Winning names selected for Ontario Line tunnel boring machines

Libby and Corkie will carve out the first two Ontario Line subway tunnels.

Sept. 3 – Two new tunnel boring machines (TBMs) in the Metrolinx family have officially been named. 

Following a naming contest launched in June 2025 — which saw more than 900 submissions and over 1,000 votes cast — Metrolinx is excited to formally introduce Libby and Corkie.  

Jason Paris submitted the winning names as a tribute to two of the vibrant communities the Ontario Line subway will serve in the City of Toronto: Liberty Village and Corktown. Libby and Corkie will work alongside each other to dig about six kilometres of twin tunnels beneath the city’s downtown core.  

The TBMs arrived in Canada on June 9, 2025, at the Port of Oshawa. They were carefully unpacked and transferred to a storage facility, where they are currently being prepared for tunnelling.

Excavation is now complete at the tunnel launch shaft where Libby and Corkie will start their tunnelling journey in early 2026. Construction crews recently broke ground on the second tunnel launch shaft at Gerrard.  

Stay tuned for an opportunity to name the next set of TBMs that will tunnel the northern segment of the Ontario Line subway.  

For accredited journalists, you can contact our media team at mediarelations@metrolinx.com.  

For customers, please visit Metrolinx – Contact Us to contact the Community Engagement team.