Rail Connect Partners Lands East Harbour Transit Hub Contract
Project construction is being delivered through the Rail Connect Partners joint venture of AtkinsRéalis and Bird Construction, leading alongside Hatch Ltd., the government reported March 7. Metrolinx entered into an Alliance Development Agreement for the East Harbour Transit Hub with Rail Connect Partners (Project Management and Construction) and Hatch (Design) in 2024.
The transit hub—located just east of the Don Valley Parkway and south of Eastern Avenue to serve the Riverdale, Riverside and Leslieville communities—is said to be part of the government’s plan to deliver “faster and more convenient transit” for people across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA); divert as many as 14,000 people from Union Station during rush hour peaks; and support more than 50,000 area jobs. Service levels planned as part of GO Expansion would see a GO train arriving as frequently as every five minutes. The project, part of Toronto’s SmartTrack Stations Program, is a joint initiative of the government of Canada, province of Ontario and city of Toronto.
According to AtkinsRéalis, its scope of work during the execution phase of the contract includes completion of the rail corridor and Eastern Avenue Bridge reconstruction, which will continue to be undertaken in planned phases to keep GO Transit services running with minimal impact. This phase will also see the commencement of station works and associated infrastructure and a future Broadview Avenue extension to facilitate a future streetcar connection, it noted. AtkinsRéalis will provide project and construction management, as well as expertise to ensure successful project delivery. This mandate, the company said, is based on a “best for project shared risk-capped, collaborative contract model.”
“The investments we are making in transit and infrastructure are helping fight gridlock and speed up commutes for millions of people across Ontario, including the 100,000 transit users who are expected to use the East Harbour Transit Hub every day,” said Prabmeet Sarkaria, Ontario’s Minister of Transportation. “By making these investments, we are also supporting thousands of good-paying jobs in Ontario’s construction sector at a time when, in the face of U.S. tariffs that are taking direct aim at Canada’s economy, it’s never been more important to help keep our workers on the job.”
“The Metrolinx team is proud to work with partners in government and industry to deliver more transit options, reduce commute times and ease congestion,” added Michael Lindsay, Interim President and CEO of Metrolinx. “East Harbour station will be one of the most important nodes on the region’s transit map. It will connect the Ontario Line to an expanded GO network in a way that will completely re-shape how we move through Toronto and beyond.”
“The East Harbour Transit Hub is one of the first major transit projects in Canada to use an alliance contracting model, which has been used in developed economies around the world for its risk and reward sharing benefits,” AtkinsRéalis President, Canada Stéphanie Vaillancourt noted. “As Ontario embarks on the largest expansion of transit in North America, we look forward to continuing to work with Metrolinx to engineer a better future for the Greater Toronto region and its residents; a region that fuels almost half of Ontario’s GDP.”
