On Thursday, Toronto-based AeCON Group Inc. announced that its buildings division was awarded a contract by GO Transit, a division of Metrolinx for the $196 million refurbishment of the Union Station train shed.

Under the contract, AeCON will refurbish Union Station’s 360,000 square-foot train shed covering 13 tracks and 23 platforms, replacing the existing roof with a new steel roof and a glass atrium that reaches 50-feet above the platform level. Fifty new stair access points and nine new passenger elevators will be built to help move passengers from the existing concourse level to the newly-refurbished platforms. 

The project also involves the removal and repair of approximately 4,374 yards of existing track beds, as well as electrical and mechanical work including communication systems, signals, a new roof drainage system and a snow melting system.

The existing station is subject to a heritage easement administered by Parks Canada and, will therefore, undergo preservation and restoration to reinstate it to its original condition wherever possible. The refurbishment will be completed in eleven stages with each stage involving the closure of two tracks and two platforms. The project is scheduled for completion in November of 2014.