Raised tracks and a new platform: What it will take to build Waterloo region's new transit hub
'We have to lead transformational projects and this is one of them,' Coun. Colleen James said
Construction of Waterloo region's new transit hub is set to begin in March 2026.
For real this time.
The transit hub at the corner of King Street W. and Victoria Street N. has been more than a decade in the making. The region's acting commissioner of transportation services Doug Spooner says Metrolinx is ready to get shovels in the ground in March 2026.
That means people will start to see demolition begin along the rail corridor this summer, including parts of the former Rumpel Felt Co., building on Victoria St. N.
"We've also got some preparatory work for the Victoria Street modification project and then we need to start getting the site ready," he said in an interview with CBC News Wednesday.
Spooner noted heritage aspects of the former factory will be maintained.
"We're looking for mixed-use, development, housing, community use or other uses of that site," he said.
The region has also indicated it plans to pass a bylaw that would remove people living in an encampment from the 100 Victoria St. N. site by Dec. 1 to begin remediation work ahead of Metrolinx starting its work.
WATCH | Region makes plans to move forward with transit hub construction:
Land purchases date back to 2008
The region began purchasing the 1.6 hectares of land in the area in 2008 with the goal of building a multi-modal transportation hub.
In a Nov. 17, 2015 report to regional councillors, staff said the region had already completed environmental assessments, a preliminary site design, heritage impact assessment, urban design brief and a market scoping and sounding analysis.
The plan is to have it link walking and cycling trails, Grand River Transit buses, the ION LRT, Via, and GO Transit.
After receiving $43 million from the province for the project in 2016, work was initially supposed to begin in 2020.
It was then pushed to 2021.
Then pushed again to 2023.
Now, Spooner says, it's nearly go time and Metrolinx is expected to begin on-the-ground work in March 2026.
Regional Coun. Colleen James, who is also the committee chair of the sustainability, infrastructure, and development committee, said in an interview in December that the new transit hub is necessary because the region expects to grow to one million residents by 2050.
"We have to lead transformational projects and this is one of them," James said.
Raised tracks and a new platform
The work that needs to happen includes seeing Metrolinx raise a section of rail tracks between King Street and Weber Street and relocate the train platform from the current train station between Weber Street and Ahrens Street to its new spot at King Street and Duke Street.
Metrolinx will also construct a diversion track behind 100 Victoria St. N.
The transit hub, called the Kitchener Central Transit Hub in a staff report set to go before regional councillors at their meeting on April 23, is seen as an opportunity to meld transit, residential and commercial space into one area.
"I like to think about the hub as a gateway to the region. So obviously there's a connection from GO Transit rail and bus, but that comes into GRT buses and trains, Neuron scooters and bikes, really all trips that you know, throughout the region can start and end at the hub," Spooner said.
As for whether this project will result in two-way, all-day GO trains between Kitchener and Toronto, Spooner says that the two projects are separate.
"We know that the province continues to do work in the corridor between Toronto and Kitchener. So we're hopeful that that will come online. But these projects are not tied together at this point in terms of timelines," he said.
In a recent interview on CBC K-W's The Morning Edition with Craig Norris, Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife was critical of the province and Metrolinx for not working faster to bring two-way, all-day as well as weekend GO train service to Waterloo region.
"We have two universities and a college. We have students commuting back and forth — the economic case for weekend and for faster and more reliable service is long standing," Fife said. "We really need to see upgrades to that weekend service."