North America's Next Subway Leaps Forward | Ontario Line

Since nearly the beginning of my YouTube channel, the idea of a new Downtown Toronto subway line has been incredibly important. And now, thanks to some big news, it appears that things are finally set in stone. Let's talk about it!

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Ever wondered why your city's transit just doesn't seem quite up to snuff? RMTransit is here to answer that, and help you open your eyes to all of the different public transportation systems around the world!

Reece Martin (the RM in RMTransit) is an urbanist and public transport critic residing in Toronto, Canada, with the goal of helping the world become more connected through metros, trams, buses, high-speed trains, and all other transport modes.

[fernbedek]

It’s quite exciting, but… sad it will probably take a decade or more to open. Human lifespans are too short when you’re a transit enthusiast. 😔

[coffeeisgood]

I found it interesting that you said this new subway should help Toronto transition from a “cars” to mass transit. When I lived in Toronto from the 1950’s until 1972 it never even crossed my mind to purchase a car. I could go anywhere, any time of day or night and there was always a streetcar or subway to take me there. In fact, my shift at CP Rail ended at 12 midnight and it was a piece of cake getting back home. It wasn’t until moving out of Toronto that I was forced to buy a car so I could get around.

[adrianwintle]

Hitachi will also have a (new) Canadian connection. It is currently in the process of acquiring the ground transportation division of Thales, which includes the Toronto-based Urban Rail Signalling group. This group has done signalling/automated train control projects all over the world.

[PinkyThumb]

After hearing talks of a relief line for decades, it's so satisfying to see progress moving so quickly at this stage. Hopefully that trend continues!

[nperceived]

It's been a while since I've been to Toronto, but all I can say is it definitely needs a new subway line in its downtown area.

[SnapDash]

I'm excited to see Hitachi break into the Canadian market - their "tiny and cute" automated trains are my dream vehicle for my as-yet imaginary Halifax Metro.
The Ontario line looks very nifty; I'm impressed by how much it will open up the city while at the same time having so many connections to the existing system.

[vilhelmea]

There were actually some big issues with the Copenhagen Metro trains when they were brand new. In 2003, many trains were delayed, doors falling apart from the train, they suddenly started to drive backwards and the security wasn't safe. Luckily everything has been fixed, but yeah, that's Hitachi Rail's first metro project

[diegodore-batres]

Always love the dancing in the intros!

[neolithictransitrevolution]

To be fair to people who originally didn't think it would be built, all the previous versions didn't.

[foreverinteriors]

Glad to see you're excited, it adds to the validity of the project

[tdb]

Reece, whenever you get to announce something for your hometown of Toronto, I always get so excited for you. You do such an excellent job documenting systems all over the planet - and your videos on our systems here in Australia are probably the best that exist, you even get the pronunciation correct 99% of the time which is unheard of for a foreigner - so when you get to announce something world class and and awesome for your own city, well, I'm just so damn happy for you. Congrats on your new Ontario Line - hopefully your provincial government gets you involved in some way like how TfL lets Geoff Marshall in for sneak peaks. Have you thought about maybe emailing the relevant organisations to see if you can get on a PR list or something similar? Once again, very happy for you, and thanks for detailing Australia's public transport construction boom so excellently.

[hypecat]

Video idea: Railway Nationalization explained. There are currently unprecedented challenges facing freight and passenger rail in the US right now. Would love to hear your take on the concept, and also how it works around the world and might work in North America

[skullkrusher]

As a Torontonian who doesn't own a car and never wants to, I'm thrilled about this. I never thought I would see a new subway in the city in my lifetime, but it now seems quite likely!

[samkuzel]

I unironically love the clip of you dancing over the intro

[josephjarosz]

If it’s taking Eglington over 12 years and counting for an LRT, I can only imagine which century this new line will be open to the public

[FinnTheCanadian]

This is brilliant, exactly the right direction to be headed, Good to see Toronto being Canada center point for most things really ramping this up and allowing trips to be made car free, which has many positives. Good to see all these Canadian cities really making the right steps forward in creating good transit and an attempt at limiting car dependence, and making it more appealing to ditch the cars. Good video.

[moaazali]

Can’t wait for this line to get started. Just moved to the distillery district in Toronto and really excited to see the growth of portlands area and the whole cork town district. I’m lucky I get to live in an area of Toronto that had such well thought out massive construction plans. Makes me not mind the traffic and noise looool

[rodericksmith]

I love the new dancing intro...it's a nice touch 😀

[trnstn]

Great video and summary, I really apprecaite the extra info on rolling stock and comparing to other cities, thanks for putting this all together!

[ZontarDow]

People where right at the time to be skeptical given how often these announcements don't go anywhere, a perfect example being the Pink Line in Montreal recently, but as you pointed out it was handled differently so it didn't have the issues a lot of other programs have. Hopefully projects like this and the REM will see the Pink Line or Red Line revisited with at or above ground portions to bring costs down enough to justify reviving one of those projects.