By Oliver Moore – The Globe and Mail
March 18, 2021

Ontario is scaling back its plan for an extension of Toronto’s subway system into Richmond Hill, reducing the number of stations and putting less of it underground in a bid to rein in soaring cost projections, according to a pair of transit planning reports obtained by The Globe and Mail.

The extension of the Yonge subway line beyond its current terminus at Finch station has been identified as a possible project as far back as 2007. It has been studied in various forms and was adopted by the provincial government when Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford took over the region’s subway expansion projects in 2019.

Over the years, the projected costs have risen. A 2013 report pegged the price at $3.1-billion. By the time the province took over, though, the Toronto Transit Commission put the cost at $9.3-billion. The province has provisionally budgeted $5.6-billion.

According to a 152-page initial business case prepared by the provincial transit agency Metrolinx, the project can be done for the budget but only in a reduced form. The agency will now refine this new project further through a multistage planning process, creating a preliminary design business case and eventually a full business case to be approved by government.

The extension would not open before 2029 or 2030, according to the agency’s report. It pegged the project’s capital cost at $4.4-billion to $5.1-billion, in today’s dollars, for a three-station extension, plus approximately half a billion more to build a fourth, the location of which is still to be determined.

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