Plans for express trains between Toronto's airport and downtown were quickly shelved

TORONTO – Toronto's UP Express is no longer running express trains.

A day after provincial transit agency Metrolinx announced plans to make all Union Pearson Express trains between Toronto's Union Station and the city's Pearson Airport an express, Ontario's transportation minister scrapped the plan despite urgent and significant opposition.

A plan to skip half of UP Express trains at two intermediate stations, each of which will connect to the Toronto Transit Authority's subway and streetcar lines, was announced Monday along with a major expansion of GO Transit commuter trains starting later this month (“Add more than 300 trains to GO Transit …”, Trains News Wire, 16 April 2024). But an online petition calling for the plan to be scrapped was launched late Monday and has garnered more than 5,700 signatures in less than a day. Many people on the west side of the city use UP Express trains as a convenient way to get to downtown Toronto, CityNews reports.

So said Transport Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria on Tuesday evening X social media announcement: “While the intent is to provide a faster option for people traveling between Union and Pearson, I have heard concerns from riders about service to Weston and Bloor stations along the UP Express line. I have instructed Metrolinx not to proceed with these changes.”

CityNews reported that Metrolinx confirmed in a statement Tuesday night that it will not follow through with the plan and will “announce updated schedules in the coming days to reflect this direction.”