“It’s amazing how many people drive or walk right on top of what we’re doing, and have no clue what’s happening right below them.”

So says one of the officials with Metrolinx, which is overseeing construction of the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit project. It’s a spectacular $5 billion feat of engineering that few people have actually had a chance to see being built.

A drive through the Eglinton Crosstown tunnel.

Every day, the boring machines tunnel through an average of 10 metres of clay and dirt, roughly 20 metres underneath Eglinton Avenue West in midtown Toronto. The plan is, six years from now, a 19-km, state-of-the-art light rail transit line will shoot across the middle of the city, with more than half the track running underground.

One hundred trucks arrive on site every day to remove the earth that’s being dug away. Into that hole just east of Allen Road and Eglinton Avenue West, construction workers and engineers are placing curved concrete segments, which when attached, form the tunnel wall which the light rail line will pass through. Each segment weighs 1.5 tonnes and is manufactured in Barrie.



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Lead construction engineer Andre Solecki gives a tour of the Eglinton Crosstown construction site.

The tunnelling started in June 2013 at Black Creek Drive, about seven kilometres west of Yonge Street, and bored east to a spot just west of Allen Road. The tunnelling recommenced east of Allen Road and will continue east, all the way to Yonge Street.

Then, three months ago from the eastern flank of the route, two other boring machines began tunnelling from Brentcliffe Road west towards Yonge Street.

Last week, Metrolinx officials gave members of the media a tour of the tunnelling. The amount of infrastructure involved is truly astonishing. Andre Solecki, the lead construction engineer, gave us a tour of the environmentally controlled tunnel, where men and women work in T-shirts despite chilly temperatures on the surface above.

Workers prepare the massive tunnel segments before they are put into place.

While it was amazing to see such feats of engineering, make no mistake, this is a construction site and dangers abound. We were given a lengthy demonstration before going underground on what to do should something serious happen. Each person would have access to a portable oxygen kit with eight hours of air, in case the tunnel air became unbreathable. John Moore from Newstalk 1010 looked at me and quipped, “Why do I suddenly feel like one of 33 Chilean miners?”

Everyone who goes underground gets two tags — one stays on his or her person, the other is hooked to a big board at the entrance to the tunnel, so authorities know at all times who’s above and who’s below.

It’s also interesting to learn that not everything under the surface is the same. In points further west, barely anyone knew the tunnelling was happening. But apparently, the earth is somewhat different as the tunnelling moved closer to Bathurst Street. Complaints from residents and businesses have skyrocketed, as people can feel the earth move, despite the depth at which it’s all happening. This is a 24/7 operation and so, yes, digging and construction takes place all the time.

A tunnel segment is installed.

If everything goes according to plan, the Eglinton Crosstown will begin transporting riders in September 2021, with up to 25 stops across the middle of the city.

Compare that to the Scarborough Subway, which will cost much more per kilometre to construct and feature just three stops.

Videos and image by Steve Paikin.