Union Station Renewal Program

Toronto’s Union Station is at the heart of the commercial and tourist activity of the largest city in Canada. In addition to supporting 250 GO Transit commuter train movements daily, Union Station's 15 track corridor also supports Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, VIA, and ON Rail operations. The heavily trafficked station is also the key link between the ever expanding GO Transit commuter service and the Toronto Transit Commission subway system.

To relieve overcrowding and to provide the flexibility and capacity for future growth, GO Transit has undertaken a 10-20 year improvement program to renew and upgrade both the station and track elements of Union Station. As the lead partner of the HDI joint venture, Hatch Mott MacDonald manages concourse, platforms, and other passenger service improvements, electrical, SCADA, and communications upgrades, as well as an extensive replacement and expansion program for out-of-date track and signal infrastructure.

The overall challenge of the infrastructure renewal program is to develop and implement a plan to improve the safety, utility, and reliability of the rail infrastructure and of Union Station while increasing capacity to support planned service expansion in a cost-effective, timely, and safe manner.  All of the proposed improvements need to be carried out while the station is operational. Furthermore, the program must address a large number of stakeholders with interests in Union Station.  Developing and implementing service improvements requires careful management of complex and challenging interrelationships among the many stakeholders, of competing and complementary projects, historical preservation objectives, and commercial development objectives of the City.