This was followed in 1855 by Great Western Railways (GWR), which connected Toronto to the west along the waterfront, from a station at the Queen's Wharf. The Grand Trunk Railway completed its Montreal-Toronto mainline one year later. The three railways now converged at the Toronto waterfront, a narrow strip of land south of Front Street. They were forced to share the limited real estate available.

As a consequence, the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) built the first union station