Ontario unveiled its 2025 budget on May 15. Although it speaks of “Approximately $61 billion over 10 years for public transit”, by far the lion’s share of this spending is for projects already underway in the construction and design stages.
All of this is for capital expansion and renewal, and nothing has been announced for day-to-day improvement of transit service.
GO Transit
The budget cites:
- The Hamilton-Niagara through service connection at West Harbour Station which is already in service.
- The proposed Bowmanville extension which has been announced before, but is only barely underway at the “early works” stage. This extension has physical alignment issues.
- GO 2.0 includes “delivering all-day, two-way service to Kitchener and Milton, building new GO stations across the region and advancing planning to unlock potential new rail corridors through midtown Toronto, Etobicoke, York Region and Bolton.” There are no dates attached, and some of these have been on maps for a very long time. Notable by its absence is any mention of electrification.
- A total of $850 million to refurbish GO Transit rail coaches at the Thunder Bay Alstom the North Bay ONR facility. This work is already announced. The cars may receive convenience upgrades such as “charging plug ports, cup holders and improved Wi-Fi”, but the long-term retention of these cars indicates that the operating model for GO electrification, if and when it occurs, will have a large component of locomotive-hauled trains rather than electric multiple units.
Subways
Subway projects in the budget are:
- Ontario Line (under construction).
- Eglinton-Crosstown Western Extension (under construction).
- Yonge North to Richmond Hill (procurement underway).
- Sheppard Subway Extension (planning, consultation and business case preparation underway). Notable in the map below is the absence of a line east of McCowan where there is a conflict with the City’s Eglinton East LRT project and with maintenance yard property requirements.
- New subway cars for Line 2. Provincial funding for these trains has been in place for some time. What is not yet funded are trains for service expansion beyond pre-covid 2019 levels. Trains for the Yonge North and Scarborough extensions are included in those projects. The TTC is in the Request for Proposals process for new trains, but this has been skewed by provincial statements that the work should go to Alstom’s Thunder Bay plant.
Yes, they seem to have forgotten the Scarborough Subway Extension (now under construction) in the text although it is included in the map below..
East Harbour Transit Hub
The hub at East Harbour Station, near the point where the Lakeshore East GO line crosses the Don River, will eventually serve GO Transit, the Ontario Line, and the local streetcar/LRT system via the Broadview Avenue Extension and a link west via Commissioners Street.
A substantial portion of this project is funded by the City of Toronto as a remnant of John Tory’s “SmartTrack” plan.
Light Rail Projects
- Hamilton LRT: This is in early states with procurement underway for Civil Works and Utilities.
- Hazel McCallion (Mississauga) LRT: Construction is well underway for the initial phase of this project, and the Province is studying whether the extension into downtown Brampton should be tunneled.
- Ottawa LRT: The Province is studying a potential upload of the Ottawa LRT “to help reduce costs for Ottawa taxpayers”. What implications this might have for future network operation and expansion is not clear.
- Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRTs: “Major construction for both projects is now complete. Metrolinx continues to focus on safety and operational readiness testing, as the projects advance toward revenue service.” There is still no commitment to opening dates, and we are getting close to the three-month lead-time required for a go/no-go decision for an early fall 2025 start of service. Meanwhile, TTC has begun the process to update subway train announcements and maps to reflect the new lines.’
- There is no mention of the Eglinton East or Waterfront East projects. In a recent letter, Mayor Chow asked the Federal government to contribute 1/3 to these schemes, but there is no indication of support in the Provincial budget.
Steve Munro 
Black smoke rising from the Metrolinx chapel (boardroom) to announce: No decision yet on the opening date of Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRTs.
LikeLike
It is so refreshing to have you keeping an eye.
Steve: Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Is the proposed Lansdowne station on the Barrie Go line scrapped ? I can’t see it in the attached map….I think I saw some notice for construction near Bloor and Lansdowne many months back.
Steve: No. It is still on the City’s Official Plan “Map 4” (see update now in progress at p. 14), and it’s not the only one missing. In a previous version of this map, they forgot the Bowmanville extension.
LikeLike
Bloor West Subway extension from Kipling to Square One is urgently required. This must be prioritized over everything else.
LikeLike
Spending billions on highway capital projects and user fee reductions while spending more billions on highly questionable transit capital projects. The latter will be nullified by the impact of increased car dependency if all the automotive projects are actually implemented.
So much for “modern” Conservative fiscal responsibility or transportation intelligence. They have proven to be just as bad as the alternatives for close to half a century. It’s all about chasing votes with hollow and expensive promises that do nothing to improve the lives of Ontarians now. Toronto Star columnist Martin Regg Cohn’s latest opinion piece is accurately headlined “Doug Ford’s bad news budget reveals why he called an early election.”
LikeLike
You touched on GO2.O and silence from the electrification front. In a future article, would you shed some light on the Union Station electrification challenges perhaps even a deep dive? I don’t particularly think being handcuffed to heritage structure is a suitable answer to not increasing line capacity. The Shed could be moved and reborne to serve another purpose.
If were serious about electrification we should build for the future not glide in on battery locomotives.
LikeLike
According to his LinkedIn, Michael Schabas is involved in the GO RER program, and if he is, that would explain why we might end up with a crappy half-assed train system like we will with the Ontario RT line.
Steve: Yes, he is one of the “consultants” who is ever-present mucking up Toronto’s transit plans.
LikeLike
Too bad nothing about Waterloo Regions ION extension, I suspect this project may fall by the way side for 50 years due to the cost.
LikeLike
Schabas is a busy boy. He’s also an advisor to Premier Daffy Danielle’s Trains of Every Type to Everywhere fantasy in Alberta. I wonder how she could be sold on automated mini-metros for Calgary, Edmonton, Oatmeal Centre, Coyote’s Fang, etc.
LikeLike
Everyone’s pet project is urgently required and must be prioritised over everyone else’s but if it’s an emergency, then please call 911 immediately. Thank you.
LikeLike
CUP HOLDERS ON GO TRAINS! Thank the heavens!
LikeLike
Dundas station is being renamed after Ryerson Metropolitan University, this will cost 2 million dollars only. That’s a bargain price, it’s a good deal but why no funding has been announced for this?
Steve: TMU is paying for it.
LikeLike
ONxpress is apparently now out of GO RER for good. This will surely delay the program for a good while. Another sterling example of Metrolinx/Ford government management competence.
Steve: Yes, that project has obviously been in trouble for some time given the lack of regular media events and the delay of the takeover by DB of operations that was supposed to occur in January.
How much will it take for the Ford government to realize what a bunch of bumbling fools Metrolinx is? The sad part is that this probably means they will focus on highways.
LikeLike
> How much will it take for the Ford government to realize what a bunch of bumbling fools Metrolinx is? The sad part is that this probably means they will focus on highways.
Err … um … The Bumbling Fools will likely think that another group of Bumbling Fools are the smartest folks in Doug Ford’s
AmericaOntario.LikeLike
Yes, most of the megaprojects are suspect spending, except Eglinton, tho when will it be open? I guess burying a few billion means we’re obligated to bury even more billions, sigh, and too bad there’s not the political will to do surface-priority transit, including on the Gatineau hydro corridor, which might connect from the 401 to Eglinton, in theory.
$igh, but they’re only tax dollars.
LikeLike
I drove by the car house entrance on Hurontario to the Hazel McCallion line MSF and they were busy ripping up the concrete on the access curve on Hurontario. Another job well done by your treasury men in action.
LikeLike
The fact that there is no opening date for the crosstown means there is a lawsuit incoming. The Finch West LRT lawsuit has started and there are no signs that there will be a resolution. I can’t see the Crosstown not having a lawsuit given that it is in worse shape than Finch West.
LikeLike