Ontario’s new metropolitan transportation plan for Greater Toronto and Hamilton area envisages further interventions on four lines in the Toronto area, one of which is the extension of the 9.2 km-long Eglinton Crosstown West Line, between Mount Dennis and Renforth Drive, with a possible connection to Toronto Pearson International Airport.
In this project, TYPSA is responsible for the design and certification of construction and other services for 6.3 km of twin-tube tunnel along Eglinton Avenue West, between Scarlett Road and Renforth Drive, together with the associated structures. The tunnels have a diameter of 5.75m with a coating of 275mm, built with an EPB tunnelling machine. This is a complex operation due to the majority of the excavation being in rock, with 2.3 km of granular soils and two 500m sections of mixed composition. An added complexity is the track running under a residential area with numerous homes and other sensitive infrastructures.
Sergey Zybarev, Eglinton tunnel supervisor
The project developers are Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario, also involving the City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Committee (TTC), with TYPSA as the engineers in the WEC construction consortium (Dragados/Aecon/Ghella). The client prioritised quality, fast delivery, and minimisation of urban impact, which has been a challenge given the complex geology, dealt with by TYPSA from the outset, facilitating designs ahead of schedule, allowing the contractor to start producing segments four months after signing the initial contract and assemble the tunnelling machines only nine months after the start date.
To date, the project has made significant progress with one tunnel already completed and the other expected to be completed in the coming weeks, well ahead of schedule, as the initial completion date of the project was estimated for December 2025. This success represents a major advance in Canadian rail practices to which TYPSA is contributing significantly, with participation in other important projects such as an adjacent elevated section of the ECWE LRT line.
Launch Shaft for the First Tunnelling Machine, Eglinton Advance Tunnel Toronto (6.5 km). Jaime Martín Cermeno, representing West End Connectors Consortium, with our colleague Fernando Canales
TYPSA began its activity in Canada in 2017, obtaining its first commissions for support services in the Toronto metro extension, based on its wide experience in metropolitan systems worldwide, and participating in various RFPs (request for proposal) such as those of Lake Shore West in Toronto, and West Valley LRT in Edmonton, Alberta, with great success in the Eglinton Crosstown West Line extension in Toronto. Currently, TYPSA continues to participate in tenders such as the Yonge North Advance Tunnel, and provide design services for the On-Corridor Commuters project and Ontario Line Rail & Systems in Toronto.
