The revenge of SmartTrack

SmartTrack, the transit plan championed by former mayor John Tory in 2014, is the election promise that will never fully die, even if it was diminished from the promise of a brand-new 53-kilometre transit relief project to just a few new stations on existing GO Transit rail corridors. SmartTrack, as initially pitched, would have utilized existing rail and highway corridors to quickly build an express rapid transit line that would provide much-needed relief to the Yonge Subway line, foster development of the East Don Lands (former site of an Unilever soap factory), and connect downtown with employment lands in Markham and Mississauga. According to campaign materials, SmartTrack would have been built in just seven years.

Eleven years later, that relief is coming, but through other forms: the now under-construction Ontario Line, expansion of the Bloor-Yonge Subway station, and slow subway ridership recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in 2020-2021. The Mount Dennis-Airport Corporate Centre section, nearly impossible to build as a continuous passenger rail line, is now being built as a tunneled extension of the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT.

Over a decade later, the legacy of SmartTrack, along with other major changes for the GO Transit Kitchener Line, will affect both GO operations and UP Express, Toronto’s airport rail link, which will be asked to do more despite existing constraints. Without rigorous planning, transparency from Metrolinx, and stakeholder input, the potential of Toronto’s northwest corridor as a high-quality local and regional transit project is in doubt. With significant investment and proper planning, the Kitchener Line could serve as a shining example of how to get things right.

The diminished legacy of SmartTrack

The idea of a “London-style surface rail subway” for Toronto was, and remains, a laudable goal for our existing GO Transit rail corridors; this was the concept behind the GO Expansion project touted just a few years ago that would truly transform the system into a high-quality urban rail network. It would not only serve suburban municipalities like Markham, Brampton, and Mississauga, but also improve travel times to the inner suburbs such as Agincourt and Rexdale.

What SmartTrack got wrong was relying on a flawed report that had very specific aims, poor public buy-in, and an arrogant, yet ineffectual proponent who nevertheless managed to win re-election, twice. (He might run again in 2026.) It didn’t help that SmartTrack was a municipal idea that was not coordinated with the provincial planning process; it never really got off the ground, even if municipal planning staff were charged with implementing the proposal. Ideally, the city should have just pushed hard to advance GO expansion on multiple corridors and for fare integration with the TTC.

Despite years of inaction, five SmartTrack stations remain on the books, to be funded largely by the City of Toronto. This was a curious arrangement as the provincial government has taken responsibility for the costs of all other GO Transit expansion projects, along with subway and LRT extensions. The five stations the city committed to were:

• St. Clair-Old Weston (Kitchener Line)
• King-Liberty (Kitchener Line)
• East Harbour (Lakeshore East/Stouffville, with a connection with the Ontario Line)
• Finch-Kennedy (Stouffville Line) and
• Bloor-Lansdowne (Barrie Line, not on the old SmartTrack map)

The King-Liberty and St. Clair-Old Weston stations, present in the original SmartTrack map, are on the inner portion of the busy Kitchener Line, which now hosts two-way, all-day service between Union and Bramalea Stations, as frequent as every 30 minutes weekdays. This section of track, known as the Weston Subdivision, also hosts UP Express (UPX) trains, which run every 15 minutes between Union and Pearson Airport, with stops at Bloor and Weston stations. It will also stop at Mount Dennis when that station opens in mid-November, connecting with the Crosstown LRT when that opens, likely in early 2026.

East Harbour Station, at the former Unilever Lands, will be an essential connection between GO trains, the Ontario Line, and TTC streetcars, providing transit access to a huge proposed mixed-use development, as well as the Portlands redevelopment to the south. It will be very well used once the Ontario Line opens.

Bloor-Lansdowne is a curious “SmartTrack” legacy station, as it was not on the original proposed route. Located just east of Bloor GO Station on the Kitchener Line, the two-platform station would serve Barrie Line trains, with a walking connection to the TTC’s Lansdowne Station two blocks to the east. (See my supplementary post highlighting this transfer.) Unlike King-Liberty and Finch-Kennedy stations, Bloor-Lansdowne is going ahead as construction had already started in 2024.

Bloor-Lansdowne probably should not have been advanced, especially when King-Liberty or even Finch-Kennedy would be more useful new stations.

St. Clair-Old Weston Station will still go ahead, even though pedestrian access and transfers to local transit lines will be less than ideal. Rail platforms will be accessed from Union Street, not directly from St. Clair Avenue, Keele Street, or Old Weston Road. Though TTC buses could be diverted to the planned bus loop, transfers to streetcars on the 512 St. Clair line will be awkward and unattractive to riders. (See my supplementary post that describes the challenges in more detail.)

King-Liberty Station, which would serve fast-growing Liberty Village, connect with 504 King streetcars, and be within walking distance of Exhibition Place, Parkdale, and the new Ontario Line, is now deferred despite the neighbourhood’s residential and employment density and its need for better transit links. Finch-Kennedy, in northern Scarborough, is also deferred. The city is hoping the province picks up the costs of those two stations.

Woodbine GO Station (not to be confused with Woodbine subway station on Line 2), located on the Woodbine Racetrack lands, is now under construction. When complete, it will replace Etobicoke North Station, which only has one platform and cannot be easily expanded for a four-track mainline. There is the potential for a short extension of the soon-to-open Line 6 Finch West LRT to Woodbine from Humber College. Woodbine Station would serve both GO trains and UPX, allowing passengers from Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph to make an easy transfer to Pearson Airport. Woodbine would also be a logical transfer point between local GO trains to Bramalea and Mount Pleasant and express GO trains to Guelph and Kitchener.

With these decisions in mind, the challenge now will be figuring out how to serve the new Kitchener Line stations.

What is UP Express for, anyway?

UP Express, for all its faults, is an example of what urban regional rail looks like. Trains are frequent – every 15 minutes – seven days a week, from early in the morning to late at night, with the last train leaving Union at 1:00 AM. Stations feature high-level boarding, ideal for quick and easy boarding, especially for those passengers with luggage, strollers, or using mobility devices. The only other comparable example in North America is Denver’s A-Line train, an electrified service which also makes multiple stop between the downtown core and the city’s international airport.

A 15-minute frequency is important as it is commonly cited as the minimum level of service for a “get up and go” level of transit convenience and attractiveness. Right now, the Kitchener Corridor has a base hourly service between Union and Bramalea seven days a week, with additional peak-direction express trains and 30 minute service during much of the weekday service period.

Because of its reliable and frequent service and affordable fares, UPX has become a victim of its own success, with many riders travelling between Union, Bloor, and Weston, rather than going all the way to and from the airport. This problem was especially evident when riders were left stranded after the end of game seven of the 2025 World Series. The last train left Union station completely full, not long after the game finished in extra innings.

Fares for riding UPX are quite reasonable. When UP Express was first launched, a one-way fare to the airport was $27.50. In 2016, that adult fare dropped to $12.00, today it is $12.35. Adult fares paid with a Presto card are discounted by $3.10. An adult fare between Weston and Union is just over $5. However, UPX despite being owned and operated by Metrolinx, has no fare integration with GO Transit, and it is not part of the provincial One Fare program that permits free transfers between GO, the TTC and other GTHA transit agencies. This is likely intended to minimize overcrowding, even though it limits the utility of UPX.

Another constraint is the UPX fleet and station size. All UPX stations are designed for three-car trains, as the service was designed to be a premium airport rail link, not an urban transit service. There are just 18 Nippon Sharyo DMU rail cars available for service, assembled into four 3-car trains, and two 2-car trains. The interior design is set up for a premium airport service, with rows of forward/backward facing individual seats and lots of luggage space.

These challenges will be exasperated with the addition of new stations at Mount Dennis and St. Clair-Old Weston. Furthermore, Metrolinx has requested that City of Toronto modify plans for the St. Clair-Old Weston (or SCOW) station to be UPX-only. According to an October 21, 2025 report to Council’s Executive Committee, “Metrolinx has indicated that this service change is required to maintain the 15-minute (or better) service frequency commitment made by Metrolinx for the SmartTrack Program, which can no longer be maintained by GO service.”

Despite Metrolinx building a fourth track on the Weston Subdivision that will extend to Pearson Junction (where the UPX tracks diverge towards the airport) from the Union Station Rail Corridor (hence the closures of the West Toronto Rail Path), it seems that it can not commit to operating 15-minute service for both GO and UPX service, which seems like a ridiculous state of affairs when this is common practice in Europe and Asia. This goes against the whole concept of GO Expansion, which promised to deliver fast, frequent, integrated GO service to most of its corridors.

Perhaps Metrolinx’s inability to conceive of GO becoming more than just a suburban commuter railway is why Deutsche Bahn pulled out of its contract with Metrolinx early in 2025. Since The Trillium’s June 2025 investigation, there has been little said about the collapse of GO Expansion. Communications and transparency have not been Metrolinx’s strong suit, especially in the last few years as Doug Ford’s PC government has tightened its control on all government communications.

So, if St. Clair-Old Weston is served only by UP Express, it will have to be completely rethought. It will not be able to offer an exclusive, 25-minute ride between Terminal 1 and Pearson Airport. That in itself is fine. A train taking 30 minutes to travel the same distance, with a few additional stops will work, provided that the trains have the capacity to serve both airport passengers and urban transit riders. Stations should be six cars long, then, with a new Union Station terminal, ideally under the main trainshed for easy connections to TTC, GO, and VIA Rail. GO Transit trains would then focus on suburban and regional travel between Toronto, Malton, Brampton, Guelph, and Kitchener, skipping most existing stops in the City of Toronto, part from Woodbine and perhaps Bloor.

But Metrolinx, the City, and the Province need to express their intentions openly and clearly so that we, the passengers and taxpayers, know what will happen, and that we will get the best transit possible. Let’s be smart about this.