Union Station for a "World Class City"

[Jaguar4u]

It is my opinion that we need to put a lot of money into revitalizing Union Station and it's connection to Harbourfront. I am aware that Union station is getting a face lift, however we need to do more to become a World Class City. Have you seen the train station in Berlin? I am not saying we should go that far.

Union Station is the main hub for Toronto's link to Via Rail, GO Transit, and Central Harbourfront, one of our main tourist attractions. Also, the majority of residents in the Greater Toronto Area use the TTC subway system to get to Toronto Islands and Harbourfront. Tourists and residents are exposed to, in my opinion, the worst underground public transit link.

I am going to send an email asking the Mayor to please take TTC to Harbourfront through that smelly damp hole in the ground so he can see how bad it really is.

Toronto and Harbourfront is getting more beautiful every day. What a shame to separate the two in such a way.

 

[Hydrogen]

I'd suggest that the whole of city council be taken through there - except that some of then would argue about who's fault it was for the sad state of affairs, blame the mayor and other councillors for the condition of the station, or inevitably argue for shutting the whole place down and turning it into a parking lot. A few others would see nothing wrong at all.

 

[freshcutgrass]

we need to do more to become a World Class City. Have you seen the train station in Berlin?

One thing Berlin has that is truly world class...is its debt. That city of 3.4 million has a debt of about $80 billion !!! They are bankrupt. One thing Toronto is world class at, is over-all responsible municipal government (as bizarre as that may sound).

Citing examples of things anywhere else in the world that are better under the pretense they are doing things better is simply not applicable.

Union Station is getting a facelift and infrastructure improvements. And it's not like it has been that big of a piece of crap in the interim.

 

[PukeGreen]

Yesterday I received a detailed pamphlet in the mail from GO called "Union Station Rail Corridor: Infrastructure Improvement Program". It includes some great renders of a floating glass roof over an expanded train shed, held up by legs that are reminiscent of the legs holding up the OCAD building, only black. The pamphlet also contains a URL (http://gotransit.com/unionstationrenewal) but the content on that website is not nearly as good as in the pamphlet, and the renders are nowhere to be found. Anyone have a link to them online?

Along with that project, there are two pages of other smaller improvements (new platform, new central glass atrium, bridge fixes at Jarvis, a new access point to the rail corridor at the foot of Market St. near the St. Lawrence Market, beautification of rail embankments in that neighbourhood, plus many more utilitarian things like switches and track realignments.)

In total this apparently represents $1 billion worth of investment by 2014. So... things are happening. I think the city and the province are slowly awakening to the need to invest in more transit. Sure, we're no Berlin, but we're miles ahead of the US. Rail transit in Europe has had 70 years of heavy government funding; we can't compete with that overnight, and at any rate it would be pointless to build an enormous fancy station with only a handful of passenger rails lines feeding into it.

 

[wyliepoon]

Are there any examples of cities that have been raised to world-class status through just the renovation of a train station? I don't see how Berlin fits in here, first because it got a brand new train station, and secondly, that did not raise its world-class stature by a lot (in my opinion). Sure, it made the headlines, but not in the way that a city like Bilbao did. (Sure, we can renovate Union Bilbao-style, but that's not very realistic)

I think that in this day in age, airports are better indicators of world-class status. Think of all the cities in the world that have made themselves known by airport megaprojects.

 

[Towered]

Umm, didn't Pearson just undergo a 4.5 billion dollar expansion?

And just to let you know, Jaguar4u, nobody on this forum will take a thread with this title seriously.

 

[MisterF]

I think that in this day in age, airports are better indicators of world-class status. Think of all the cities in the world that have made themselves known by airport megaprojects.

Airport projects are more well known, but train stations are still bigger people movers. Union has twice as many passengers as Pearson every year, and it rivals the busiest airports in the world.

 

[Archivist]

Re: Train and Rail stations. I find Pearson interesting these days, because in my opinion Terminal 1 is the "Union Station" of Toronto airports. I believe we will never need anything more, certainly not Pickering, eventually not Terminal 3, and likely not all of Terminal 1 even. In that regard, I view Terminal 1 as the final iteration of Toronto's airport terminals (as Union Station ended up being for rail stations), likely to find itself degraded over time as all airports are, and then spruced up and returned to its present clarity at some point in the distant future. When I am waiting for flights I contemplate what it will look like in 20 years (grotty) and then, if needed, how it might be restored to handle the vastly smaller role that airports and flying are destined to play in our future.

 

[simply Dan]

I think that in this day in age, airports are better indicators of world-class status. Think of all the cities in the world that have made themselves known by airport megaprojects.

Not in Europe. The new London St. Pancras and Lehrter Bahnhof in Berlin both got as much media attention as Heathrow T5 and the new Berlin-Brandenburg International have. In addition, the new Munich maglev line will surely be of more interest than the new (stunningly beautiful) airport terminal.

 

[unimaginative2]

Alas, they cancelled the Munich maglev line.

I think Jaguar is referring to the Union subway station. He's absolutely correct. It is, pretty much indisputably, the ugliest and most dilapidated station on the entire subway network. Even in the renderings of the new platform, nothing seems to have been done to the existing part of the station. The new platform will have a mismatching tile wall. A total aesthetic renovation of Union should be a top priority, along with the capacity improvement projects at platform and mezzanine level.

I've always thought that granite walls would be ideal for a subway station. It's a very Canadian material, it's attractive, and it's absolutely indestructible.

p.s. in Europe, Liege is receiving quite a bit of press about its new station. I'd say that Lille recieved a fair bit for the Lille-Europe station as well.

 

[Jaguar4u]

Thanks

Yesterday I received a detailed pamphlet in the mail from GO called "Union Station Rail Corridor: Infrastructure Improvement Program". It includes some great renders of a floating glass roof over an expanded train shed, held up by legs that are reminiscent of the legs holding up the OCAD building, only black. The pamphlet also contains a URL (http://gotransit.com/unionstationrenewal) but the content on that website is not nearly as good as in the pamphlet, and the renders are nowhere to be found. Anyone have a link to them online?

Along with that project, there are two pages of other smaller improvements (new platform, new central glass atrium, bridge fixes at Jarvis, a new access point to the rail corridor at the foot of Market St. near the St. Lawrence Market, beautification of rail embankments in that neighbourhood, plus many more utilitarian things like switches and track realignments.)

In total this apparently represents $1 billion worth of investment by 2014. So... things are happening. I think the city and the province are slowly awakening to the need to invest in more transit. Sure, we're no Berlin, but we're miles ahead of the US. Rail transit in Europe has had 70 years of heavy government funding; we can't compete with that overnight, and at any rate it would be pointless to build an enormous fancy station with only a handful of passenger rails lines feeding into it.

Thank you for that. I agree with you completely. I also got that pamphlet in the mail.

The only thing missing is improvements to the underground link that I was referring to. The transfer point from Subway to Streetcar going southbound to Harbourfront and Toronto Islands. I did speak to TTC supervisors about it, and their response was that they could not do anything to improve the conditions that currently exist. Ya, right.

I sent a copy of my opening statement in this thread to our Mayor. I hope to get a reply. From the Mayor himself.

 

[Jaguar4u]

Renovations

Alas, they cancelled the Munich maglev line.

I think Jaguar is referring to the Union subway station. He's absolutely correct. It is, pretty much indisputably, the ugliest and most dilapidated station on the entire subway network. Even in the renderings of the new platform, nothing seems to have been done to the existing part of the station. The new platform will have a mismatching tile wall. A total aesthetic renovation of Union should be a top priority, along with the capacity improvement projects at platform and mezzanine level.

I've always thought that granite walls would be ideal for a subway station. It's a very Canadian material, it's attractive, and it's absolutely indestructible.

p.s. in Europe, Liege is receiving quite a bit of press about its new station. I'd say that Lille recieved a fair bit for the Lille-Europe station as well.

I love your comments. Have you seen Grand Central Station in NYC?
That's what I'm talking about. They took a run down shack and turned it into a beauty.

Union Station has great potential. More people need to speak out more. We, at least most of us, are taxpayers, and as proud Torontonians, we should demand it.

 

[Hydrogen]

I think the mayor has kind of moved on from the city beautiful ideal.

 

[dowlingm]

St Pancras was the subject of a very good CBC Nature of Things piece by Chris Hume. Apparently Sir John Betjeman was crucial in saving part of the station. Good luck getting the poets of this town interested... they are probably busy in Queen West hovels slated for demo and condofication, condemning Union as nothing more than the heartbeat of the capitalist edifices just north.

Of course the refurbishment and expansion of St P was accompanied by the opening of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and Eurostar trains. I guess the MP40s is the best that we'll see for a good while.

 

[drum118]

There are still issues with the TTC's proposed track layout and the possible removal of a few supporting columns under the viaduct, but the design now does show the Bremner trackage entering at the south end for the updated loop that has surface in the last few weeks.

The new walkway from Union to fort York Blvd is done just west of the current ACC, but in the construction zone for some time.

To do the platforms correctly, you would have to rebuild the whole train shed from ground up as the first few platforms were for baggage, freight and mail cars, not passengers.

Getting tenants to lease office space there is an issues as that income would go along way help to fix the old lady up.

If you get the chance to do the full tour of the station, you will see some real interesting areas not seen by the public in the first place.