Following a naming contest launched in June – which attracted more than 900 submissions and 1,000 votes – Metrolinx chose the names Libby and Corkie.
Jason Paris submitted the winning names as a tribute to two of the 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 6km of twin subway tunnels beneath the city’s downtown, between Exhibition Station and the Don River.
The TBMs arrived in Canada on June 9 at the Port of Oshawa. They were 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.
A naming competition for the set of TBMs that will tunnel the northern segment of the Ontario Line subway will be announced soon.
