Union Station is undergoing a major transformation, with big changes already underway to help expand the station’s capacity and improve flow. 

Crews with the Union Station Enhancement Project completed the concrete pour for the first base for new, wider platforms and track earlier this year. While it may just look like concrete, the track slab is a major part of ongoing work to upgrade Union Station to support increased service levels across the GO rail network.

Over the next year, crews will work on new, wider platforms and enclose the new concourse below. This will pave the way for the installation of new tracks.

Once these upgrades are complete, we’ll have the capacity to run up to 80 trains per hour through Union Station during peak periods – four times the current level.  

Take a behind-the-scenes look at how the work is coming together below. 

Working to reduce crowding 

The original platforms at Union Station were installed in 1929 and have remained unchanged since. The platforms were built to meet the much lower ridership needs of the time. Platforms 24/25 and 26/27 were added in 2009, but there has been no significant work on the original GO platforms besides state of good repair work and heritage restoration. 

As part of work to modernize the station, reconfiguring the current platforms and adding stairs and elevators, will allow more passengers and trains to cycle through. This will help reduce crowding with more space for riders to move between the platforms and concourses. Boarding and disembarking trains will be more efficient. 

Building a better Union Station 

Union Station is the gateway to the region, and it’s undergoing major improvements to meet transit needs now and in the future. 

In addition to wider platforms, we’re building a new south concourse at Union Station spanning from Bay to York Streets that will have convenient open concept connections into the York, VIA and Bay Concourses, Union Square and Scotiabank Arena. We’re also adding more stairs and elevators to provide easier access to the platforms from the concourse levels. Once this work is complete, Union Station will be more accessible and easier to navigate.

This is part of how we’re expanding GO to better serve the thousands of passengers who move through Union Station each day and provide faster, safer and more accessible transit.