Mount Dennis station

Mount Dennis
Line 5 platform
General information
Location3500 Eglinton Ave W, Toronto, Ontario, Canada[1]
Coordinates43°41′15″N 79°29′14″W / 43.68750°N 79.48722°W / 43.68750; -79.48722
Tracks
Connections
  •  27  Jane South
  •  32  Eglinton West
  •  34  Eglinton
  •  35  Jane
  •  71  Runnymede
  •  73B  Royal York
  •  89  Weston
  •  161  Rogers Rd
  •  164  Castlefield
  •  168  Symington
  •  171  Mount Dennis
  •  334   Eglinton
  •  989  Weston Express
Construction
Structure typeAt-grade
AccessibleYes
ArchitectArcadis
Other information
Station codeGO Transit: MD
Fare zone4 (GO Transit)
History
Opened
  • November 16, 2025 (2025-11-16) (TTC buses, GO, & UP)
  • February 8, 2026 (2026-02-08) (Line 5)
Services
Preceding station Toronto Transit Commission Following station
Terminus Line 5 Eglinton Keelesdale
towards Kennedy
Preceding station GO Transit Following station
Weston
towards Kitchener
Kitchener Bloor
Preceding station Metrolinx Following station
Weston Union Pearson Express Bloor
Future services
Preceding station Toronto Transit Commission Following station
Jane
towards Renforth
Line 5 west extension
(opens 2030)
Keelesdale
towards Kennedy
Location

Mount Dennis is an intermodal transit terminal in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, consisting of a rapid transit station on Line 5 Eglinton of the Toronto subway, a commuter rail station on GO Transit's Kitchener line, and an airport rail link station on the Union Pearson Express (UP Express). Located on Eglinton Avenue between the intersections of Weston Road and Black Creek Drive, it is the western terminus of Line 5 Eglinton. The station is a designated Metrolinx mobility hub and opened on November 16, 2025, for GO Transit, Toronto Transit Commission bus, and UP Express services,[2] and February 8, 2026, for Line 5 service.

The station is named after the Mount Dennis neighbourhood where it is located and its signage bears the subtitle Weston Road on the Line 5 platform. It is situated on the lands formerly known as Kodak Heights, which was a camera manufacturing facility operated by the Eastman Kodak Company from 1918 until 2006.[3] The station uses Kodak Building 9, a recreational heritage building and local landmark, as a station entrance.[4][5][6][7][8]

History

Mount Dennis was originally conceived as York Centre station – named after the City of York, a municipality within the former Metropolitan Toronto before it was amalgamated into the present Toronto – which was planned to be the western terminus of an earlier proposed Eglinton West subway line. This was one of the three proposed subway lines in the Network 2011 plan created in 1985 by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). Construction started in 1994 but was subsequently halted when the project was shelved in 1995 following the election of a Progressive Conservative government led by Mike Harris.[9][10] That station was planned to be located at Black Creek Drive on the south side of Eglinton Avenue as opposed to the farther-west north side location of Mount Dennis and would also have featured a connection to a new station on the Kitchener GO train line.[11][12]

A draft prepared on April 10, 2013, established four designs for the station.[8] In all the designs, the underground Line 5 Eglinton platform was 150 metres (490 ft) long, enough for a four-car trainset. Two designs placed the bus platform on the north side of Eglinton, accessed through a 230-metre (750 ft) pedestrian tunnel. In two designs other than the final product, the bus platforms were on the south side of Eglinton, accessed through a 260-metre (850 ft) pedestrian tunnel.

By early 2016, the finalized design placed the bus loop on the north side of the station, accessed by a relocated Photography Drive bridge that crosses Eglinton further to the east than the old bridge. This roadway would pass east of the renovated Kodak building, which would form the station's third entrance. In February 2016, the original Photography Drive bridge over Eglinton Avenue was demolished to make way for construction on the Mount Dennis station site.[13] In August of that year, the former Kodak building was temporarily moved 60 metres (200 ft) to facilitate construction. On November 13, 2017, the building was moved back to sit on a newly built foundation. The community wanted this landmark preserved; thus, it became an integral part of the new station.[14][15]

By mid-2019, track had been laid from the Line 5 station eastwards beyond the junction with the Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility and escalators and wall tiles were being installed; graffiti had been removed from the Kodak building and restoration work to its interior was in progress.[16][17] By the fourth quarter of 2020, light rail vehicles were making test runs between Mount Dennis and Keelesdale stations.[18]

On October 23, 2025, the province announced that the GO and UP Express platforms of the station would be opening on November 16, 2025, no matter the status of Line 5.[19] Line 5 service to the station began with its opening on February 8, 2026.[20]

Description

In addition to being a landmark and of heritage interest, the former Kodak building is a focal point for riders using the mobility hub, as many of the mobility hub's features are linked to this building. It has a waiting area and public washrooms, and retail spaces on the main and basement levels.[1] The upper floors of the building will be used for rented offices, to provide a space for community use,[21] and will include an auditorium.[22]

The station has three entrances:[1]

  • The main entrance and a station plaza are located between Weston Road and the GO Transit Kitchener rail corridor. There is an underground passage from the main entrance to the former Kodak building.
  • The secondary entrance is located at street level on the north side of Eglinton Avenue West on the east side of the rail corridor bridges.
  • The third entrance and another station plaza are at the former Kodak building.

The hub encompasses the following services:[1][23]

  • GO Transit and UP Express station has platforms along the Kitchener rail corridor and is accessible from the underground connection between the main entrance and the waiting room in the former Kodak building.
  • The off-street TTC bus terminal has 15 bays and is connected to the former Kodak building. The bus terminal will have its own space for retail.
  • The passenger pick-up and drop-off area is available to riders of any of the hub's transit services. There are also four taxi stands nearby.
  • Bicycle storage will include 40 outdoor and 80 indoor spaces. Indoor storage will be provided at the main entrance.

Architecture and artwork

The station was designed by Arcadis, following an architectural concept designed by architects gh3* from Toronto and Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker from Montreal.[24][25] As with other stations on Line 5, architectural features include natural light from large windows, including a window wall on the south side of the platform level, and skylights, steel structures painted white, and orange accents (the colour of the line).[25]

As part of a program to install artworks at major interchange stations along Line 5 Eglinton, Mount Dennis station features two artworks:[26]

  • Up to This Moment, by Hadley + Maxwell, is a video display of an image documenting changes to the Kodak Heights site. The image displayed changes daily. The artwork is located on the east wall of the upper concourse; it is visible from Eglinton Avenue through the south-side glass wall of the station.
  • An untitled work by Sara Cwynar features a brightly coloured, wall-sized mural consisting of a collage of photographic images, digitally printed on layered glass panels. The artwork is located along a pedestrian corridor within the station.

Track infrastructure

As Mount Dennis is a terminal station for Line 5, there is a diamond crossover to the east for reversing trains and tail tracks for overnight train storage to the west. Flanking the crossover is the lead-in trackage to the Eglinton Maintenance and Storage Facility to the north, which includes an additional trailing-point crossover to the east to access the eastbound mainline. The line then crosses Black Creek Drive and the eponymous Black Creek on an elevated guideway before descending into the western portal of the line's underground tunnels towards Keelesdale station.[23]

Surface connections

The following bus routes serve Mount Dennis station:[27]

Bay number Route Name Additional information
1 Spare
2 27 Jane South Southbound to Jane station
3 89 Weston Southbound to Keele station
4 989 Weston Express Southbound to Keele station
(Rush hour service)
5 168 Symington Southbound to Dundas West station
6 71 Runnymede Southbound to Runnymede station
171A Mount Dennis Southbound to Jane Street and Alliance Avenue
7 73B Royal York Southbound to Royal York station via Emmett Avenue and La Rose Avenue
8 34 Eglinton Eastbound to Kennedy station
164 Castlefield Eastbound to Cedarvale station via Keelesdale station
9 71 Runnymede Northbound to Industry Street
171A Mount Dennis
10 161 Rogers Road Eastbound to Ossington station
11 89 Weston Northbound to Albion Road
12 989 Weston Express Northbound to Steeles Avenue West
(Rush hour service)
13 32 Eglinton West Westbound to Renforth station
14 Spare
15 35A Jane Northbound to Pioneer Village station
35B Northbound to Pioneer Village station via Hullmar Drive
Wheel-Trans
N/A 334A Eglinton Blue Night service; eastbound to Kennedy station and westbound to Renforth Drive and Pearson Airport
(On-street connection)
334B Blue Night service; eastbound to Finch Avenue East and Neilson Road via Morningside Avenue

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Mount Dennis Station + Maintenance and Storage Facility". Metrolinx. October 13, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  2. ^ "Ontario Newsroom". news.ontario.ca. Retrieved October 27, 2025.
  3. ^ Armstrong, James (September 13, 2013). "Community wants to preserve Kodak building while Metrolinx plans LRT station". Toronto: Global News. Archived from the original on September 15, 2013.
  4. ^ Lorinc, John (November 23, 2012). "Down (but not out) Mount Dennis area pins hopes on Metrolinx". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  5. ^ Gupta, Rahul (December 12, 2012). "Meeting to provide details on LRT station in Mount Dennis". York Guardian. Archived from the original on December 22, 2012. The Mount Dennis underground stop at Weston Road would serve as the line's western terminus point, said Metrolinx spokesperson Jamie Robinson on Friday, Dec. 7.
  6. ^ Bow, James (September 4, 2013). "Future Mount Dennis Station (Kitchener Line/Eglinton LRT)". Transit Toronto. Retrieved September 8, 2013. The connection was given new life with the launch of Eglinton LRT, operating from Jane Street east to Kennedy. A stop near Black Creek Drive would include a connection with the GO Kitchener line and a new stop on the Union Pearson Express.
  7. ^ Kalinowski, Tess (February 16, 2010). "Residents ask TTC for LRT tunnel through Mount Dennis". Toronto Star. Retrieved November 22, 2014.
  8. ^ a b "background file" (PDF). City of Toronto. April 10, 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  9. ^ Campion-Smith, Bruce (August 26, 1994). "Eglinton subway project under way $740 million line will create thousands of jobs, Rae pledges". Toronto Star. pp. A9.
  10. ^ Campion-Smith, Bruce (July 22, 1995). "Tories derail Eglinton subway". Toronto Star. pp. A4.
  11. ^ Bow, James The Eglinton West Subway, Transit Toronto, July 15, 2015.
  12. ^ "Rendering of proposed York Centre station at the corner of Black Creek Drive".
  13. ^ "Stretch of Eglinton Avenue West to close for weekend Crosstown LRT work". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. February 19, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  14. ^ "Onetime Kodak building to move 60 metres for new LRT station". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. August 25, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
  15. ^ "Eglinton Crosstown LRT Update – November 2017". Metrolinx. November 23, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2017. With the new foundation in place, November 13 marked the beginning for moving Kodak Building 9 back to its original location.
  16. ^ Mackenzie, Robert (August 30, 2018). "Previewing Mount Dennis LRT Station and Maintenance Facility". UrbanToronto. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  17. ^ Mackenzie, Robert (August 2, 2019). "Hard-Hat Touring Mount Dennis Station on the Crosstown LRT". UrbanToronto. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  18. ^ "Exploring the route – Take a rare ride aboard an Eglinton Crosstown vehicle during testing (video)". Metrolinx. July 20, 2021. Archived from the original on March 28, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  19. ^ "Ontario Completes Final Testing on Finch West LRT". Newsroom. Province of Ontario. Retrieved October 23, 2025.
  20. ^ Thayaparan, Arrthy (February 8, 2026). "Beautiful, wonderful, or Toronto transit's black eye? Whatever it is, the Eglinton Crosstown is finally open". CBC News. Archived from the original on February 9, 2026. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
  21. ^ Spurr, Ben (August 29, 2018). "Eglinton Crosstown taking shape, despite legal tussle". Toronto Star. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  22. ^ "Hardwood floors for Kodak Building as escalator delivered far below Cedarvale for Crosstown project". Metrolinx. July 20, 2021. Archived from the original on July 20, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  23. ^ a b "Mount Dennis Station Open House". Metrolinx. May 26, 2016. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  24. ^ "Eglinton Line 5: Oakwood Station". urbantoronto.ca. Retrieved February 19, 2026.
  25. ^ a b Bozikovic, Alex (February 8, 2026). "Will the Eglinton Crosstown carry Toronto forward?". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved February 16, 2026.
  26. ^ "Artists and Artworks". Metrolinx. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  27. ^ "2024 Annual Service Plan" (PDF). Toronto Transit Commission. November 17, 2023. p. 106.

The following videos were released by the Crosstown project: