Toronto - Union Station

Toronto's huge main railway station belonging to the Canadian National Railway Company was opened in 1927 by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII). Today it stands as a reminder of the vigor of the Canadian economy in the 1920s when vast quantities of rail freight in the form of wheat, timber, cellulose and non-ferrous metals passed through Toronto. Passenger traffic, especially holidaymakers traveling by rail, also provided important business until well into the 1950s. Nowadays the station is the terminus for fast inter-city trains from Montréal, Ottawa and New York (via Niagara Falls), as well as express services to the Canadian West and northern Ontario. Union Station is also the hub of a local fast transport system serving Toronto and its suburbs.

The declining importance of rail transport in the Toronto area forced the Canadian National Railway Company to find new uses for its growing stock of surplus property. Today the tallest television tower in the world is just one of the buildings which have been erected on what was formerly railway land. A new amusement and shopping area with restaurants has recently opened.