Have your say: Help name the Ontario Line tunnel boring machines
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Metrolinx launches naming contest for Ontario Line subway tunnel boring machines
June 9 – Transit fans in Toronto are getting a chance to make their mark on transit history.
Metrolinx has launched a naming contest for the giant tunnel boring machines (TBMs) that will dig the tunnels in the southern—or downtown—portion of the Ontario Line subway project between Exhibition Station and the Don River.
After being put together, tested and taken apart in Schwanau, Germany, a little town over 6,000 kilometres away from Toronto, the first two of four project TBMs have arrived in Canada.
The Ontario Line twin TBMs assembled at the manufacturing plant in Schwanau, Germany. (Metrolinx photo)
Metrolinx is accepting names for these titans of tunnelling until June 23. Need some inspiration? Think about local landmarks and history, famous individuals and places, or something unique about the communities these TBMs will travel through. Submissions can also include pairs of related names.
After the submission period closes on June 23, community members can vote on their top choices. Winners of the naming contest will be credited and have the chance be part of a photo-op with these mammoth machines at the TBM tunnel launch shaft.
Work is well underway at the launch shaft just east of Exhibition Station, where Metrolinx broke ground in November 2024 to prepare for the arrival of the TBMs this fall.
Site of the Ontario Line tunnel launch shaft under construction east of Exhibition Station. (Metrolinx photo)
The 16-metre-deep shaft will become the starting point for the two TBMs, which will dig a roughly six-kilometre pair of twin tunnels under Toronto’s bustling downtown core.
To submit names and read the rules for the Ontario Line naming contest, visit metrolinx.com/NameOurTBMs.
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.