Abandoned TTC line is now being demolished ahead of new future

The TTC is tearing up the rails of the city's shortest-lived rapid transit line just a year and a half after the untimely demise of the Line 3 Scarborough RT (SRT).

The SRT was shuttered for good in Aug. 2023 following a train derailment that summer, with the sudden shutdown of the line coming months ahead of the route's previously planned Nov. 2023 closure.

The transit agency is now working in earnest to demolish the former SRT's right of way so it can be repurposed into a new bus corridor to be known as the Line 3 Busway.

Following the same general route as the closed SRT, the Busway will operate along a four-kilometre right-of-way formerly used by Line 3 trains. Essentially, it's the same route as before, but with a major downgrade in that you are riding a bus.

According to a recent TTC tweet, the process to prepare the lost line for its new future began in mid-September, when "contracted crews began the months-long process of removing the rail, signals, and concrete to make way for the construction of the new busway, which starts next Spring."

The #TTC Line 3 SRT era is officially closing on two fronts.
1) In mid-September, contracted crews began the months-long process of removing the rail, signals, and concrete to make way for the construction of the new busway, which starts next Spring.
2) The old SRT cars have… pic.twitter.com/0SOvZDVT7m

— TTC Media Relations 📰🚌🚋🚈 (@TTCNewsroom) November 5, 2024

While some stretches of track have already been demolished, passersby at Kennedy Station are getting what is likely their last glimpse of the former SRT rails to the north.

Crews will continue to tear away stretches of track along this corridor spanning Eglinton Avenue East to Ellesmere Road, with the remainder of the busway using a transit-priority corridor to Scarborough Centre Station.

The SRT tracks seen above will soon be ripped up, and the right-of-way repurposed for bus service. Photo by Fareen Karim.

The elevated guideway travelling north out of Kennedy Station is not part of the plans for the busway, as vehicles will instead merge with the SRT corridor to the north via a new signalized connection to the Kennedy Station Bus Terminals.

Buses will not use the elevated SRT platform, instead travelling onto the right-of-way via a new signalized intersection. Photo by Fareen Karim.

As for the line's rolling stock, the majority of the fleet will live on as transit vehicles not too far from home, with 18 of the trains being shipped to Detroit to serve on that city's People Mover loop through downtown.

Two of the SRT cars will be shipped to the Halton County Radial Railway Museum, while another will be put on display at the Toronto Zoo.

The TTC announced that these vehicles have all "started their journeys to their new homes."

The new busway is expected to enter service in 2026.