First Ontario Line tunnel boring machine reaches King West station

Libby, one of two machines boring the downtown tunnels of Toronto's Ontario Line, broke through at the future King West station after about 1.3 km. The federal government announced the milestone on 6 November, while the second machine, Corkie, is expected in December.

Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada said in a release dated Toronto, 6 November, that this was "the first time a TBM has reached a station on the new subway line". Libby began tunnelling in April 2026 from a launch shaft east of Exhibition Station. It has installed approximately 780 tunnel lining rings on the way.

King West sits at King Street West and Bathurst Street. According to the release, it should handle about 5,100 customers in the busiest hour, plus 2,400 transfers to other services, including the 504 King and 511 Bathurst streetcars. Some 27,000 people and 24,200 jobs lie within walking distance.

The 15.6 km line will run from Exhibition Place to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT at Don Mills Road, with 15 new stations and more than 40 connections. Ottawa expects nearly 390,000 daily boardings and crowding cut by up to 15% on Line 1 between Bloor-Yonge and Wellesley at peak times. Metrolinx leads construction for the Ontario government, while the federal contribution exceeds C$4 billion, which the release calls the largest single federal transit investment in Toronto.

The figures also show how much tunnel remains. When boring started in April, Metrolinx described twin tunnels of about 6 km, roughly 40 m below the streets, running to west of the Don River and serving six underground stations. Libby has therefore covered a little over a fifth of its own bore in about seven months, laying one lining ring for every 1.7 m or so. Two of the stations still ahead, Osgoode and Queen, will link with existing Line 1 stations, which is where riders will be able to change trains.

The release is silent on two points. It gives no opening date, and no total cost: the C$4 billion is a contribution, and a separate federal total of more than C$10 billion covers four projects, including the Scarborough and Yonge North subway extensions. Federal money is just as central to the Hudson Tunnel between New Jersey and New York, covered in our report on its funding. Michael Lindsay, president and CEO of Metrolinx, said the project "continues to hit significant milestones every month".

After testing and maintenance at King West, Libby will set off again towards the future Chinatown station at Queen Street and Spadina Avenue.

Sources: Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada, 6 November 2026; Metrolinx, 20 April 2026.

Photo: Ontario Line worksite in Toronto, 17 May 2022, where a Staples store was demolished so a shaft for the line's tunnel boring machine could be sunk — Geo Swan, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Article written with the help of artificial intelligence from the sources cited, reviewed by the TrainsNews editorial team before publication.