The price tag of a Toronto subway station that has been serving the public for years already just got an astounding $60 million more expensive, an amount due to be paid out by the TTC following a legal battle.

The hub in question is Pioneer Village Station, a stop on the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension that brought the city's Yonge-University line up to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre in 2017.

The new station was among the largest and most complex design-wise of the six built for the project, and its advent appeared to be the most problematic, with blueprints that required numerous alterations — including for things that had already been completed, drawing out the construction process with setbacks.

We could have built an apartment building on top of the station for that amount of money. 🤦🏻‍♂️ https://t.co/6TuctX9COU

— Rob Cerjanec (@robcerjanec) August 9, 2024

According to the case from Walsh Construction, which led the work, costs ballooned as the plans kept changing late in the game, and the commission failed to compensate the firm accordingly. The original station design was apparently not "complete, comprehensive or constructible," leading to issues from the get-go.

Among these issues: a $1.9 million high-tech art installation that never ended up being turned on, and a late swap in the type of bolts used in part of the bus platform structure, which necessitated the redrilling of an unbelievable 29,370 holes for the new screws.

Walsh sought around $193 million in damages as a result, and after seven years in court, was awarded nearly $60 million for a project that went a whopping $67 million over contract budget by its end.

A big judgment in Walsh Construction v. TTC over construction of Pioneer Village Station:

- $57+ mil and a construction lien
- 161 day fully virtual trial
- 849 paragraphs
- Justice K. Hood
- Goodmans for plaintiff; Osler for defendantshttps://t.co/TujpJ3vEOo

— Pulat Yunusov (@PulatYunusov) June 4, 2024

The TTC was found liable for a more than 1,000-day delay to the station's opening date, unanticipated expenses and complications, and unpaid dues, all pointing to its "mismanagement and a lack of staff resources," the judge said. Earlier in the proceedings, the agency pinned some of the responsibility on Walsh, and other parties, like design consultants Spadina Group Associates.

Per the Star, the ruling is being appealed by both sides, so the TTC is unable to comment on it.

Now to deal with the fact that Black Creek Pioneer Village, for which the stop was named, is changing its name to The Village at Black Creek, leaving another TTC station with an obsolete or outdated moniker.