‘Revolutionary’ method used by Mississauga LRT builder a ‘Canadian first’

The latest work completed on a key part of the $1.4-billion Hurontario St. light rail transit (LRT) project in south Mississauga is being described as a “Canadian first” in engineering.

Using a “revolutionary engineering method,” crews working on the Port Credit GO Station segment of the 18-kilometre Hazel McCallion Line pushed a concrete passageway under the Lakeshore West rail tracks earlier this week without interrupting the flow of trains.

The method used is known as the Verona System, said officials with Metrolinx, the provincial agency overseeing the massive LRT line that will run between south Mississauga and Brampton when it opens to passengers in fall 2024. 

“This advanced technology ensured that service on the Lakeshore West Line could continue for the 33,000 daily riders,” Metrolinx officials said in an online project update. 

“This passageway, called a push box, will be the tunnel through which future light rail vehicles will travel in and out of Port Credit Station once the Hazel McCallion Line is in service.”

Project leaders say prep work for the push box included the shoring and excavation of the east side of the south parking lot at Port Credit GO and the installation of the thrust block and launch slab used during push box installation.

The push box is 46 metres in length, weighs 6,000 tonnes (equivalent of 1,200 adult elephants) and features a partition wall that will separate northbound and southbound trains.

Among other tasks, recent work in the area included the excavation of more than 5,000 cubic metres of earth from inside the push box, equivalent to two Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Work is also progressing south of the push box, officials say, with platform level slab concrete work.

“They are now working on the walls up to street level. This concrete work also includes provisions for mechanical and electrical systems, future elevators and a future tunnel ventilation system,” Metrolinx says.

Two weeks ago, project leaders announced that a new bridge being built to improve traffic flow near Port Credit GO is nearly complete.

Metrolinx said construction of a bridge over Mary Fix Creek is more than 80 per cent complete.

“This will create better traffic flow and coordination with the new LRT guideway” on Hurontario St., officials said.

When open to passengers in fall 2024, the Hazel McCallion Line will whisk riders from the Port Credit GO station in south Mississauga all the way north into Brampton, with 19 stops along the way.

The Mary Fix Creek bridge and other major work on the creek itself are key parts of the LRT project in south Mississauga near Port Credit GO.

The new bridge over one of Mississauga’s oldest and most important creeks will extend from Eaglewood Blvd. in the east to Oriole Ave. in the west, just south of Inglewood Dr.

It’s replacing the aging structure that was in place for decades.