finch west station

There's a secret station on Toronto's new subway line

When the latest extension to the Toronto subway system opened in December 2017, there was at least one major component that remained sealed off for the foreseeable future.

Buried beneath the Finch West subway station is a roughed-in terminal that's waiting for the arrival of the new Finch LRT line that's scheduled to open in 2021 (don't hold your breath on that date).

"At Finch West, buried in the new station, is the new light rail terminal," TTC Chief Operating Officer Mike Palmer told CP24. "So when that’s built, you just literally break out a wall and there will be a light rail platform there."

This isn't the only secret station in Toronto's subway system. Most people know about Lower Bay, which was actively used for a period in the 1960s, but it's Lower Queen that recalls the TTC's forward thinking in this case.

Lower queen station ttc

What Lower Queen Station looks like today. Photo by Derek Flack.

When the original Yonge Line was built in the mid 1950s, there was a good chance that a streetcar subway would be built along Queen St. In anticipation of its construction, the shell of a station was built under the current platform at Queen.

It's unfinished, but easy to see where streetcars would have arrived and departed. While there aren't pictures floating around of the roughed in station at Finch West, the idea behind preparing the space for an eventual connection is the same.

Let's hope the outcome is different, though. The streetcar subway never did arrive at Queen Station, leaving the space to sit mostly empty since the late 1950s. Let's hope our newest ghost station is brought to life on schedule.

Lead photo by

Kurtis Chen


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in City

Huge invasion of enormous venomous spiders could soon 'parachute' into Ontario

Royal Canadian Mint's new releases include a coin with a jaw-dropping price tag

It will be a huge headache to get to popular Toronto beach for at least a month

Canada's largest spider is a fearsome predator that grows to 9 cm and lives in Ontario

Motorist ridiculed for driving on Toronto sidewalk but some disagree on who to blame

Toronto man claims thieves now breaking into cars to steal gas pedals in viral video

People holding dead animal bodies turned heads next to busy Toronto destinations

Here's a preview of what it will be like to ride on new Toronto LRT line