Recent content by NIV

Bad management and accountability via Metrolinx are the problem! Cost overruns would have happened with whatever plan was chosen! You can’t blame Metrolinx for charging double when there’s no public outrage.

The Star is great at FOI requests. Would be nice to know why the soil conditions missed? The core samples were drilled before Strabag was given the tunneling contract. The deep single bore TBM design was envisioned and designed when this was just a one stop extension. The 3 stop design used...

We should be demanding Accountability and transparency from metrolinx especially with regards the TBM/soil issue. This would never happen in the private sector...

My guess is the biggest cost overrun has to do with the TBM problems. Strabag had an initial contract of $757.1 million to tunnel the 7.8 km’s with a timeline of just over 2 years. We need to demand transparency from Metrolinx! Who made the decision to use a single bore TBM at this depth...

Unfortunately politics and flip flopping on designs has got us to where we are now. Fixing the SRT tunnel and entry into Kennedy would have been money well spent. Utilizing the new much larger Mark V trains and extending the system east would have eliminated the need for the proposed LRT...

Elevated north of Ellesmere and bridge station over highland creek at Lawrence similar to Old Mill station should have happened. Hopefully someday we will find out why with hundreds of core samples taken we have an unforeseen costly problem with this deep bore TBM due to soil conditions. Lots...

I believe they can’t start digging out the station box until the tunnel is complete. The earth around the tunnel segments keeps the tunnel intact and allows them to move forward. They could probably start other sections of the stations that don’t involve the tunnel.

Would a strategic 2-3 year tunneling redesign delay be better then continuing with the current TBM and its delay and increased costs.

They are about 1km of the 8km’s. Could they transition to a dual bore at this stage? Not sure. The single bore made sense when it was a one stop subway, the 3 stop subway inherited the existing design. Never made sense with 3 stops, way too deep!

With the TBM stuck under the 401 the province needs to step in and reevaluate the feasibility of this project as presently designed. Obviously we are going to be drastically over budget and many years behind schedule if we continue to forge through with this deep single bore TBM. Hopefully...

With the Sheppard subway extension looking promising, better to eventually extend the subway farther east of McCowan. Future subway stop at Eglinton and Danforth would help south Scarborough. Take advantage of bus lanes on theses wide roadways

My guess would be that Strabag is waiting on parts from Europe (possibly a new cutter head assembly). They will most likely have to close off one or both of two eastbound on-ramps to set up for the excavation and room for the cranes to operate.

I believe there are 7 emergency exits being constructed along the extension. The headwalls are in place at either end of the exits, the TBM will drill through these. This is happening for the 3 stations as well. The maintenance/intervention shaft at the 401 was not in the design plans as an...

What’s happening with the intervention shaft at the 401? Will there be two intervention shafts for maintenance? Perhaps changing cutter heads every 1-2 km? The original one south of Brimorton is now being worked on again. This is just under 2 kilometres from where the TBM is now. The...

Having the intervention shaft right at the side of the 401 and the entire length of the TBM under the 401, to me is an indicator that something more serious is wrong. The intervention shaft is at an awkward small location between the 401 and the on ramp, I’m guessing they will have to shut down...