Ongoing construction work on the Toronto Transit Commission's new Toronto York Spadina Subway Extension (TYSSE) reached an important milestone this past weekend, as a convoy of concrete trucks participated in a massive continuous pour to fill the main entrance ring for Vaughan Metropolitan Centre (VMC) Station, taking shape near Highway 7 and Jane Street in Vaughan.

Main entrance ring and x-beam re-bar and formwork complete and ready for concrete pour, image courtesy of the TTC

The complicated task kicked off at 3:30 AM on Saturday, involving concrete trucks arriving on site at five-minute intervals and construction workers pulling ten-hour shifts. Due to the sheer volume of concrete needed for the continuous pour, two concrete plants were utilized with a third kept on standby during the operation. From the start of the job on Saturday until Sunday morning at 4:00 AM, a total of 2,250 cubic metres were poured at a rate of 70 to 100 cubic metres per hour.

VMC entrance ring concrete pour with two concrete pumps and crews, image courtesy of the TTC

24 hour pour of main entrance ring complete - looking northeast, image courtesy of the TTC

Designed by globally-active Grimshaw Architects with engineers Arup Canada, VMC Station will be one out of the six new rapid transit stations being built along 8.6 kilometres of new track on the Toronto York Spadina Subway Extension, and will serve as the new northern terminus for the western leg of the line, as well as being the most northerly point on the entire TTC subway network. The new station will connect with local transit services from York Region, and will have a connection in the middle of Highway 7 to the reserved VIVA express bus lanes.

One of two pumper trucks pouring the entrance ring, image courtesy of the TTC

The $2.6 billion transit project, jointly funded by the Government of Canada, the Province of Ontario, the City of Toronto and The Regional Municipality of York, will extend the existing University-Spadina branch of the TTC's Line 1 into the heart of York Region, is set to enter service at the end of 2017, at which point it will become the first TTC rapid transit line operating outside of the city limits. The City of Vaughan is creating a new downtown at the site, the first building for which is the new KPMG tower seen in the image above.

VMC Station entrance, image courtesy of the TTC / Grimshaw Architects / Arup Canada

We will return with additional updates as work continues on the new subway extension. In the meantime, you can get involved in the discussion by checking out the associated Forum thread for the project, or by leaving a comment in the space provided at the bottom of this page.