The dig will go on 24 hours a day, five days a week, carving a tunnel underneath downtown Ottawa.
Ottawa mayor Jim Watson showing off one of three excavating machines that will used to start the light rail project.
Watson choked back tears calling the momentous occasion “a dream come true.”
Three machines will dig simultaneously at three seperate points along the 2.5-kilometre stretch.
Each machine will dig approximately 3 metres a day.
The tunnel is expected to be completed by the summer of 2016 at a cost of $300-million.
With a report from CTV's John Hua.
