Union Station is a major railway station and intermodal transportation hub in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The station is located in downtown Toronto, on Front Street West, on the south side of the block bounded by Bay Street and York Street. The municipal government of Toronto owns the station building while the provincial transit agency Metrolinx owns the train shed and trackage. It is operated by the Toronto Terminals Railway, a joint venture of the Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, which directs and controls train movement along the Union Station Rail Corridor, the largest and busiest rail corridor in Canada. Constructed in 1927, Union Station has been a National Historic Site of Canada since 1975, and a Heritage Railway Station since 1989.

A May 2026 survey by AllClear considered 43 major train stations around the world; the Toronto site placed fifth among the "most luxurious and high-performing rail hubs", the only one in Canada among the top 20.

Its central position in Canada's busiest inter-city rail service area, "The Corridor", as well as being the central hub of GO Transit's commuter rail service, makes Union Station Canada's busiest transportation facility and the second-busiest railway station in North America (behind New York Penn Station), serving over 72million passengers each year. More than half of all Canadian inter-city passengers and 91 percent of Toronto commuter train passengers travel through Union Station.

Via Rail and Amtrak provide inter-city train services while GO Transit operates regional rail services. The station is also connected to the subway and streetcar system of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) at its adjacent namesake subway station. GO Transit's Union Station Bus Terminal, located in CIBC Square, is connected to Union Station by a enclosed walkway above Bay Street. The Union Pearson Express, which provides train service to Toronto Pearson International Airport, has a platform a short walk west of the main station building, accessible by the SkyWalk.

The bilaterally symmetrical building comprises three connecting box masses facing Front Street West, with the main structure in the middle. Together, the three parts measure long and occupy the entire south side of the block between Bay Street in the east and York Street in the west.

thumb|left|upright|The facade of the Front Street entrance includes 22 colonnaded loggia constructed with [[limestone.]]

The exterior Front Street façade is laid out in an ashlar pattern, constructed with smooth beige Indiana and Queenston limestone. The colonnaded loggia which faces Front Street features 22 equally spaced Roman Tuscan columns made from Bedford limestone, each high and weighing 75 tons. Fourteen three-storey bays, each with severely delineated fenestration, form the façade on either side of the central colonnade for a total of 28 bays.

The station housed a gun range on the seventh floor from 1927 until 2008. The range was operated for "Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway police to practice their shooting skills. It eventually opened to members of the public". It was known as the Canadian National Recreation Association (CNRA) handgun club. The city closed the range in 2008 as a symbolic gesture to its effort to reduce gun violence.

Great Hall and Via Concourse

The front entranceway opens on to the expansive Ticket Lobby, informally known as the "Great Hall". This part of Union Station runs the entire length of the main section. It is long and high at its highest point. Like the outside facade, enduring materials such as bronze, limestone, marble, tiles, and translucent glass create a sense of enduring quality. The walls are faced with Zumbro stone from Missouri, and the floors are constructed of Tennessee marble laid in a herringbone pattern. Below the cornice surrounding the "Great Hall" are carved the names of many Canadian destinations, from the east coast to Vancouver, accessible by the Grand Trunk Railway or Canadian Pacific Railway at the time of the station's construction. Many remain destinations on Via Rail routes.

While historically shared by many different services, the Great Hall is now occupied primarily by Via Rail, whose agents also provide services to Amtrak passengers. The hall is home to Via's ticket and baggage desks, business class lounge, and several small displays, as well as the station's grand clock, a Traveller's Aid desk, and Via's departure board.

GO concourses and teamways

thumb|The old Bay Concourse (circa 2009) which was in service from 1978 to 2015

thumb|Connections with [[GO Transit services can be accessed through the York Concourse.]]

Passengers can connect with GO Transit services through the York Concourse, which opened on April 27, 2015, west of Union Station. This new concourse supplemented the York South Concourse that provided access to platforms 24 to 27. The York and York South Concourses connect to the York East Teamway, as well as an entrance to a Path tunnel leading across Front Street, between York Street and University Avenue. The York West Teamway is connected to Union Station via the Skywalk. The Bay Concourse was closed on August 16, 2015, for revitalization.[https://www.metrolinx.com/en/discover/look-back-at-iconic-bay-concourse-as-it-reopens-at-union-station] The new Bay Concourse reopened on July 27, 2021, featuring 72 departure screens, 30 Presto devices, seven ticket vending machines and six self-service Presto reload machines. Both the Bay and York concourses give access to GO train platforms.

The Bay West Teamway provides access to platforms 4 to 13 and the Bay South Concourse.

, Metrolinx is constructing the new South Concourse. This will connect the south ends of the Bay, Via and York Concourses, and span between Bay and York Streets. It will also provide access to Union Square and Scotiabank Arena.

Train shed

thumb|left|A glass atrium forms the central portion of the train shed.

Trains arrive and depart from the train shed, which contains 23 platforms (11 island platforms and one side platform) south of the Great Hall. Metrolinx was having platforms 24 to 27 and their three tracks demolished on the south side of the station in order to replace them with two new tracks and two new wider platforms to increase safety and capacity.

The train shed was designed by A.R. Ketterson and built between 1929 and 1930. It is a variation of the Bush train shed invented by Lincoln Bush. A reconstruction of the train shed began in January 2010. The east and west sides of the shed, totalling approximately were renovated and restored with input from Parks Canada to help preserve its heritage character. This renovation came with plans to have a green roof installed, reducing the urban heat island effect and stormwater runoff; however, with the project being almost eight years behind and multiple times over budget, along with the fact that plant-watering logistics would clash with the planned overhead wiring for electrification, the addition of a green roof was cancelled. The central portion of the original train shed, totalling , was removed and replaced with a glass atrium. The structure, designed by Zeidler Architecture, floats above the tracks and allows daylight to reach the platforms.

Platform 3 is the northernmost platform at Union Station and is the only platform at the station serving just one track. It reopened for service on January 10, 2022, after a renovation of its heritage features. Allowing a lower, lighter shed roof in the age of steam, the smoke vents over tracks 1 and 2 are a preserved heritage feature of the platform 3 area; these were restored. The decorative, cast-iron columns along the platform were restored and reinstalled. Other structural renovations were done along the length of the platform. Once the north tower of the CIBC Square is completed, stair and elevator access will be reinstated between platform 3 and the Bay East Teamway.

The 23 platforms are numbered from 3 to 27, but there is no platform 1, 2, 23 or 24. The platforms were renumbered in 2008 for the benefit of operational staff in order to provide a correlation between platform numbers and track numbers. (Prior to the renumbering, the platform numbers had an A or B suffix that proved to be confusing for both customers and operational staff.) Tracks and platforms are each numbered from north to south with track 1 being beside platform 3 on the north side of the train shed. There is an island platform between all pairs of tracks except between tracks 1 and 2 and tracks 11 and 12. Odd numbered platforms are on the north side of a track while even numbered platforms are on the south side of a track. There is a formula to compute the platform number given the track number, with an exception for track 1: using two tracks on the south side of the train shed.

West wing and SkyWalk

Union Station's west wing is west of the Great Hall. Metrolinx is headquartered in the west wing at 97 Front Street. Across from these offices is an official tourism information centre that provides maps, visitor guides, brochures and tourism specialists to provide help to city visitors.

A pathway known as the SkyWalk continues west from the west wing, overtop of York Street. The SkyWalk is considered part of the Path network, and connects Union to the CN Tower and Rogers Centre. It is also the location of the Union Pearson Express station.

History

Predecessor stations

thumb|Toronto's [[Toronto Union Station (1873)|second Union Station in 1878, several years after its opening]]

The current Union Station's history can be traced to 1858, when the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) opened Toronto's first Union Station west of the present Union Station. The wooden structure was shared with the Northern Railway and the Great Western Railway. This structure was replaced by a second Union Station on the same site, opening in 1873. The Canadian Pacific Railway began using the facility in 1884 and it was completely rebuilt, opening in 1896.

The Great Toronto Fire of 1904 destroyed the block south of Front Street West, immediately east of the second Union Station (bounded by Bay and York streets), but did not damage the station. The GTR acquired this land east of the second Union Station for a new passenger terminal and in 1905 both the GTR and the CPR decided to proceed with the design and construction of a third union station.

thumb|left|Excavations for the third Union Station in 1915, with second Union Station in background

The decision to undertake the third union station was made against a backdrop of significant change in the Canadian railway industry. At the same time, the Government of Canada was encouraging the GTR to build a second transcontinental railway (what would become the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and the National Transcontinental Railway) and the Canadian Northern Railway was undertaking an aggressive expansion across the prairies and into southern Ontario.

Construction

On July 13, 1906, the Toronto Terminals Railway (TTR) was incorporated to "construct, provide, maintain and operate at the City of Toronto a union passenger station". The TTR was jointly owned by the GTR and the CPR who each held 50% of the TTR shares. The TTR supervised construction of the new station which began in 1914 and proceeded to 1920, having faced significant delays in the shortage of construction material and workers as a result of the First World War, as well as the GTR's deteriorating financial position due to its ill-fated transcontinental GTPR railway project.

The resulting construction saw the elimination of Lorne Street located between Simcoe and Bay from Front to Esplanade with tracks leading west of the new station now in place.

Although the new station's headhouse and east and west office wings (the station building visible from Front Street West) were completed in 1920, it did not open to the public for another seven years, until the system of approach tracks was designed and implemented by the TTR and its owners. During this time in 1923, the bankrupt GTR was fully nationalized by the Government of Canada and merged into the Canadian National Railways (CNR), which would assume the GTR's 50% ownership of the TTR and thus the third Union Station.

Opening and further construction

thumb|[[Prince George, Duke of Kent|Prince George at the opening of Union Station by his brother, Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, on August 6, 1927]]

Although the station was incomplete, its building was complete and the station was opened by Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, on August 6, 1927, in a ribbon-cutting ceremony, using a pair of gold scissors. In attendance were Prince George, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario William Donald Ross and his wife, Prime Minister of Canada William Lyon Mackenzie King, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Stanley Baldwin and Mrs. Baldwin, Premier of Ontario George Howard Ferguson, and other members of the government of Ontario and government of Canada. Prince Edward was the first person to step off of a train into Union Station; a mixed choir composed of soloists from the city's churches sang the royal anthem, "God Save the King", as the royal party walked through the concourse. Once he was in the Great Hall, the Prince of Wales quipped, "you build your train stations like we build our cathedrals". He was then escorted to a nearby Canadian National Railway wicket and was presented with the first ticket issued at the station: one "valid for all time" and "between all stations". He proceeded to the Canadian Pacific Railway's wicket, where he was given a first-class fare from Toronto to High River, Alberta, where his ranch was located. On August 5, 2009, the Toronto City Council approved an update of this plan which was projected to cost $640million, with construction lasting from 2010 to 2014. Much of the work was undertaken by or managed by Carillion.

thumb|Union Food Court, the first phase of the lower retail level, was opened in January 2019.

thumb|The new Bay Concourse (circa 2023) which opened in 2021

The work also involved a complete overhaul of the GO concourses, deepening them to create two storeys of space. The lower level (the food court section of which opened in January 2019) will provide retail space and room for pedestrian traffic flow, and the upper storey will be dedicated to passenger traffic onto the platforms. This will expand not only the current GO concourse in the east of the building, but also open up the western end; GO Transit's presence in the building will nearly quadruple. Additional aesthetic points include glass roofs over the moat space around the north sides of the building, and a tall atrium over the central portions of the platforms. A new southern entrance, adjacent to the Air Canada Centre, opened in 2010.

The 2009 Ontario and Canada government budgets included financing to assist GO, Via and the city in redeveloping and restoring the station. Track has been upgraded with better signals and snow cleaning devices to reduce winter delays to train movement.

In 2016, it was realized that the renovated train shed roof was too low to allow electrification. The train shed roof is considered a heritage feature and cannot be removed. Remedies considered were raising the roof, or lowering the track level.

By early 2018, the cost had increased from $640million to an estimated $823.5million. Work that was to have been completed in 2015 was projected to be finished late 2018 and in late 2018 revised to 2019. In 2019 it was announced that the city's portion of construction would be complete in 2019, but then Metrolinx would have to start its work, with a projected 2020 completion date.

In February 2019, charges were laid by Toronto Fire Services against contactor Bondfield Construction and the city for an over-crowding issue where doors had been blocked. In March 2019 it was reported that Vaughan-based contractor Bondfield Construction had applied for bankruptcy protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).

Heritage recognition

Union Station became designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1975, and a Heritage Railway Station in 1989. In 1999, Union Station was inducted into the North America Railway Hall of Fame as being significant in the course of railway history. The station is recognized as part of the Union Station Heritage Conservation District (Designated Part V) under the Ontario Heritage Act enacted by Toronto City Council on July 27, 2006.

Passenger services

thumb|right|Timetable for [[inter-city rail services in the Great Hall]]

Union Station is the busiest public transportation structure of any kind in Canada, including air travel. It handles 65million passengers annually, with an average of 200,000 passengers each day. Approximately two-thirds of those passengers are GO train or GO bus commuters, while another 20million take the subway. The remainder are intercity travelers between other cities in Canada and the United States.

  • Barrie line to North York, Vaughan, King City, Aurora, Newmarket, East Gwillimbury, Bradford, and Barrie
  • Kitchener line to York, Etobicoke, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Acton, Guelph and Kitchener
  • Lakeshore East line to Scarborough, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa
  • Lakeshore West line to Etobicoke, Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, St. Catharines and Niagara Falls
  • Milton line to Etobicoke, Mississauga and Milton
  • Richmond Hill line to North York and Richmond Hill
  • Stouffville line to Scarborough, Markham and Stouffville

GO Transit's Union Station Bus Terminal is located at CIBC Square, 81 Bay Street, on the south side of the terminal. The terminal currently serves GO Transit regional buses as well as Megabus, FlixBus, Ontario Northland and Greyhound Lines long-distance bus services.

Connecting services

thumb|The station includes access to the [[Toronto subway system.]]

Union Station is connected to the Toronto Transit Commission's Union Subway Station, which is part of Line 1 Yonge–University of the Toronto subway system. Two Toronto streetcar routes, 509 Harbourfront and 510 Spadina, can also be accessed underground without leaving Union Station. The streetcar platform was built in 1989 and is separate from the subway station platforms built in 1954. Altogether, twenty million TTC passengers pass through Union Station each year.

Toronto Transit Commission bus routes 19 Bay, 72 Pape, 97 Yonge, 121 Esplanade–River, and night route 320 Yonge, use curbside stops on the streets outside.

On June 6, 2015, the Union Pearson Express (UP Express), a dedicated airport rail link service, started running between Union Station and Toronto Pearson International Airport, stopping only at Bloor and Weston GO stations. The opening of the line allowed Metrolinx to achieve its goal, announced in 2010, of operating an airport rail link from Union Station in time for the 2015 Pan American Games.

thumb|[[Union Pearson Express Union Station, located west of the main Union Station building]]

Trains on this line do not stop at the regular platforms used by GO and Via trains, but use a separate station located west of the main station building along the length of the main atrium of the SkyWalk between York Street and Lower Simcoe Street. The UP Express Union Station is a 5-minute walk from Union subway station.

Trains depart from the station's single side platform every 15 minutes. Passengers access trains directly from an enclosed waiting area, and a glass wall with sliding doors separate trains from the platform and open to allow passengers to board directly from the waiting area without exposure to the elements. The floor of the waiting area is level with the train floor, which allows for step-free boarding.

The UP Express Union Station has a dedicated customer service counter, ticket vending machines and flight check-in kiosks. These kiosks permit check-ins for Air Canada and WestJet. Three stands in the waiting area offer Balzac's coffee, souvenirs and Mill Street Brewery draft beer.

Former operations

Ontario Northland

  • Northlander to Gravenhurst, Huntsville, North Bay, Cobalt and Cochrane

The Northlander provided a passenger train service between Union Station and Northeastern Ontario from 1976 until 2012. In March 2012, the Government of Ontario announced plans to discontinue this service, and the final day of operations was September 28, 2012.

Amtrak

  • International to Port Huron, Flint, Battle Creek, Niles, and Chicago

The International (known until 1983 as the International Limited) provided a passenger train service between Union Station and Chicago Union Station from 1982 until 2004, when the cross-border service was discontinued and replaced by Via Rail's Toronto–Sarnia service, and Amtrak's Blue Water route from Port Huron to Chicago. The final day of operations was April 23, 2004.

Other railway stations (terminals or depots) in Toronto

  • Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway Terminal – south of Fort York (now 24 Bathurst Street condo across from Housey Street)
  • Grand Trunk Freight House – Front Street West and Simcoe Street (now Metro Toronto Convention Centre)
  • Northern Railway Office – Spadina Avenue and Front Street West (late as The Globe and Mail head office and now being re-developed as The Well condo project
  • Grand Trunk Passenger Terminal – Front Street East and Yonge Street (Freight Office after 1882, later as Toronto Wholesale Fruit Market from 1900 and Canadian Consolidated Rubber Company, shed destroyed by fire in 1952 and station finally demolished to make way for the O'Keefe Centre for the Performing Arts (now Meridian Hall)
  • Toronto and Nipissing Railway Passenger, Freight and Maintenance Terminal, Berkeley Street – Front and Parliament, now Parliament Square Park
  • Northern Railway Depot – Jarvis and The Esplanade at south end of old St Lawrence Market and now part of St Lawrence Market South wing

References

Bibliography

  • Toronto Union Station Master Plan
  • CBC: Train station leased for 100 years
  • Transport Canada Rail Link News Release
  • Toronto's Union-Pearson Air-Rail Link
  • Toronto Terminals Railway Company
  • Underground exploration
  • Official website
  • Union Station at the City of Toronto
  • Union Station on Via Rail (English, French)
  • Union Station at Transit Toronto
  • Toronto Union Station (Canada RailGuide—TrainWeb)
  • Photos of Toronto Union Station and Skywalk
  • Article from "Architectural Forum" (1924) about the design of the station