For more than 75 years, one grand building has remained the heart of transportation in Toronto. Once a small shed on Front Street, Union Station became the largest and most lavish train station erected during the last great phase in railway station construction.

Officially opened in the summer of 1927, Union Station in downtown Toronto is one of North America’s most cosmopolitan railway stations. At 76.2 metres long (250 feet), the majestic building takes up an entire city block on Front St. between York and Bay Sts. It features 22 stone columns, each 12.2 metres high (40 feet) and weighing more than 75 tons.

The Great Hall, where passengers purchase tickets or wait for intercity VIA trains, is an impressive work of architecture at 76.2 metres long (250 feet) and 25.6 metres wide (84 feet). It features an arched ceiling 26.8 metres (88 feet) above the floor, and four-storey-high arched windows at either end.

The Great Hall is conveniently connected to downtown hotels, office towers, and Toronto’s PATH system ­— an underground web of walkways and shopping malls.

Union Station is also the hub of the GO Transit network. Just a single rail line along Lake Ontario’s shoreline in 1967, GO Train service has grown into a seven-corridor network serving a population of five million over an area of more than 8,000 square kilometres (3,000 square miles). About 150,000 passengers pass through the GO concourse every day.

The concourse was built in 1979, and has undergone many modifications and upgrades since. Ongoing modifications include better access to platforms through new stairways and elevators. In order to deal with the volume of people coming through Union Station, it is important that the space be improved to accommodate foot traffic. In 2004, GO installed electronic signs that give passengers more detailed information about departing trains and buses.

Another development since the concourse was built is our Customer Service Centre — a glassed-in waiting and information area where passengers can get information about routes and fares. It is also the temporary home of all items lost on the GO system.

A major addition is the Union Station GO Bus Terminal, on Bay St. across from the train station, which opened in 2003. The GO Bus riders who used to be picked up or dropped off on Front St. each weekday now take shelter at the new facility, which has ticket sales, and both covered and enclosed waiting areas. The terminal is used seven days a week and is connected by stairs and elevator to one of the station's train platforms.

The Customer Service Centre, the GO concourse, and Union Station train services are all accessible to passengers who use mobility devices such as wheelchairs.

Home to the GO Transit concourse, with links to the Toronto Transit Commission’s city subway and bus network and to VIA Rail’s intercity trains, Union Station has become the busiest travel centre in the country. After 75 years of service, the station is still seeing people off and bringing them together; still a vital link for passengers travelling short or long distances, departing, or coming home.