Ontario to issue RFQs for GO Regional Express Rail project

The province of Ontario yesterday announced plans to issue a request for qualifications (RFQ) to select a team to design, build, finance, operate and maintain its GO Regional Express Rail (RER) project.

The contract will integrate rail operations and maintenance with the infrastructure and vehicle upgrades needed to deliver electrified service on the GO Transit rail network, according to a press release issued by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.

The GO RER project calls for electrifying core segments of GO's commuter-rail network to boost service in the Toronto area. By 2025, the program will enable GO Transit to operate 6,000 weekly trips, up from 1,100 in 2013.

In the coming weeks, Ontario also will launch the process to design and build six new GO stations, as well as upgrade and improve 22 existing ones.

"We are eager to engage with a field of world-class partners for this new chapter of unprecedented transit building that will set our region up for success for generations to come," said Phil Verster, president and chief executive officer of Metrolinx, GO Transit's parent agency.

Metrolinx in late 2017 chose five "prequalified operators" for the RER project. The firms will be eligible to participate as operators on applicant teams for the project's upcoming design-build-finance-operate-maintain procurement process.