Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit

10 kilometres
of twin tunnels

Largest transit expansion project
in Toronto's history

60% faster
than existing on-street buses

Challenge

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT will cut across central Toronto for 19 kilometres, with about 10 kilometres of tunnels and 25 stations or stops.
The tunnel alignment runs close to more than 1,200 existing buildings, as well as buried and surface utilities and equipment.
A very narrow right-of-way requires us to pay close attention to issues of private property, treatment of utilities, and traffic management.

Solution

We provided detailed design of the twin tunnels for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.
The tunnels, developed by Hatch under a separate design contract, use a six-segment universal ring arrangement. They are being mined by four earth-pressure-balance tunnel-boring machines procured by the owner to specifications provided.
Developed reference-concept designs for the Mount Dennis, Avenue, Mount Pleasant, Bayview, Laird, and Don Mills stations, and the at-grade section of the LRT between Brentcliffe Road and Ionview Road.

Highlights

The design work was performed under a compressed 16-month design schedule.
Jet-grouted headwalls were built at mine-through stations to minimize the number of times utilities have to be handled during the LRT construction.
Remaining work on the LRT line, such as the underground stations, surface stops, all trackwork and systems will be procured under a public-private partnership (P3) procurement scheme.
In joint venture, we are helping Metrolinx manage the P3 procurement process and assure compliance of the deliverables with the P3 contract requirements.

“Working with Hatch during the development of reference concept design of six underground stations and associated studies, with very tight time constraints, resulted in a very close working relationship between the two organizations. We developed an integrated and cooperative team atmosphere and had fun while we did it. The result was a very impressive body of work that came in on time and on budget and was very well received by all project stakeholders.”

Frank Altomarre | Senior Project Manager, Metrolinx

Project numbers

16-month compressed design schedule
19 km of track
10 km of tunnels
1,200 existing buildings situated near tunnel alignment
25 stations and stops