Concerns raised over Metrolinx decision to close elevators at Danforth GO station for 3 months

A decision by Metrolinx to close all elevators at Danforth GO station for three months while “major repairs and upgrades” are carried out is raising accessibility concerns among riders and advocates.

According to notices posted online and at Danforth station, which is located south of Danforth Avenue and just east of Main Street, all three elevators will be out of service as of Sept. 8. The notices said the elevators aren’t expected to be back in service until late November.

Riders looking to access platform one (the northern platform) will continue to be able to use a lengthy ramp that connects to Main Street. Platforms two and three, which are wedged between two sets of tracks, will only be reachable through a large flight of stairs.

For anyone trying to access Danforth station from areas south of the rail corridor and main station building, the entrance north of Ted Reeve Arena and beside the edge of the East Toronto Athletic Field will only have the stairs open.

The underground tunnel connecting the two platforms and the southern entry will remain open too. Otherwise, passengers will need to cross the rail corridor by the Main Street bridge.

There aren’t any secondary elevators currently in place to serve as back-ups. During the construction period, there will not be any accessibility alternatives in place. Instead, Metrolinx and GO Transit officials encouraged anyone in need of an elevator to go to Scarborough GO station, which is one station east.

CityNews recently started to hear from frustrated GO Transit Lakeshore East riders about how it would impact them.

“The story is personal and frustrating because my wife, who is three months pregnant, our two-year-old daughter, and I are frequent users of Danforth GO station, commuting to and from Union Station for work and daycare,” one viewer wrote.

“My wife on days she is commuting solo will be stuck in a situation where the station is essentially useless to her (on the return trip from Union specifically).”

As reported on Speakers Corner earlier in 2026, commuters highlighted congestion and accessibility issues at Danforth GO station.

During a mid-day period on Thursday when trains were running eastbound and westbound in 30-minute intervals, CityNews tried the diversion suggested by Metrolinx. It took around five minutes to go eastbound on a GO train to Scarborough station and another approximately 15 minutes to transfer platforms by way of elevators and an underground tunnel and to board a westbound train back to Danforth station. The whole diversion took 25 minutes and 23 seconds.

David Lepofsky, chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee and host of the Disability Rights and Wrongs: The David Lepodcast podcast, expressed frustration when CityNews asked him about the upcoming changes.

“You’re being told no elevator. Well, for the platforms for which you need an elevator, you can’t use the station at all. In the year 2026, that is unacceptable in the extreme,” the long-time advocate for persons with disabilities said.

“This is outrageous. We didn’t just invent people with disabilities. Metrolinx has known forever that people with disabilities need to be able to equally access their transit services.”

Lepofsky said the prolonged closure reinforces the need for Metrolinx to create better accessible redundancy at its GO Transit stations.

“They should directly answer why on earth this is happening. Why there aren’t two elevators? Why they aren’t able to fix this more quickly?” he asked.

CityNews contacted Metrolinx Thursday morning to ask for an interview about the upcoming work and the questions raised, including how the upgrades were planned, a lack of accessible alternatives and the absence of secondary elevators. However, a statement was issued in response.

“The elevator work at Danforth GO is being completed simultaneously because the centre platform elevator serves platforms 2/3. Taking that elevator out of service would make those platforms inaccessible to customers,” the statement said.

“By completing the upgrades to all three elevators at the same time, we are minimizing the overall duration of the disruption and allow the station’s elevators to be returned to service as quickly as possible, as opposed to completing the projects separately.

“We appreciate the community’s patience as this important state-of-good-repair work is completed.”