After months of uncertainty about the future of who would be charged with operating and maintaining an expansive fleet of GO Transit and UP Express trains, the Ontario government is signing a five-year deal with its long-time service provider.
In an announcement to be made by Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria on Friday morning, the provincial government signed a $1.3-billion deal with the multinational transportation company Alstom.
Ontario government officials said the contract will support more than 1,100 jobs across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area region.
For more than 10 years, Alstom crews have been responsible for operating GO Transit and UP Express trains. The company has also provided train maintenance and refurbishment services for Metrolinx’s large fleet of trains.
During the 2024-2025 year of operations, rail crews staffed approximately 117,000 GO Transit trips and 56,000 UP Express trips.
At the end of 2024, Alstom was set to stop operating GO Transit and UP Express trains after a major contract was signed with ONxpress Transportation Partners.
An operations arm of ONxpress was supposed to begin a 25-year deal on Jan. 1, 2025. It was centred on employing the operators and staff needed to run and maintain GO Transit and UP Express trains, timetable planning and train control on the network owned by Metrolinx, and maintaining all the related infrastructure.
However, officials confirmed in May that the deal quietly ended up falling apart. Little information was shared publicly by the government afterward. At the time it was learned the deal was over, Metrolinx officials told CityNews Alstom crews were being kept on to operate trains across its regional rail network.
Meanwhile, Alstom is involved with a number of other transit and transportation initiatives in Ontario. The company was awarded a sole-source contract to build a whole new fleet of TTC Line 2 subway cars at its Thunder Bay, Kingston and Toronto facilities. Newer Alstom light-rail trains can also be found on TTC Line 6 Finch West.
