Toronto TTC Subway Network Growth

On March 30th, 1954, the first Subway in Toronto was opened. It ran from Union to Eglinton along Yonge street and opened with 12 stations.

In 2002, Line 4 - also known as the Sheppard Line - officially opened. The new line consists of 5 stations, one of which is an interchange station on Line 1. This was the last time a new line has been added to the Toronto TTC Subway network. Since then, only six stations have been added to Line 1 (Sheppard West to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre) but the entirety of line 3 has been shut down and will eventually be replaced by a Line 2 Extension.

Looking at the chart above, it becomes very clear that minimal work has been done to expand the TTC Subway network in the last 45 years, despite the population of the city more than doubling. 61 of the currently opened 74 stations were opened by the end of 1980. Officially, there are 70 stations in the TTC network, however we double counted interchange stations (one for each line). This is to take into account the fact that despite the station already existing, work has to be done on the station to allow for a second direction of travel. It also needs to be connected to the other stations on new lines which is the same amount of work as for standalone stations.

Since the early days, numerous projects were proposed - even approved - before being changed or cancelled. These projects are presented concisely in https://cancelledtoronto.ca/

One such example is the idea of of a second line through downtown toronto. Whether in the form of an underground streetcar, or a full relief line, multiple projects were approved decades ago (since 1946). Eventually, culminating in the Ontario Line that has been announced in 2019.

However, there is significant work underway. Ontario Line is slated to be opened in the early 2030s and will add a total of 15 new stations and 15.6km of rapid transit line.

It will connect Exhibition place to the Eglinton LRT on Don Mills, while going through downtown and adding three interchanges - Osgood & Queen Stations (on Line 1), and Pape Station (Line 2). The Eglinton LRT and the Finch West LRT will also be considered Lines 5 and 6 of the Subway Network.

For the curious about more details regarding various past expansion projects, check out the government of Ontario timeline on the matter here.