Toronto RER concession 2025 - 2056

Over the next decade the development of a new RER Rail Service will transform the transportation system in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The train service will be developed and upgraded to ensure a basic service with a frequency of 15 minutes per hour and direction with additional reinforcements during peak hours. This will require an immense investment of more than $10 billion, both for the creation of new infrastructure (including electrification of part of the network) and the adaptation of existing one, as well as the purchase and the introduction of new rolling stock.

Construction works will be concentrated between the years 2025 and 2032, when most of the modernisation, adaptation and upgrading works will have to be carried out and made operational. These include the complex upgrade of Union Station, which will be carried out simultaneously with the development of the capacity of this railway node.

To achieve this ambitious goal, Metrolinx, the organising authority responsible for regional services and owner of the infrastructure, and the state of Ontario, have decided on a concession for the years 2025-2056. The tender, one of the largest and most complex in the world, required the preparation of a comprehensive turnkey project including:

• Operation of train services including train crewing
• Timetable planning and train control for all operators across the GO-owned network
• Design, construction and integration, of the railway corridor (civil infrastructure, tracks, systems, signalling etc.)
• Maintenance and rehabilitation of new railway corridor assets and select existing railway corridor assets
• Maintenance, servicing and upgrading of all rolling stock and procurement of new rolling stock
• Construction of new maintenance and train storage and/or layover facilities
• Reconstruction of Union Station track and platforms
• Compliance with Metrolinx safety, security and emergency management policies

trenolab-alius provided support to the Operation team of the EnTransit consortium for more than 2 years for the preparation of its proposal. Thanks to the ideas and proposals discussed with Metrolix over these years, it has also been possible to influence the future design of several key infrastructures, in particular the new stations in the urban area near Union Station, as well as adapting the design of the future new line of the Toronto subway.