The provincial agency in charge of Eglinton Crosstown LRT and the Ontario Line says it has decided to rename the Ontario Science Centre stop on both routes after the Ford government shuttered the public attraction.
Last year, the province abruptly announced it would close the Ontario Science Centre citing structural issues, ending its operations the same day and starting to empty the hub.
The science centre will, over the next number of years, be relocated to Ontario Place as part of the government’s redevelopment plan for the waterfront.
Before it was shut down, however, the tourist attraction at Eglinton Avenue and Don Mills Road was already the namesake for stations on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT and was a terminus station on the Ontario Line.
Now, with the science centre shut down and emptied, Metrolinx has confirmed that the already-built station on the unfinished, years-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT will bear a new name.
Don Valley Station will be the stop’s new name, Metrolinx told Global News.
“The new name reflects the station’s proximity to the Don Valley Parkway, Don River, and the Don Valley itself,” the transit agency said in a statement. “It also ensures easy wayfinding for customers while aligning with Metrolinx’s naming principles.”
The name is one of several Metrolinx had on a shortlist in 2023 after the Ford government announced its long-term plan to move the science centre.
At the time, staff at the agency considered a few alternative names for the stop, conceding in an internal briefing previously obtained by Global News that renaming would “take time and result in additional costs.”
Metrolinx did not say how much it would cost to rename the station but said it would be covered by the Eglinton Crosstown LRT’s budget.
“Public-facing signage for the light rail transit station will soon be updated to ‘Don Valley’ to ensure the station’s infrastructure is updated in time for the opening of Line 5,” the agency said.
The other names considered by Metrolinx in 2023 to rename the station were:
- Concorde
- Industrial District
- Olympia Square
- Ferrand
- Don River
Changing the name of the station was a decision forced upon Metrolinx by the Ford government and Infrastructure Ontario after it was decided the science centre must be urgently closed down.
It rendered a name selected eight years previously redundant. The name Ontario Science Centre Station was one of 25 titles agreed upon in January 2016 while the Eglinton Crosstown LRT was being planned, according to an internal briefing note seen by Global News.
The station later took on added significance when the Ford government announced its signature Ontario Line in 2019. The line was conceived to connect Ontario Place with the Ontario Science Centre.
Then, in April 2023, the government announced it was actually going to move the science centre from its current home at Don Mills and Eglinton to Ontario Place.
The new name will be in place across the route before it opens, Metrolinx said.
An opening date has not yet been set for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT but Premier Doug Ford suggested during the recent election campaign it could finally start running this year.