Danforth GO station closes all three elevators for three months starting September 8

Metrolinx is closing all three elevators at Danforth GO station starting September 8 for major repairs and upgrades, leaving passengers with mobility challenges without accessible alternatives during the three-month closure through late November.

Riders needing to access platform one can use a lengthy ramp connecting to Main Street. But platforms two and three, wedged between two sets of tracks, will only be reachable via a large flight of stairs. Passengers trying to access the station from areas south of the rail corridor must use stairs at the entrance north of Ted Reeve Arena beside the East Toronto Athletic Field. The underground tunnel connecting the two platforms will remain open, and passengers can cross the rail corridor via the Main Street bridge.

Metrolinx and GO Transit have offered no secondary elevators or accessibility alternatives during construction. Instead, they're directing anyone needing an elevator to Scarborough GO station, one stop east. A reporter who tested the diversion found it took approximately 25 minutes round-trip — five minutes on a train eastbound, 15 minutes to transfer platforms and board westbound.

David Lepofsky, chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee, called the closure unacceptable. "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," he said. "Metrolinx has known forever that people with disabilities need to be able to equally access their transit services."

One viewer said that his wife, three months pregnant, and their two-year-old daughter are frequent Danforth GO users commuting to and from Union Station for work and daycare. "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)," he wrote.

Riders in recent months have already raised congestion and accessibility concerns at Danforth GO. The lengthy closure reinforces calls from advocates for better transit accessibility design across the system.