The TBMs, which will dig the tunnels for the Scarborough Subway Extension and the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension in Toronto, arrived at the ports of Oshawa and Hamilton in mid-December 2021.   

The machine that will dig the 7.8 km Scarborough Subway Extension, was loaded onto a massive cargo ship, called Jumbo Vision, left Dutch shores in Westdorpe on 26/11/2021, travelled across the Atlantic Ocean, into the St. Lawrence Seaway, and eventually down to Lake Ontario, before docking at the port of Oshawa. The pieces for the Scarborough Subway Extension have been transported to the launch shaft site in at Sheppard Avenue and McCowan Road in Scarborough.  

The two TBMs that will dig the 6.5-km tunnels between Renforth Drive and Scarlett Road for the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension left Antwerp on 20/11/2021, before taking a similar path across the Atlantic Ocean, down the St. Lawrence Seaway, before arriving at the port of Hamilton.    

Last week, the team lowered by crane into the tunnel launch shaft at Renforth the  front shield of the first Eglinton Crosstown West Extension’s TBM.   

The rest of the TBM parts are scheduled to arrive this month. Once all the parts are on site, the team will start the process of assembling the machines, a process that takes months. 

Communities along the Scarborough Subway Extension and Eglinton Crosstown West Extension submitted names for the newest members of the Metrolinx TBM family. Over 340 submissions were received for both projects during the first phase of the contest, which closed on 19/11/2021.  Up until the 22/12/2021 the community voted on the following shortlists of names picked by the contests’ judging panels: 

• Scarlett and Ren, Squirrel and Beaver, Tobi & Sauga, Rexy and Renny, Richie and Rosie for the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension; 
• Diggy Scardust, Scar-burrow, Scarbie SX, Rouge and Elizabeth for the Scarborough Subway Extension.  

The winners names will be announced late in January. For more information about the two projects click here, ca/36 and ca/39 or tunnelbuilder. For the latest information on the project visit  metrolinx.com/ScarboroughSubway, metrolinx.com/EglintonWest and https://www.infrastructureontario.ca. 03/22.