In 1985, TTC's expansion planning report entitled Network 2011 proposed the Eglinton West line as a busway, not a subway. The busway would be the most cost-effective alternative since Eglinton West corridor sits in the vacant Richview Expressway corridor, though in the future it could be expanded to a subway if ridership warranted. Though the cities of Etobicoke and York strongly supported the concept of an Eglinton rapid transit line, as did the Region of Peel, they were unsatisfied with the prospect of a busway. There was some political jealousy over the fact that North York had made the Sheppard subway a priority and Etobicoke and York argued that their transportation needs had similar importance. In 1986, the 2011 Network plan was initiated, with the Eglinton West corridor as a subway. On Metro Council, Etobicoke and York formed an alliance that argued that the Eglinton rapid transit line be built as a subway from the start. In 1994, when Premier Bob Rae agreed to fund the subway projects, they decided to spread the funding throughout Metro Toronto to appease residents of both sides, which would have resulted in two truncated subway lines instead of a single complete line at least initially. The line was cancelled upon the election of Progressive Conservative Mike Harris in 1995, and the TTC shifted its expansion priorities away from Eglinton West to projects such as extending the Spadina subway to York University and Steeles Avenue, the replacement of the aging Scarborough RT system, the completion of the Sheppard subway to Victoria Park Avenue and Scarborough City Centre, and improvements to major bus and streetcar routes to create a network of "surface rapid transit" routes. The TTC's Transit City plan included a light rail transit line across Eglinton called the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. This line would be built underground between approximately Keele Street and Laird Drive, which would effectively create an Eglinton West "subway", but would use LRT vehicles rather than the subway trains. A leaked copy of aMetrolinx report in 2008 indicated the organization may wish to revive the Eglinton subway line as opposed to the light rail option; however, in April 2009, the province and the city agreed on funding to build this as an LRT line. Mayor Rob Ford announced the cancellation of Transit City on the day that he took office. Transit City, including the Eglinton Crosstown line, was then reinstated along with a Finch LRT line and Sheppard LRT extension by Toronto City Council, over Mayor Rob Ford's objections. This was announced by Metrolinx four months later, with the support of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty. This line is to be underground for most its length, except at its ends in Scarborough and Etobicoke. It will mean the construction of an LRT line that will function like a Toronto subway line along a longer distance than the original Eglinton West subway line.
The cancelled Eglinton West subway would only have been built as far as York Centre Station. Allen, Keele North and York Centre would have had bus connects and the remaining stations would have on street connections only. These stations would have served mixed commercial and residential neighbourhoods. The expanded Eglinton line would have had the following stations:
The expanded line would have served a suburban residential area and a commercial industrial area for the remaining western end of the line to Renforth. Stations on this line would likely have had a bus connection available.
Allen station
Also known as Lower Eglinton West, this station was only a partial tunnel that was filled in shortly after the line's cancellation. It would have been linked to on the Yonge–University–Spadina line and the terminus of Allen Road.
