Rebuilding Union train station in Toronto

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

As various TronnaDopers may know, they are rebuilding Union Station in downtown Toronto.

Union Station is our prize 1927 Beaux-Arts-style train station at the centre of downtown. After a lot of discussion and false starts, a plan came together a few years ago to refurbish the station. But it’s not just a refurbishment. There are several projects going on at the same time:[ul][li]Replacing the roof deck on the existing trainshed[]Replacing the centre part of the trainshed with a glass-and-steel canopy[]Renovating the offices in the station building[]Digging down underneath the tracks to build a completely-new second level of passenger concourse[]Building a second platform on the associated Union subway station to increase passenger capacity there[]Building an additional underground access walkway from the northwest[]Building additional access from the southwest[/ul][/li]
The additional concourse under the station will use spaces formerly allocated to underground parking, but also involves digging down to increase the height of the space. The existing concrete columns that support the tracks are all being braced and supported, cut off, and new, longer columns built in their place to accommodate the new spaces.

Link to the City of Toronto’s work
Link to Go Transit’s work

Here’s a link to a posting on Urban Toronto showing a recent picture of what’s going on. That’s just the surface, literally.

2

That looks like it’s going to be massive. Do you expect it to be finished before 2020 yourself? It goes w/o saying, (I hope) that every effort will be made to preserve the overall Beaux-Arts-style?

3

Well, preparatory works started in 2008 and the main construction started at the beginning of 2010, so it’s well underway, but it won’t be finished until 2016.

4

It is my understanding that the station’s original Beaux Arts style in the street facade and in the Great Hall (i.e. the main concourse/ticket lobby) and Arrivals lobby will remain as it is. I am unsure if it has been declared a historic site or “architectural treasure,” but whether it has or not, I’m sure that it will stay pretty much as it is. Recalling my years in Toronto, and taking many trains in and out of Union, I’d say that Torontonians are pretty proud of the old station, and they would like to see its architecture preserved.

I can understand if the Departures/Arrivals concourse changes–it has been upgraded over the years, after all–and if the GO (i.e. commuter train) concourse changes, since that wasn’t added until the early 1980s; but from what I know of the plans, the old central part of the building will remain the same.

5

Cool. I’ll be checking it out in person in a couple of weeks!

6

The whole process is fascinating. And to think that the place was almost demolished in the sixties!