TTC will install platform edge doors on Line 1 platform at Bloor-Yonge Station as part of $1.5B overhaul

The TTC has unveiled new details about its $1.5 billion overhaul of Bloor-Yonge Station, including a plan to install platform edge doors along the Line 1 subway platform.

The detail was included in a wider update, outlining some of the work planned for the downtown subway station.

The TTC also shared a number of new renderings in the post.

“Upon project completion, platform edge doors will be installed and operational on Line 1 at Bloor-Yonge station, as the Line 1 Automatic Train Control (ATC) signal system is already in place,” the TTC said in the update. “Infrastructure will be installed for Line 2 at Bloor Yonge Station to enable future platform edge doors. Platform Edge Doors on Line 2 will be possible once the full Line 2 Automatic Train Control (ATC) signal system is installed.”

Transit advocates, including the group TTCRiders, have long called for the installation of platform-edge across the TTC in order to improve safety.

Several mayoral candidates have also said that the TTC needs to act now to install platform-edge doors in at least some stations.

The cost, however, has been a roadblock so far.

While the project was included in the TTC’s 15-year capital plan in January its estimated $2.86 billion price tag still remains entirely unfunded.

“As with everything, retrofitting a system that is aging, and that's already built and that's in use is much more expensive and much more complicated than trying to build something in a system that's being built from scratch,” Matti Siemiatycki, the director of the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto, told CP24 in April. “So the question, I guess, is one of feasibility and one of costs and priority.”

As part of its overhaul of Bloor-Yonge Station, the TTC is planning to build a new dedicated platform for eastbound passengers on Line 2 and expand the existing platforms utilized for Line 1.

It is also planning to build a new exit to Bloor Street and replace the existing escalators, elevators and stairs.

Major construction is expected to begin in 2024, according to the TTC.