The new SmartTrack GO stations will give residents an opportunity to join commuters on faster rides within the city, creating a network effect to encourage more people to use transit.
The addition of five new SmartTrack stations will give Toronto residents a new way to travel.
GO train tracks are already laid across the city, so the plan to add new stations would give more Torontonians the opportunity to ride on GO trains and move through the city faster.
“When you see trains passing by, through your neighborhood in Toronto, maybe you wish a station was there so you could have a new way to get downtown, or out of town,” said Adriana Trujillo, senior manager of stations capital delivery at Metrolinx. “Torontonians will be able to more easily access a better-connected transit network via GO stations built in their neighborhoods.”
“The SmartTrack program is allowing the city to utilize the GO corridors to expand transit in the areas that are closer to the residents in Toronto,” explained Derrick Toigo, executive director of city of Toronto’s Transit Expansion Office.
SmartTrack stations are projected to bring 110,000 new daily riders to the GO rail network by 2031, becoming an example of how making transit easier to use creates a network effect that will result in better and faster service, encouraging more people to use it.
This program is a collaboration among the Province of Ontario, the city of Toronto and Metrolinx, funded in principle by the city of Toronto, with a contribution from the federal government. The Ontario-Toronto Agreement in Principle has brought the five stations closer to construction.
The locations will provide connections to existing lines like the Bloor-Danforth subway and UP Express, as well as future routes including the Finch West Light Rail Transit (LRT), Eglington Crosstown LRT and the Ontario Line. Connections will make them important hubs, giving people shortcuts across the city, reducing the need to go all the way to Union Station for connections.
“Each station is unique in its location, serving different populations, using different lines and offering different connections for people to transfer in,” Toigo said. “Each will make transit more accessible by giving people a new option to get where they need to go.”
What’s to come
King-Liberty Station will deliver a new transit option in one of the most densely populated sections of Toronto. Instead of boarding the crowded King streetcar, Liberty Village residents will be one quick stop away from Union Station on GO’s Kitchener Line. Airport-bound riders will be able to go north and connect to UP Express at Bloor-Lansdowne or Mount Dennis.
West end residents will benefit from the Bloor-Lansdowne Station which will give them a shortcut to downtown on the Barrie Line. Located between the Lansdowne and Dundas West stations – just west of St. Helen’s Avenue – it will provide easy transfers to the Bloor-Danforth subway line and UP Express. Pedestrians will enjoy scenic walks on the way in, from the Davenport Diamond greenway and the West Toronto Railpath.
In the Stockyards District, St. Clair-Old Weston Station, on the Kitchener Line, will bring a new, faster transit choice to a part of the city that currently has no rapid transit. The station is being designed as a bus hub with easy transfers for people coming in from surrounding neighborhoods.
Finch-Kennedy Station will improve Stouffville Line service from Scarborough. On Finch Avenue East between Milliken Boulevard and Midland Avenue, it will offer passengers seamless access to frequent TTC bus connections on Finch. Bike parking and accessible drop-off areas will make it easy to get to the station.
The station at East Harbour – just east of the Don River between Eastern Ave and Lake Shore Boulevard – is part of a plan to bring growth to an underused part of the city. Unlike the other four SmartTrack stations, it will be integrated into a new Transit Oriented Community, with funding coming from the developer, Cadillac Fairview.
“The station is going to contribute to the development of an area that has a lot of potential and is expected to have a dense population in the near future,” said Adriana Alvarez, manager for stations capital delivery at Metrolinx. “This will be a major hub with stops on both the Lakeshore East and Stouffville GO lines, seamless connectivity to the Ontario Line subway and the extension of TTC streetcar service further south along Broadview Avenue.”
Transfers at East Harbour will enable people to bypass Union Station, reducing crowding there.
The five stations are expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
