Following a contest launched earlier this year — which saw more than 900 submissions and over 1,000 votes cast — two Ontario Line tunnel boring machines (TBMs) received new names: Libby and Corkie.                                                                                                             

The TBMs, which arrived in Canada at the Port of Oshawa in June, will work alongside each other to dig about six kilometres of twin tunnels beneath the city’s downtown core.

Toronto resident Jason Paris submitted the winning names as a tribute to two of the vibrant communities the Ontario Line subway will serve in the city: Liberty Village and Corktown.

Paris, a long-time transit enthusiast, also happens to be the author of two other TBM names: Dennis and Lea, which helped dig tunnels for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT (Line 5 Eglinton).

“I looked at the portals where the underground sections of each line begin and end and brainstormed names inspired by nearby neighbourhoods,” says Paris.

“For example, the portal on the west end was in Mount Dennis, a neighbourhood in the old City of York, so I called it Dennis. The portal on the east end was in Leaside, which gave me the name Lea.”

For the Ontario Line TBMs, Paris once again looked at the neighbourhoods where the underground portals would begin and end. After some brainstorming, he landed on Libby for Liberty Village and Corkie to reference Corktown. “I went back and forth [on the spelling for Corkie] and then I think I went with the ‘ie’ because it sounded slightly cuter,” says Paris. 

He's thrilled with the winning result, especially as a resident of Corktown and long-time transit enthusiast. Paris believes the future Ontario Line subway will help Toronto’s transit system build resiliency. “If something happens on Line 2, there's another way to get downtown. If something happens on Line 1… it may not be the most direct way, but there will be another way to get downtown,” says Paris.

“This [project] unlocks Toronto's potential to be the city it can be,” says Paris.