Hitachi Rail has been awarded a new signalling contract to upgrade the Toronto Transit Commission’s (TTC) Line 2 with its digital signalling technology, in a move set to increase capacity by up to 40 per cent on the city’s busiest east-west subway corridor.
The project will replace the line’s existing 1960s signalling system with Hitachi Rail’s SelTrac communications-based train control (CBTC) technology. Central to the system is automatic train control (ATC), which enables higher network performance by allowing trains to run closer together safely.
Once the full Line 2 upgrades are complete, the new automatic train control system will enable an increase of up to 40 per cent in the line’s capacity, meaning up to 33,000 passengers per hour will be able to travel on the line, up from 23,400 passengers per hour during peak periods currently.
Passengers will also benefit from more reliable services, smoother journeys and enhanced safety across the network. The upgrade is intended to support the long-term resilience of Line 2 and help meet rising demand and reduce crowding as ridership continues to grow across Toronto.
The 7.8 kilometre eastward extension of Line 2 to Scarborough will include the same signalling technology and add three extra TTC stations at Sheppard, McCowan and Scarborough. The expansion of the line will put 38,000 more people within walking distance of the subway and increase access to economic opportunities for Scarborough residents.
The technology will be designed, tested and delivered from Hitachi Rail’s new C$30 million Canadian headquarters in Toronto, which houses its global signalling competence centre and employs more than 1,100 people, including a large, highly skilled engineering workforce. The teams there deliver signalling technology on some of the busiest metro systems in the world, including Vancouver, London, Singapore and New York.
Hitachi is developing the next generation of signalling technology in Toronto as part of a C$100 million investment that will integrate artificial intelligence and 5G to deliver smarter and more efficient rail systems.
The contract represents a major milestone for Hitachi Rail, which invented CBTC technology in Toronto in the 1970s and installed it on the Scarborough subway. The technology has been developed and refined over 50 years and is now used on more than 100 transit lines in 40 countries. SelTrac CBTC, now in its ninth generation, will be deployed on the Scarborough Subway Extension.
Arnaud Besse, managing director and chief operating officer of Hitachi Rail in Canada, said the technology, designed in Toronto, would improve passenger experience, enhance reliability and enable a capacity increase of up to 40 per cent on Line 2.
Toronto mayor Olivia Chow said reliable and efficient transit was a cornerstone of a growing city, adding that the introduction of ATC on Line 2 would support 200 jobs in Toronto while allowing the TTC to run more frequent and reliable services.
TTC chair Jamaal Myers said Line 2 connected communities from Etobicoke to Scarborough and carried hundreds of thousands of customers every day, and that the implementation of ATC alongside new subway trains would ensure the TTC could continue providing safe, reliable and efficient services.
TTC chief executive Mandeep S Lali said the organisation was modernising the TTC by investing in systems that increase capacity, improve reliability, enhance safety and support a growing city, adding that ATC was the next evolution in signalling.
Hitachi Rail has a strong presence in Canada, delivering major projects including the Ontario Line and Hazel McCallion Line, with its CBTC technology also being delivered in Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal and in operation on the Finch West LRT in Toronto. The company employs more than 1,300 people in Canada.
