Ontario Line construction begins at Pape Station

Ontario Line construction crews have broken ground at Pape Station, one of 15 stops along the province’s ambitious cross-city transit line.

The stop in the city’s east end in Greektown will connect with the TTC’s Bloor-Danforth line and cut travel times from the site to the downtown core from 25 minutes to 12, the provincial government said.

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“The future Pape Station will serve as a key transit node, with more than 10,000 customers using the station during the busiest travel hour, making it faster and easier for commuters to travel across the city,” Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma told reporters at a rainy Tuesday morning news conference.

Construction on the transit network began in late 2021 and is expected to be complete by 2031 with an estimated price tag of $19 billion. Initially, when Premier Doug Ford unveiled his vision for the 15.6- relief subway line in 2019, the total cost was pegged at $10.9 billion with its completion set for 2027.

The Ontario Line is slated to run from Exhibition Place in the west end to the site of the former Ontario Science Centre in the northeast with more than 40 connections to other subway, bus, and streetcar networks, including the yet-to-be operational Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

Officials estimate that once the work on the line is done, 227,000 more people will be within walking distance of public transit and daily car trips will be reduced by at least 28,000.

“The future Pape Station, and the rest of the Ontario Line, will help connect more communities to rapid transit in our city,” Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said in a news release.

“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.”

The Ontario Line is part of the province’s $70 billion investment to upgrade public transit in the city over the next 10 years and also includes the Scarborough Subway Extension, the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension, and the Yonge North Subway Extension.

A rendering of the future Ontario Line is seen in this image. (Metrolinx)