 and 409.

Kinga Surma, the province’s Associate Minister of Transportation, made the announcement on August 6.

"Reaching 100 percent excavation of tunnel one marks a major milestone for the rail tunnels project," she said. "This priority project is part of the Ontario government's commitment to expand GO rail service and to deliver better, faster and more frequent rapid transit throughout the province's GO Transit network."

The breakthrough for the first of two 180-metre tunnels is the latest progress achievement since the start of construction. The project, which is a key element of turning the Kitchener GO line into a two-way, all-day rail service, includes construction of two rail tunnels under 21 live lanes of highways 401 and 409. The tunnels will accommodate two additional tracks, future signaling and communications infrastructure to help increase capacity on the Kitchener corridor and support more frequent rail service on the line.

Excavation work on the second tunnel is expected to be completed before the end of this year. The total value of the contract for the two tunnels is approximately $117 million.

"The GO Expansion program and increased capacity along the Kitchener GO Line is about building a modern, comprehensive transit service that offers vast improvements to our network, changing the way residents travel across the region and allow us to bring more trains and more service that our customers deserve," said Metrolinx president and CEO Phil Verster. "In a post-COVID world, two-way, regular train services are going to be even more important than before and this is particularly true for how we serve all our communities along the Kitchener line."

The Toronto Tunnel Partners consortium comprises such companies as EllisDon, STRABAG Inc. and WSP Canada. 

"I would like to commend Toronto Tunnel Partners for their great work and innovative engineering solutions under one of North America's busiest highway stretches," said Infrastructure Ontario president and CEO Ehren Cory. "This marks another important milestone in our program with Metrolinx to transform GO service in the GTHA to provide two-way, all-day commuter service."

The tunneling project is one of more than 20 major projects currently under construction to support the province's GO Rail Expansion program that will transform GO rail into a two-way, all-day rapid transit service every 15 minutes on core segments of the network.