Union (Toronto Subway)

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Subway platform
Tram platform

Union is an underground subway and tram station in the Canadian city ​​of Toronto . It lies on the Yonge-University line of the Toronto Subway , at the corner of Front Street and Bay Street . Union Station is just south of it . The station is used by an average of 118,450 passengers every day (2015).

Building

Nearby are the Fairmont Royal York , Air Canada Center , Rogers Center , Metro Toronto Convention Center , CN Tower , Royal Bank Plaza , Brookfield Place and the Hockey Hall of Fame . There are transfer options to the suburban trains of GO Transit , to the long-distance trains of VIA Rail , Ontario Northland and Amtrak as well as to two bus routes. Union is also one of five stations connected to the PATH tunnel system.

The station part of the subway has two side platforms. In this area the tunnel runs in a west-east direction. Shortly after the two ends of the station, he turns north into Yonge Street and University Avenue , so that the route is U-shaped. The station part of the tram consists of a turning loop with a side platform and serves as the terminus for tram lines 509 and 510. This is followed by an underground tram line several hundred meters long , which leads near the shore of Lake Ontario .

history

Construction work on Front Street (around 1949, the main train station on the left)

After construction began in 1949, the station opened on March 30, 1954, along with the Union - Eglinton section , the oldest subway on Canadian soil. The Toronto Transit Commission predicted a congestion of the section south of Bloor-Yonge as soon as the Bloor-Danforth line running in west-east direction would be in operation. They therefore planned a relief route in the city center, which connects to Union and runs parallel to the existing route northwards. After a little more than three years of construction, the University Subway to St. George was put into operation on February 28, 1963. However, this section only reached its full market value three years later with the opening of the crossing Bloor-Danforth Line. In the first few years, the capacity utilization was lower than originally forecast. For this reason, many trains coming from Yonge Street already turned in Union (especially on weekends); it has only been in operation on the entire route at all times since 1978.

Although the continued existence of the tram had been assured since 1972, the funds flowed into the renewal of the existing route network and the modernization of the vehicle fleet in the following years. In order to revitalize the harbor front on the lakeshore, the construction of a partially underground tram line from Union Station was planned in the 1980s. It was opened on June 22, 1990 and initiated the renaissance of the streetcar in Toronto .

The increasing importance of Union as a local transport hub led over time to an overload of the subway station section, as it only had a narrow central platform. After three years of planning, preparatory work began in 2006, which mainly comprised the laying of cables. The main work was put out to tender in April 2010 and construction began in February 2011. An additional platform was built for trains going towards Yonge Street, while the existing one was widened to the station wall and used for trains going towards University Avenue. The project was completed on August 18, 2014.

Web links

Commons : Union  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Subway ridership, 2015. (PDF; 84 kB) Toronto Transit Commission, accessed December 7, 2017 (English).
  2. ^ The University Subway. Transit Toronto, June 29, 2009, accessed July 27, 2010 .
  3. ^ Route 509 - The New Harbourfront Streetcar. Transit Toronto, June 29, 2009, accessed July 27, 2010 .
  4. ^ Union Station - Improvements Project. (No longer available online.) Toronto Transit Commission, 2010, archived from the original on July 29, 2010 ; accessed on July 27, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www3.ttc.ca
  5. ↑ TTC opening second subway platform at Union station, August 18, Transit Toronto, August 15, 2014, accessed on December 8, 2017 .
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Coordinates: 43 ° 38 ′ 44.4 "  N , 79 ° 22 ′ 49.3"  W.