Ottawa antes up for new subway cars

By Ghazal Fatima

The federal government has announced their plan to invest $758 million to help replace old subway trains on Toronto's Line 2 (the Bloor-Danforth line), as part of its $30 billion Canada Public Transit Fund. Today, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland made the announcement, emphasizing the crucial role of public transit in the city’s future.

“We know how important the TTC is, we know that more than two million people a day rely on this important subway, and we know that Toronto is growing, and we need to have public transit that grows with the needs of our growing city,” Freeland said during a news conference in Toronto.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, who joined Freeland at the announcement, called the funding a “generational, once-in-a-lifetime” investment in the city’s transit system. Chow said that Line 2 is an essential corridor for Torontonians, carrying three times the number of people who use the Gardiner Expressway each day. She also acknowledged the concerns many riders have voiced about the aging trains, which are often unreliable, slow, and prone to delays due to outdated equipment.

"You know, a lot of the riders have been saying "The Line 2 subway cars are old, sometimes not the most reliable. Sometimes it’s a slow down. Sometimes all the signals may not be working perfectly," Chow said. "This historic investment in transit will provide needed subway cars on Line 2, moving people affordably today and preparing for future population and economic growth."

This new funding will be added to the $1.52 billion previously promised by the city of Toronto and the province of Ontario to purchase 55 new subway trains for Line 2. The trains will be 30 years old in 2026, nearing the end of their design life and this has been a growing concern for transit authorities. The new trains are expected to be available until 2030.

The new funding is part of a larger $1.2 billion allocation over the next decade aimed at supporting the TTC through the Canada Public Transit Fund. Freeland further announced that the new trains would be built in Thunder Bay, creating jobs and boosting the local economy. At least $300 million of the announced funds will be used for the operation of the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West Light Rail Transit (LRT) projects, both of which are still under construction and not yet operational.

However, interim TTC CEO Greg Percy confirmed that the request for Proposal (RFP) for the new trains has not yet been released, meaning that the arrival of the new vehicles may not happen until 2030.