Canada commits funds to Toronto Relief Line

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor
image description
Riders crowd onto a Yonge subway train.
City of Toronto/TTC

The government of Canada pledged CA$27 million (US$19.54 million) toward Toronto's planned Relief Line, but the city's Mayor John Tory requested a provincial financial commitment to secure the project's future.

The Relief Line is a proposal to alleviate overcrowding on the Yonge Subway Line, considered the backbone of the Toronto’s transit system, and provide riders with more travel options. The federal government funds will be provided through the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund and will support the planning and preliminary design of the line.

“I’m glad to see the federal government coming to the table with much-needed transit funding. This planning funding – coupled with the city’s investment – helps us get to work on planning the relief line. The city of Toronto is ready to keep building transit for the future and looks forward to working with our federal and provincial partners to make that construction a reality for our residents,” said Mayor Tory.

Ontario is providing more than CA$150 million (US$111.14 million) to advance planning and design work for the relief line as part of the Moving Ontario Forward plan. The city of Toronto will also be contributing more than CA$27 million (US$19.54 million) to the next phase of planning and design work for the project, which is in addition to CA$4 million (US$2.96 million) already spent on the relief line planning work.

This project will advance the planning and design of the Toronto City Council approved alignment for the relief line from Pape Avenue and Danforth Avenue to downtown via Queen Street East. Planning for the Relief Line South is a city of Toronto and Toronto Transit Commission priority transit expansion project. Current demand forecasts indicate that the Relief Line South is required by 2031, when Line 1 will be at its capacity of 36,000 passengers per hour per direction.

“This investment will not have a real and lasting impact for Canadians unless the province is involved,” said Mayor Tory. “While the province of Ontario has invested CA$150 million to help plan the relief line, we thank them for that, we need them to commit to partnership on the construction of the transit project and the continued expansion of our network across Toronto. I am asking for a steadfast commitment from the province that they will be financial partners in the building of the Relief Line.”

For more on Toronto area rail projects, visit IRJ Pro.

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