East GTA Railways

Railways in the East Greater Toronto Area are somewhat straightforward. Lines from Canada’s two major railways extend east-west between Toronto and eastern Canada, with a slight junction in the west and a parallel commuter line in the middle. The rest consists of spurs and yards serving industrial southern industrial areas in Pickering, Ajax and Oshawa, as well as a relatively new commuter rail maintenance facility.

1. Kingston / York Subdivision
2. GO Subdivision
3. Belleville Subdivision
4. General Motors
5. CN Spurs
6. Notes / Disclaimers
7. Explore Railways in Other Cities

The Kingston Sub was CN’s main route from downtown Toronto to, you guessed it, Kingston. From there, lines lead onto Ottawa and Montreal, making it part of the network that stitched the nation together. However, CN no longer sends trains to downtown Toronto, as freight trains were re-routed around the Big Smoke in 1965 with the opening of a bypass that included the York subdivision.

Aside from freight service, VIA Corridor trains to/from Ottawa and Montreal use the Kingston subdivision.

As the name suggests, the GO sub’s primary purpose is to serve GO Transit trains. When GO Transit began service in 1967, it ran along the Kingston sub as far east as Pickering, thanks to CN trains using the York subdivision to bypass Toronto, and freeing up the inner city line capacity for passenger service. However, there was insufficient track capacity further east for GO trains.

GO Transit built the GO sub directly parallel to the Kingston sub to extend train service to Whitby in 1988, and to Oshawa in 1995.

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The Belleville Sub is CPKC’s main east-west route across southern Ontario. While Canadian Pacific Railway’s original 1885 coast-to-coast network was via a line running through Peterborough (the Havelock subdivision), the Belleville subdivision became part of an alternative route built under the name of the Campbellford, Lake Ontario & Western Railway. The line was completed in 1914.

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General Motors’ Oshawa Car Assembly traces its roots to 1918, and it grew to be one of the largest auto manufacturing facilities in the world at one time. To support the facility, both CN and CPKC have spurs and yards into and alongside the complex.

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CN has three spurs from its Kingston sub serving industrial areas of Pickering and Ajax, as well as Oshawa Harbour.

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Notes / Disclaimers

• This data was drawn interpretively, using the Railway Association of Canada’s Canadian Rail Atlas as a general reference. Some interpretive refinements were made, and due to a lack of open parcel data, the exact extent of railway property is a best guess. This data is provided ‘as is’; please refer to additional disclaimers at the Open Data page.
• While this website advocates for greater active transportation access across and parallel to railways, they are private property and are dangerous places. DO NOT trespass on railways; over 100 Canadians are killed or seriously injured trespassing on or crossing railways each year. Remember that train time is anytime.

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