The Bloor-Danforth line is celebrating its 60th anniversary. On Feb. 26, 1966, the Toronto Transit Commission officially opened the city’s second rapid transit line.
The subway line, more commonly known as Line 2, has 31 stations and connects Kipling Avenue in Toronto’s west end to Kennedy Road in the east end. The line runs on Bloor Street west of the Don Valley and Danforth Avenue east of the Don Valley.
Line 2 currently serves more than 23,000 passengers per hour and 525,000 trips per weekday.
In honour of the 60th anniversary of Line 2’s grand opening, let’s take another look at the big moments that brought it to fruition:
1958: Metro Council approves Bloor-Danforth Line
After the Yonge portion of Line 1 had officially opened, people’s attention turned to the east-west. As Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue became main roads in Toronto, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) proposed a subway line under Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue between Keele Street and Woodbine Avenue, replacing a proposal for a Queen Street subway.
1966: Line 2 officially opens
On Feb. 26, 1966, the Bloor-Danforth line officially opened to the public, from Keele station in the west to Woodbine station in the east. Nine men reportedly died during the stations’ construction.
1968: Islington and Warden extensions opened
During construction of the initial 20 stations, the TTC already had plans to extend service to the more suburban areas of the GTA, including Etobicoke and Scarborough. On May 11, 1968, extensions to Islington and Warden were opened simultaneously, resulting in six more stations in the west and three more stations in the east.
1971: Fare zone system was removed
In 1971, Metro Council — a level of municipal government in Toronto that no longer exists — rallied for the zone fare system to be removed so people traveling from the suburbs don’t have to pay extra. Prior to this, stations west of Old Mill and East of Victoria Park were part of Zone 2 fare, which made transferring from the subway to the bus system complicated.
1980: Terminal stations Kennedy and Kipling opened
In 1976, Metro Council approved one final extension of Line 2 to Kipling Avenue in the west and Kennedy Road in the east. These would become the line’s terminus stations. On Nov. 21, 1980, a ceremony was held to commemorate the two new stations.
2007: Station modernization
On Sep. 19, the TTC proposed a station modernization project to improve accessibility, add new bus and streetcar platforms, and improve connectivity to regional buses and GO Transit. Other initiatives included updating Pape Station, Dufferin Station, Bloor-Yonge Station, and updating sidewalk entrances at Kennedy Station and various stations on Line 1.
2026: Renderings of next-generation Line 2 trains
On Jan. 15, the federal and Ontario governments confirmed that 55 new trains will replace the original aging trains on Line 2 that are more than 30 years old. The next-generation trains will hopefully be delivered by 2030.
