After several months of study and assessment, Metrolinx has selected a site in East York as the location of a train maintenance and storage facility to support the Ontario Line subway.

The organization made the announcement on April 8.

A critical component of the new subway line, the storage facility will be built on a 175,000-square metre site east of Laird Drive, between Overlea Boulevard and Wicksteed Avenue. The facility will be used to store as many as 250 trains when they are not in use, and to inspect, clean and maintain the vehicles.

“Confirming the location of the maintenance and storage facility is an important step in bringing the vision for the Ontario Line to life,” says Metrolinx project sponsor Malcolm MacKay. “When the facility goes into service, the work that happens there will help us give customers rapid transit that is safe, clean and reliable.”

Metrolinx assessed nine potential sites for the facility. It arrived on the site in the southeast portion of the Leaside Business Park because studies showed that location would minimize impacts on the local community while meeting all project requirements.

Planning teams studied how quickly and easily each site would connect to the main Ontario Line tracks, the ability to expand to meet Toronto’s future transit needs, and how impacts on residents, businesses and the surrounding environment could be minimized—both during construction and after the maintenance facility goes into service.

“We care about the communities we serve and we know how important local businesses are to them,” says Jason Ryan, vice president of pre-construction services for Metrolinx. “Given the difficulties many of them have been facing recently, we’ll be challenging ourselves to go the extra mile to come up with creative solutions—a suite of customized supports to help them adjust, and hopefully relocate nearby if they wish.”

The organization will host an open house with the public on the facility, and is inviting feedback from the public.

“Community feedback is vital in helping us continue to move the project forward in the best way possible and to help us know how we can help you throughout the course of the project,” says MacKay.