Metrolinx seeks help to name 2 of its massive Ontario Line tunnel digging machines

The Ontario Line twin TBMs assembled at the manufacturing plant in Schwanau, Germany. (Metrolinx photo)

The province’s transportation agency is inviting the public to name two of its “titans of tunnelling” that will be used to construct the future Ontario Line.

Metrolinx is now accepting names for two of its giant tunnel boring machines (TBMs), which will be used for twin 16-metre-deep and six-kilometre-long tunnels in the southern portion of the subway project from Exhibition Station to the Don River.

People are being urged to consider local landmarks and history, famous individuals and places as well as the unique aspects of the communities these machines will travel through when coming up with a name. Submissions can also include pairs of related names, Metrolinx said.

Once the contest comes to a close on June 23, community members will be invited to vote on their top choices.

The winners of the contest will be credited and will have the chance to be part of a photo-op with the massive TBMs at the tunnel launch shaft near Exhibition Place. Metrolinx first broke ground on the project there in November 2024.

The first pair of TBMs recently arrived in Toronto after being assembled, tested, and disassembled in Schwanau, Germany. Two other TBMs are set to arrive here this fall.

In October 2021, a naming contest was launched for the Scarborough Subway Extension’s tunnel boring machine as well as two TBMs that were used to dig the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension’s twin tunnels. After receiving hundreds of submissions and following months of voting, Diggy Scardust was selected for the Scarborough Subway Extension’s TBM, while the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension’s TBMs were named Rexy and Renny.