Launch shaft excavation completed for Toronto subway extension

Excavation of the tunnel launch shaft for Toronto’s Yonge North Subway Extension has been completed.

Crews have dug almost 70,000m³ of soil to prepare the tunnel launch shaft site, where two TBMs will begin digging the extension’s twin 6.3km tunnels. The launch shaft is 10m deep, requiring 11,000m³ of concrete and 860 tonnes of steel reinforcement to construct.

The Yonge North Subway Extension will extend the TTC’s Line 1 subway nearly 8km north from Finch Station to Vaughan, Markham and Richmond Hill. It will carry more than 94,000 passengers each day and put nearly 23,000 jobs within walking distance of transit.

It will add five stations to the subway network – Steeles, Clark, Royal Orchard, Bridge and High Tech.

In August last year Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx awarded the tunnelling contract to North End Connectors, a consortium of Aecon, FCC Construcción and Ghella.

In October 2025, a request for proposals was issued for the design and construction of the extension’s stations, tracks and support systems. Ahead of future tunnelling and station construction, crews are relocating utilities to make room for new infrastructure.

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