One of Toronto’s upcoming transit projects is already making notable strides, with its latest milestone bringing the city’s east end residents even closer to seamless travel throughout the GTA.
In an update on X, Metrolinx shared that construction crews on the forthcoming East Harbour Transit Hub (EHTH) recently worked 24/7 over a single weekend to install over 1,300 metres of rail.
The EHTH is part of the SmartTrack program, which was originally proposed in 2014 by then-mayoral candidate John Tory to utilize existing GO Transit rail corridors to build new stations and serve more commuters.
The program initially involved the construction of 22 stations, however, the transit project has drastically dwindled down to just five stations along three GO rail corridors, namely Finch-Kennedy, King-Liberty, St. Clair-Old Weston, Bloor-Lansdowne and East Harbour.
Behind the scenes of the recent track shift in Toronto’s east end. 👀
Swipe➡️ to see how crews at the East Harbour Transit Hub worked 24/7 over a single weekend to install 1,326 metres of rail and bring the new infrastructure into service for GO riders. pic.twitter.com/pM84leznTW
— GO Expansion (@GOExpansion) January 15, 2025
The EHTH will serve as an interchange station in Toronto’s Riverdale neighbourhood, just east of the Don Valley Parkway and south of Eastern Avenue. The hub will be located on both the Lakeshore East and Stouffville GO lines, and will provide connections to the Ontario Line subway and future TTC services.
Along with single train connections to Pickering, Whitby and Oshawa, the transit hub is set to offer a concourse area with amenities and accessible drop-off, connections to the future Broadview Avenue extension, as well as GO platforms for local and express train service.
Metrolinx expects that a GO train will arrive at the upcoming hub as frequently as every five minutes, and that it will serve up to 100,000 daily riders, with an even split between Ontario Line customers and SmartTrack GO Station riders.
Back in October, the transit project hit another milestone when crews completed the concrete deck pour for the first half of a wider bridge over Eastern Avenue. Although the project is slowly taking shape, Mayor Olivia Chow told reporters in December that the cost of the program is continuing to rise.
“The costs have gone up quite a bit, and we can’t go beyond that budget envelope because we just can’t afford it,” Chow said. “We have limited funds. It’s not my style to spend money we don’t have.”
Late last year, council also voted in favour of a staff recommendation that the City prioritize three stations, namely East Harbour, Bloor-Lansdowne and St. Clair-Old Weston, while the province finds ways to fund King-Liberty and Finch-Kennedy.
According to a staff report, the project’s current budget is $1.689 billion. Of this total, $878 million will come from the city, $585 million from the federal government and $226 million from the Ontario government.
As a result, the city manager will request that the province increase its contribution to the SmartTrack project, aiming to match or exceed the city’s investment in order to ensure the completion of the remaining two stations.
