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Toronto's proposed Finch West LRT line has been on-again-off-again, but it seems things are finally full steam ahead. Envisioned as part of the Transit City plan under Mayor David Miller's administration in 2007, the plans were cancelled under Mayor Ford in 2010, before being restored by a City Council vote in 2012. The project took a big step forward today as Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx issued a Request For Qualifications (RFQ), inviting companies or consortiums to identify their interest in designing, building, financing, and maintaining the Finch West LRT.
The RFQ marks the first step in the procurement process to select a team to deliver the new transit line. Submissions will be evaluated and selected based on construction experience and capacity to finance and deliver large-scale projects. This will be followed by invitations to respond to a request for proposal for qualifying teams.
The project will add 11 kilometres of light rail track along Finch Avenue West, between Humber College and the new Finch West subway station, currently under construction as part of the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension (TYSSE) project. The line will include a total of 18 surface stops and a below-grade interchange station at Finch West Station. A purpose-built facility for servicing and storing the light rail vehicles will also be constructed as part of the project.
Compared with the existing 36 Finch West TTC bus service, the Finch West LRT will offer improved speed, reliability, and frequency, thanks to a dedicated right-of-way with signal priority at intersections. The Finch West LRT aims to do much more than just shuttling commuters between Humber College and Finch West Station, adding rapid transit to an area of the city that has been historically under served by it, with thousands of commuters in the area seeing longer than normal commute times.
“The Finch West LRT is another important part of the region’s integrated transit network and is identified in Metrolinx’s regional transportation plan", said Bruce McCuaig, President and CEO of Metrolinx. "As an extension of the existing TTC network, and with connections to GO Transit bus services and existing Mississauga and Brampton transit, the Finch West LRT line will bring fast, reliable and convenient service to the communities that need it most”, added McCuaig.
The line should also result in increased property values, and social and economic benefits through redevelopment bringing more employment to communities around its stops.
The Finch West LRT is a part Metrolinx's Big Move, and is being delivered using Infrastructure Ontario’s Alternative Financing and Procurement model, which places risks associated with design, construction, financing and maintenance to the private sector, while the project will remain publicly owned. Funding for the project will come from the Provincial Government's Moving Ontario Forward plan, with $31.5 billion committed over 10 years for investment in priority infrastructure projects across the province, of which approximately $16 billion has been allocated for rapid transit projects in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
