The Ford government has broken ground on four stations and an elevated guideway for its signature Ontario Line subway, which could be finished sometime in the early 2030s.

The project was born from Premier Doug Ford’s attempts to upload Toronto’s subway system shortly after he came to power, connecting the Don Mills and Eglinton area to Ontario Place.

The Ontario Line was announced in 2019 with a promise that it “could open by 2027” and a $10.9 billion price tag.

It was designed to act as a relief valve for the city’s Yonge/University subway line, offering an alternate way to get from north to south through new neighbourhoods. It broke ground in March 2022.

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Since then, the cost of the project, which has been updated to include operating costs, has exploded to more than $27 billion, and the opening date has been removed. The $27 billion figure captures all major contracts that need to be handed out.

At the groundbreaking event on Wednesday, Metrolinx CEO Michael Lindsay said the subway would likely be built by the early 2030s, but that testing could extend its opening date beyond that.

“We think we’re still trending toward the early 2030s to be done with civil infrastructure and then to start the testing and commissioning phase,” Lindsay said.

“We’re trying right now to think about how we front-load systems integration considerations to reduce that testing and commissioning time. Once we know more with our private partners about how that’s going … we’ll be able to be even more precise.”

Wednesday’s event marked the beginning of construction work on an elevated guideway for the Ontario Line that will take track from Don Valley Station to Flemingdon Park and then to Thorncliffe Park.

“The Ontario Line is at the centre of our government’s $70 billion plan to build and upgrade transit, helping to fight gridlock and keeping thousands of workers on the job in the face of tariffs and economic uncertainty.”

Ground was also broken at Cosburn Station in the Pape Villa area.

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More than a year after the Hurontario LRT was scheduled to be completed in Mississauga, Ont., workers haven’t finished laying rails, building platforms or tearing up intersections for the major new transit line.

Construction on the 18-kilometre, 19-stop light rail route between Port Credit and Steeles Avenue began in 2020 and was originally supposed to be completed in 2024.

But the Hurontario LRT missed its completion date, with both Metrolinx and the Ford government no longer providing a target opening timeline.

“Construction of the Hazel McCallion LRT is well underway, with significant progress across track work, stations, power systems, and vehicles,” a spokesperson for Ontario’s minister of transportation told Global News.

“It will deliver faster, more reliable transit along one of Canada’s fastest-growing corridors, and our focus is on completing the line and advancing extensions.”

Metrolinx said it had made major progress on intersections and work on some platform bases, but the majority of the track hasn’t been laid yet.

Across the whole guideway for the 18-kilometre transit line, just 45 per cent of the track has actually been laid, according to the provincial transit agency. Nineteen of the route’s 55 intersections also still need to have rail work finished.

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“Major progress has been made across critical-path activities for track installation and utility works. The new road alignment and QEW ‘push box’ underpass opened to northbound traffic in late December,” Metrolinx said in a statement.

“To date, 11 stops have their platform bases finished … six stops now have the canopy installed, including at Eglinton Ave, Bristol, Matheson Blvd, Brittania Rd, Courtneypark Dr and Derry Rd.”

They said some — but not all — of the light-rail vehicles that will run on the route have been tested.

The delays to completing the line come as the consortium building it struggles through legal spats with the construction companies it has hired to do the work.

Mobilinx Hurontario was awarded a $4.6-billion contract in 2019 to design, build, finance and operate the line for 30 years.

Mobilinx has faced legal challenges in both Toronto and Brampton over the alleged failure to return equipment, pay rental fees and square up a $2.7-million bill with another subcontractor.

Last year, S&P Global lowered the credit rating for Mobilinx to triple-B “due to persistent schedule challenges.”

Among the issues cited in the credit rating report was the lack of progress on track work.

“The senior lenders’ technical advisor has highlighted that there remains a significant portion of the alignment that has not yet progressed to trackwork and guideway construction given all the ongoing issues,” S&P Global wrote.

Without an opening date in sight, the government is still in the planning and design process for two extensions to the unfinished line.

At the beginning of 2024, Ontario’s transportation minister ordered Metrolinx to prepare an urgent business case for expanding the route north into Brampton and west into Mississauga’s downtown.

The results — a tunnelled extension in Brampton and reinstating a previously scrapped Mississauga loop — were announced before the 2025 snap election. No significant updates have been offered since.

“Planning and design work for the extensions in Brampton and Mississauga are now underway,” Metrolinx wrote in a statement.

“There will be various public engagement opportunities relating to the Transit and Rail Project Assessment Process for these extensions which will be shared as dates are confirmed.”

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The head of Metrolinx is acknowledging the provincial transit agency has spent too much time embroiled in legal battles with its contractors, pledging a new approach after finally finishing the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

The light rail route carried its first passengers on Feb. 8, roughly six years after it was originally scheduled to open, bringing to a conclusion a messy period of Metrolinx’s history marked by delays, cost overruns and legal skirmishes.

The consortium building the Crosstown, Crosslinx Transit Solutions, took the government to court over delays during the COVID-19 pandemic and again over how the TTC had involved itself in testing for the line.

The group behind the Finch West LRT also took Metrolinx to court over how the TTC was involved in testing the line. Meanwhile, the consortium currently working on the Hurontario LRT found itself involved in legal battles with its subcontractors.

On Thursday, Metrolinx CEO Michael Lindsay said one of the key lessons from the Eglinton Crosstown LRT was to work more collaboratively with the construction firms — and only head to court as a last resort.

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“It’s part of the reason we have a more progressive form of contracting now, where we’re sitting investing with the private sector partner in design, identifying constructability issues,” he told reporters. “That’s probably the most important thing to avoid downstream claims.”

Lindsay replaced former Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster last year, moving from another Crown corporation, Infrastructure Ontario.

“We have to always remember that our primary objective is to bring these transit lines into being as opposed to sitting on our rights, insisting on a legal strategy,” he added.

“That’s the thing that we are trying to do as we show up in these projects. And to the credit of our private partners, I think they’re trying to do the same.”

The lessons will be tested in real time for Lindsay, with several major transit projects still in the ground.

The Scarborough Subway Extension is currently halfway through tunnelling, while a western extension to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT is also being built. Stations are being hollowed out underground for the Ontario Line, and work is also taking place to extend the Yonge Street subway into Markham.

Lindsay insisted that avoiding legal claims would not result in the government or Metrolinx rolling over to the demands of builders, prompting cost overruns.

“We’re never being disrespectful of taxpayer money,” he said. “There’s a balance here that needs to be struck between insisting upon the performance that we have contracted for and dealing with unknown issues when they arise.”

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