Here's what a whole year of work on new Toronto subway station looks like
The new $27 billion Ontario Line subway is primed to bring much-needed relief to Toronto's overburdened transit network, and you might just be surprised by how much work Metrolinx has accomplished behind the scenes.
The transit agency has shared regular construction updates, offering windows into the transformative transit project, including glimpses behind the enormous acoustic shelters at sites of the line's future downtown stations, and deep dives into the mining operations deep below street level to etch out future station platforms.
Metrolinx also provided a recent glimpse at the goings on at the Ontario Line's vast Corktown Station site at the intersection of Parliament and Front streets, documenting what one full year of construction activity looks like at the future subway station.
In a recent social media post, Metrolinx showed off just over twelve months of progress at the future station. During this time, an enormous pit was excavated for the future station, stretching an impressive 29 metres below street level and requiring the excavation of over 90,000 cubic metres of soil and rock.
While the pit has now bottomed out, crews continue to dig out the underground cavern that will support the future station platforms below Front Street.
Construction will cross an important milestone in the coming weeks, when crews begin pouring concrete for the first permanent elements of the subway station.
Once operational, Corktown Station is primed to become a busy stop on the line, with connections to busy surface routes including the 504 King Streetcar, 65 Parliament bus and 172 Cherry Street bus expected to combine for 1,900 surface transfers during the busiest travel hour.
By 2041, over 26,000 residents will live within a ten-minute walk of the site, and with major destinations like the Distillery District in the immediate vicinity drawing people from across the region, Metrolinx has high hopes for the station, projecting peak per-hour ridership of 4,100 passengers.
The Ontario Line is currently anticipated to wrap up construction in 2031, bringing 15 new stations to the TTC's rapid transit network, linking Exhibition Place with the shuttered Ontario Science Centre via downtown Toronto on a 15.6-kilometre route that includes tunnels, surface-level stretches, a pair of impressive bridges, and elevated corridors.
Metrolinx
