Sheppard West station

Sheppard West (formerly Downsview) is a subway station on Line 1 Yonge–University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The station, which is located near the intersection of Sheppard Avenue West and Allen Road, opened in 1996 in what was then the City of North York, and the commuter parking lot opened in July 2005. It was the northwestern terminus of the line for over two decades, until the opening of the Toronto–York Spadina subway extension on December 17, 2017.

When this station opened, it was among the first accessible stations of the Toronto subway system, and the first to be purpose-built as such. The station also features Wi-Fi service.

History

Sheppard West station (then named Downsview) was opened in 1996 as a one-stop extension north of Wilson station. The reason for such a short extension was that the provincial government was offering funds for subway expansion as part of the Network 2011 plan, but was debating whether an extension should curve east to interline with a future phase of the proposed Sheppard Line (which was only approved with a western terminus at the-then Sheppard station on the Yonge line), or continue farther north as part of a loop to join the Spadina and Yonge line branches, either along the hydro corridor north of Finch Avenue or along Steeles Avenue via York University. The Sheppard line interlining idea was dropped in favour of the loop proposal – itself superseded in 2002 by the Vaughan extension plan, which was ultimately what was built. As a northward extension was chosen as part of the intervening loop plans, the short extension was built with the station constructed on a north–south alignment.

Construction of an access track to Wilson Yard branching off the mainline south of station began in 2009 but was mothballed after a tunnel was completed in 2010.