Metrolinx’s two tunnel boring machines (TBMs), Rexy and Renny, have finished excavating the tunnels for the western underground segment of the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension after two years of work. The project will bring future Eglinton Crosstown light-rail transit (LRT) service 9.2 kilometers (5.7 miles) farther west, with seven new stations along the way.
The 750-metric ton, 131-meter-long (429.8-foot-long) machines excavated to construct two parallel tunnels stretching 6.3 kilometers (3.9 miles) from Renforth Drive in Mississauga, Ontario, to west of Scarlett Road in Etobicoke, where the future line will come to the surface and transition to a 1.5-kilometer (0.93 miles) elevated section. Renny broke through the final wall and emerged from the tunnel at the extraction shaft in May, approximately three weeks after Rexy reached the finish line.
Along the way, Metrolinx notes Rexy and Renny excavated approximately 1.2 million metric tons of soil and rock and installed a total of more than 52,000 pre-cast concrete segments to build 7,433 sturdy rings to support the tunnel walls.
Work will now continue at the extraction shaft to lay the foundations and form the structure of the future tunnel portal. During the months to come, Metrolinx says crews will finish up work on the passageways that connect the tunnels.
Along the route between Scarlett Road and Jane Street, work is happening to prepare sites for construction of the elevated segment, which will run along the north side of Eglinton Avenue West. Crews are also preparing work sites from east of Jane Street and Mount Dennis Station to excavate the eastern underground section of the line, which will connect the extension to future Eglinton Crosstown LRT service.
