The parking lots and roadways at Unionville GO Station have been serving as the hub of the annual Honda IndyCar Series at Markham Centre since August, and GO Transit has added extra train trips between Unionville and Union Station to bring spectators in from the City of Toronto, according to Wikipedia.

The added runs on the Stouffville line began as the race event took over the station grounds. For Markham riders, the station remains a key commuter stop, with train service supplemented by Highway 407 East Express buses running west to Highway 407 station, north to Mount Joy GO Station and east to Durham College Oshawa GO station.

Bigger changes are still on the way. By late May 2022, Metrolinx had finished a second track, a turnaround track and an island platform at the station as part of GO Expansion, work meant to support all-day, two-way service on the Stouffville line. Under those plans, GO trains are slated to run every 10 minutes to Unionville and every 30 minutes to Mount Joy.

A rail history stretching back to 1871

Rail service in Unionville long predates the current station. The original Unionville station opened in 1871 under the Toronto and Nipissing Railway, and the line and station changed hands repeatedly — to the Midland Railway of Canada in 1882, the Grand Trunk Railway in 1884 and Canadian National Railway in 1923.

Canadian National served the old station until 1978. GO Transit then used the building from 1982 until train service there ended on Friday, May 3, 1991. The current GO station, accessed by a service road from Kennedy Road north of Highway 407, opened the following Monday, May 6, 1991, and was renovated and reopened in April 2005.

The 19th-century station building still stands on Station Lane near Main Street Unionville. It has been restored and now serves as a community centre, with a platform that is fenced off from the rail line. The structure features classic Canadian railway styling with elements of 19th-century Vernacular Carpenter Gothic architecture.

Local bus connections

York Region's Viva bus service began stopping near Kennedy Road at the station on October 16, 2005. With nearby Enterprise Drive unfinished at the time, the stop acted as a temporary station until November 19, 2005, forcing Viva Purple and Viva Green buses onto a Highway 407 detour.

Viva Pink service was added on January 2, 2006, and Unionville served as the eastern terminus of that route — which ran to Richmond Hill Centre and Finch station — before the service was discontinued.