Line 2 is finally getting a glow-up
Hello, red rocket
The announcement may have been buried in snow—and the chaos of a two-day Line 6 shutdown—but the TTC is getting a shiny new fleet of subway cars.
Yesterday, the province released renderings of the trains set to replace the aging ones on Line 2, which runs from Scarborough to Etobicoke. The cars will feature the TTC’s iconic colours—red, white and black—and will more closely resemble streetcars than the plain white vehicles on Lines 5 and 6.
Related: This year’s TTC operating budget will exceed $3 billion
The trains will replace the ones that have populated the Bloor-Danforth line since the late ‘90s. (Thank you for your service, but it’s time to retire.) They’ll feature open gangways as well as digital displays, so passengers can check when their stop is coming up without taking out their earbuds.
The fleet will also contain 30 per cent more made-in-Canada components than previously planned. Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said the plan will bring jobs to an industry hit hard by Donald Trump’s tariffs. The cars will be built in Thunder Bay by Alstom, the manufacturer behind the light-rail vehicles on Line 6. Here’s hoping these ones won’t take 14-hour naps during snowstorms.
Related: “We are fixing this”—Mayor Olivia Chow wants to speed up Toronto’s newest LRT
The cost of the new fleet has ballooned from $2.3 billion to $2.7 billion, prompting the federal government to increase its investment to an even $1 billion, up from the $758 million pledged in 2024.
Edward Lander is a Toronto-based writer who is currently Toronto Life’s editorial intern. He’s passionate about features and creative non-fiction. He studies journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University, where he also edits features for the campus newspaper.
