Spain's ACS lands contract for Toronto light rail line

Spanish construction giant ACS said Sunday it had won a 775 million euro ($955 million) contract to build and maintain a new light railway line in Toronto, Canada's largest city.

The deal will see a consortium led by ACS, whose president Florentino Perez is also the chairman of the Real Madrid football club, build the new 11-kilometre railway line in the city's north, the company said in a statement.

Construction will begin in the third quarter of 2018, with plans for trains to start running in the second half of 2023, the statement said.

The contract with the government of the Ontario province also includes the construction of garages to repair and lodge trains.

The consortium will carry out the work through two ACS subsidiaries, Dragados Canada and ACS Infrastructure Canada (Iridium), as well as local companies Aecon and Dufferin/CRH Group Canada Inc.

© 2018 AFP