Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR

Reecemartin said:
As much as we all like to complain about the time it's taking, when the project is done Union will be EONS better than it was before, and mostly in line with modern rail stations in Europe/Asia we've even got streetcar service!

The moats etc are especially nice too and the type of touches I'd like to see more often, stations actually designed with our climate in mind.
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Mostly in line is very generous when comparing it to modern terminals in Europe/Asia.

This will be 'mostly' acceptable from a North American perspective - but still about 50 years behind modern European/Asian terminals. Narrow platforms, narrow stairwells, a dingy shed.. Not very modern.
 
Most of the "nice" parts have to do with the retail and concourse area - access to track level and the track level itself remains distinctively early 20th century. It was EONS better only because it was so abyssmal before.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Most of the "nice" parts have to do with the retail and concourse area - access to track level and the track level itself remains distinctively early 20th century. It was EONS better only because it was so abyssmal before.

AoD
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Nothing says modern like low level boarding and a platform the width of someone lying down.
 
Love them or hate them,
Since LED wallpapering seem to be becoming a major Union Station trademark everywhere...

  • York Concourse pillars
  • The TD kiosk
  • ATM coverings
  • VIA infoboard
  • Food court storefront signs
  • Food court elevator shaft wrapping
  • The still-inactive Bay+Front "totem pole"
  • Etc.
It appears Union has decided to go nuts on this trademark.
It's now part of the Union brand.

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KevinT said:
Very cool seeing how those wrap-around displays are installed. Thanks @union2pearson and @raptor !
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Since the 1980s Jumbotron, the amount of bulk needed for jumbotrons have fallen so dramatically. Now jumbotron sizes and funky video walls/pillars are built-to-order using modular LED panels like these today. Each module (without chip driver) cost only several dollars each in factory bulk now.

They are LEDs embedded in bendy rubber/plastic now. These jumbotron modules are now manufactured in a mostly automated manner. Whether used for fixed stadium jumbotrons or curved around pillars, they are very universal and really cheap. When a shipping container is filled full of them, these modules are cheap in bulk quantities now so it's possible to go really crazy in size with these. Labor of installing a jumbotron -- now sometimes exceeds the cost of the jumbotron itself (electronics included)!

These module LED squares (usually 32x32) are often now in bendy flexible plastic and are now also available to hobbyists for playing with Arduinos and Raspberry PI with these modules (1024 full color LEDs in a 32x32 matrix). SparkFun has them for only $15 each in single-unit quantities for hobbyists.

Great for electronics hobbyists!
 
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^ Now THAT looks to be a level...*levels*...above what's been done elsewhere at Onion.

Can't make sense of the light source though. Are those bellows rather than diffusers? The light pattern on the floor shows a narrow beam source, akin to an aimed source within the bellows. Very interesting, and very good.

Got to check that out in the next few days. I suspect more is happening light-wise than the camera is catching.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Or platform access via fire escape-like stairs.

AoD
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I'd forgotten which string it was that I made the claim that the step risers and tread didn't look up to modern building code. I was down there last week, and measured them. Much to my surprise, they are, from memory, a 7" rise and 10.5" tread. There's still something very wrong with them though, and the description "fire escape-like stairs" is completely apt. Someone somewhere must have posted an analysis on-line.

Edit to Add: Thinking about how the same challenge was handled on the Bay Street Concourse , the answer, and it was an interesting one, was to use a common landing between the flights of steps such that an airy space and sense of easy flow happened. The devil for the York ones is the *confinement*. It's psychology, not actual step infrastructure, that's the problem. It's a serious spatial design flaw, and could perhaps be fixed next revamp just by joining the landings into a congruent mall. That would also disburse crowding load too when some platforms are full, others not, just as happens (or happened, God help us if they've changed it) at the Bay concourse.
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Urban Toronto
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What a world of difference! And to me, this look, like some of the University Subway stations (Dupont immediately comes to mind) is still inviting, and highly functional.

Those stairs look wider, I'll measure any differences when the Bay Concourse opens again.
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Urban Toronto
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In all fairness, ceiling height looks to be different, but I'll measure that too given the next chance.
 
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Sorry if I'm being a debbie downer, but I see crews working on the escalators to the food court every day for the past couple of weeks. For the most part they are staring at the parts at hand, appear to be clueless. I don't know what's going on with the escalators, but I'm really concerned.
 
raptor said:
Sorry if I'm being a debbie downer, but I see crews working on the escalators to the food court every day for the past couple of weeks. For the most part they are staring at the parts at hand, appear to be clueless. I don't know what's going on with the escalators, but I'm really concerned.
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Ah.. So Metrolinx is running the show down there...
 
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