Huge elevated subway stations in Toronto gearing up to start construction

The $27 billion Ontario Line subway is a monumental step forward for Toronto public transit, and the mega-project is already making significant headway at various points around town.

Work is now ramping up ahead of the official start of construction for what promises to be one of the most unique clusters along the 15.6-kilometre, 15-stop line linking Exhibition Place in downtown Toronto with the former Ontario Science Centre at Don Mills and Eglinton.

Metrolinx has issued construction notices announcing the start of early works at the sites of Flemingdon Park and Thorncliffe Park stations.

Flemingdon Park Station

The transit agency shared via community notice that "site preparation work is underway at 770 Don Mills Road to get ready for Ontario Line construction."

Flemingdon Park Station

Metrolinx states that, over the course of a three-month period, crews will be installing fencing and gates, clearing trees and shrubs, and installing work trailers ahead of the official start of construction at this site, which will serve as the primary laydown and staging area for the construction of Flemingdon Park Station and its surrounding elevated guideway.

Flemingdon Park Station

Based on this timeline, it is safe to assume that actual construction mobilization will follow as early as November.

Meanwhile, a short distance to the south, work is scheduled to begin in mid-September on pre-construction activities in preparation for Thorncliffe Park Station and its section of the surrounding elevated guideway. 

A single-storey commercial property is coming down at 28 Overlea Boulevard, located at the northeast corner of Overlea Boulevard and Thorncliffe Park Drive.

Thorncliffe Park Station

Preconstruction activity at this site will include disconnection of underground utilities, including gas and hydro, removing existing structures, and backfilling the site ahead of the station and guideway construction, a task expected to wrap up by mid-November.

The two stations now preparing for construction represent the southern pair of stops in a series of three stations operating along an elevated rail guideway at the northeast end of the line after the route emerges from an underground portal and crosses the Don Valley. The terminal Don Valley Station (formerly Science Centre) to the north at Don Mills and Eglinton will also follow this elevated configuration.

Collectively, these stations will be unlike any existing subway station in the city, though they will bear some similarities to earlier stations on Line 2, including Old Mill, Warden, and Kennedy, all sharing above-ground configurations along elevated corridors.

The stations will carry a legacy of elevated public transit in eastern Toronto, joining existing Line 2 stations in Scarborough, while coming a few years after the closure of the elevated Line 3 Scarborough RT – a route number that will be uploaded to the new Ontario Line once it enters service with the TTC in 2031.