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Transport Action Ontario (TAO) has long supported the GO Expansion project, slated to provide 15-minute all-day two-way electrified passenger rail service on core portions of 5 GO lines, plus improved service on the remainder of the network. In fact, our organization proposed something very similar in 2013 called Regional Rapid Rail, two years prior to the first provincial announcement. GO Expansion was modeled after the German S-Bahn or Paris RER approach, and caused excitement across North America.
In 2022, Metrolinx signed a Progressive DBOM contract with ONxpress, a consortium of 4 large engineering and transportation firms. A 30-month development phase was targeted to produce a firm implementation plan by the end of 2024. Additionally, a related consortium, ONxpress Operations Inc (OOI), consisting of Deutsche Bahn and Aecon, was contracted to take over operations and maintenance of the GO rail network starting January, 2025. Meanwhile, about $10 B of early works construction (stations, tracks, grade crossings) continued.
Therefore TAO was very concerned when news of problems recently emerged. In a bombshell article on June 10, 2025, the on-line magazine The Trillium reported that GO Expansion had been “descoped” due to budget constraints, and the operating contract with OOI had been terminated to due “fundamental differences of opinion”. Metrolinx will now focus on a “minimum viable product”, which apparently consists of electrifying the two Lakeshore lines by 2038, with the Barrie, Kitchener and Stouffville lines to follow sometime later in Phase 2. No further details on scope and timing of incremental service improvements (even if modest) on any of the 5 lines was available.
At the Metrolinx board meeting of June 26, the termination of the OOI contract was confirmed. It was also revealed that the development phase of the work had concluded in December and that Metrolinx had accepted a Design and Construction Proposal. New deliverables for the consortium have been issued, including construction on track and stations and deployment of signals based on ETCS Level 2. However, again no details were provided.
The lack of details on upcoming construction, as well as any upcoming service improvements, is frustrating and throws uncertainty into large transit-oriented development proposals all across Greater Toronto. What is this “minimum viable product”? With nearly $10 B of early works completed, TAO believes that some sorts of service improvements, eg 30-minute all-day two-way diesel service on the Barrie, Kitchener and Stouffville lines, cannot be hard to achieve. We are also disappointed that the bold vision for European-style regional rail appears to have died.
TAO will be advocating with the Province and Metrolinx to promptly provide details for the public on the Design and Construction Proposal.