Construction starts on Pape Station
Construction is now officially underway at Pape Station, marking the start of work to build a new interchange station that connects the Ontario Line with the TTC’s Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth).
“The Ontario Line Pape Station will be a critical interchange for commuters by cutting some travel times by more than half and helping reduce gridlock for drivers across the city,” said Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria.
Construction work will focus initially on building the foundations required for excavations that will ultimately connect the two subway lines. The new station will serve tens of thousands of commuters every day, facilitating more than 9,000 transfers during the morning rush hour alone and reducing crowding on Line 1 (Yonge-University) by 15 percent and Line 2 by over 20 percent.
“The future Pape Station, and the rest of the Ontario Line, will help connect more communities to rapid transit in our city,” said Olivia Chow, Mayor of Toronto. “It will help more people access employment and local businesses, as well as commute to work or school. More public transit means more opportunities and less congestion. I look forward to the progress at Pape and beyond.”
Once complete, the 15.6-kilometre Ontario Line will have 15 stations, running from Exhibition Place through the downtown core and connecting to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. The line will offer more than 40 connections to other subway, bus, streetcar and regional train services, bringing 227,500 more people within walking distance of transit and reducing daily car trips by at least 28,000.
By 2041, the line is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 14,000 tonnes annually and cut overall fuel consumption by more than seven million litres a year – the equivalent of nearly 120,000 fill-ups at the pump per year.
The project is one of a series of expansions the province is making in public transit in the GTA. These also include the Scarborough Subway Extension, the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension and the Yonge North Subway Extension.