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

[EnviroTO]

I don't think the doors really open into the trainshed. I'm pretty sure that's a relatively shallow corridor that actually leads east to the south end of that ridiculous Ford display area.

No, it will attach to the VIA concourse and eventually the lower level mall. It can be seen in the middle bottom of these diagrams with the ACC "Ford display" being the wider corridor on the right bottom of the lower level diagram.

 

[yyzhyd]

That would be excruciatingly unfortunate; yet very Toronto.

Considering that the entire station and associated accesses are undergoing massive redevelopment... you might want to hold off judgment until it's complete.

 

[Platform 27]

...with the ACC "Ford display" being the wider corridor on the right bottom of the lower level diagram.

Nope, the main Ford display space is actually further north than the corridor you mentioned: although it "feels" like it's part of the ACC, it's actually wholly inside the station proper, sitting roughly under platforms 10 through 20 or so (it's the oddly-shaped white space chopped out of the large expanse of grey on this map). Said hall will be obliterated as part of the "dig down."

Basically, for the time being that south entrance will only really provide a straightforward connection to platforms 24 through 27. To get to the vast majority of GO stuff will require---as best as I can tell from that map slash my own hazy recollections of that corner of the universe---a couple of random turns through narrow passages and then a trip north across said Ford display space. Once the dig down is completed, though, it will definitely be in the thick of things.

 

[W. K. Lis]

I was wondering why on the TV series Flashpoint, there was an episode where Union Station was mentioned, and an image of an Union Station we were not used to was used. The series must have filmed there because the entrance was empty at the time.

 

[nfitz]

That entrance looks fantastic!

 

[EnviroTO]

Nope, the main Ford display space is actually further north than the corridor you mentioned: although it "feels" like it's part of the ACC, it's actually wholly inside the station proper, sitting roughly under platforms 10 through 20 or so (it's the oddly-shaped white space chopped out of the large expanse of grey on this map). Said hall will be obliterated as part of the "dig down."

The ACC fun zone and Ford display are the same corridor. Where the label stating "ACC" is on the first map I provided is the ACC/Fun Zone/Ford corridor. At no point did I say the Ford display is in the ACC as even the fun zone is under the railway tracks. The corridor in the middle bottom lines up with the Union Plaza entrance and will eventually provide access to both the VIA concourse and lower mall as I stated previously.

 

[Platform 27]

I think we're actually talking about separate spaces, then. The space I had in mind is entirely north of my namesake black-sheep platform, while yours is south of it. I guess Ford is everywhere.

The former will, in the interim, be part of the route between the new south entrance to the current GO Concourse, and then face the jackhammer in something like Phase II of the reno. The latter, as is shown on your maps, survives the reno and continues to connect Union to the ACC.

 

[Platform 27]

Here's something that seems to have popped up a bit out of the blue:

Call For Tenders

Tender No. PT-2009-SI-058

Metrolinx is accepting Tenders for the construction of a new Rail Operations Control Centre (ROCC) at the Bay Street Bus Terminal.


A Mandatory Site Meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. on November 24, 2009 at Metrolinx’s Bay Street Bus Terminal. Failure of a Contractor to be present and registered from the time the meeting is called to order until the meeting is adjourned will result in disqualification from bidding. (etc...)

Anyone know what exactly a Rail Operations Control Centre is, and what facility presently fills this role for GO? Are we talking about a switching and dispatching-type facility with a control-tower-style clean visual on the rail corridor? I believe that sort of stuff is still housed at the Cherry Street Tower, which is an aging TTR facility. Or are we talking about a replacement for that officialish room hidden behind the two-way mirror on the east side of the current GO concourse? (A room that presumably has to be replaced before the concourse closes for the dig-down).

If it's the former they're after, then this might mean some sort of new tower sprouting out of either the Bay Street-side structure with the elevator to the trainshed, or the Yonge Street-side terminal building. If it's more in keeping with the magic behind-the-mirror room, though, then this is probably just converting some space from an existing use. In that case, though, it seems a little odd that they'd want to put the facility across Bay in relative Siberia rather than anywhere else in the volumes of space upstairs and downstairs in Union Station proper that Metrolinx will be renovating and occupying anyway.

Thoughts?

 

[DavidJamesTO]

I doubt it's going to be a windowed centre. With control panels and track schematics, immediate observation isn't necessary any more. Heck, CP used to control most of eastern Canada's traffic from a room in Windsor Station.

 

[Jonny5]

What is the control room for that is on the top floor of the building underneath the pedestrian bridge connecting John Street to the Skydome?

 

[FutureMayor]

Rail Operations Control Centre

The present Rail Operations Control Centre is located directly across and north of the Information Desk, and at the east entrance of Union Station.

If you look closely through the tinted window you can see the bank of television screens.

It monitors and communicates with the control towers to switch tracks, and can follow every train and bus in the system. It is responsible for maintaining the timetable and sending out customer messages throughout all the stations.

The current room is old and cramped and needs to relocated across the street offsite for safety/security and to make way for the Union Station renovation.

Louroz

 

[EnviroTO]

There is already a room for switching and I think they have already been working on upgrading the old "switch machine" which works with levers and interlocks to a computer controlled system so tendering this now seems a bit late. If this is for switching then it would mean they are getting rid of the old room completely.

 

[Platform 27]

There is already a room for switching and I think they have already been working on upgrading the old "switch machine" which works with levers and interlocks to a computer controlled system so tendering this now seems a bit late. If this is for switching then it would mean they are getting rid of the old room completely.

The old manual switching machine was in the Cherry St. Tower, and upgrades there could be either complete or previously awarded. Cherry's responsibility is purely executing the details of traffic control coming into Union, though, while this Ops facility has an overall network-wide responsibility.

Interesting to hear how "safety/security" might be the underlying reason justifying a move of Ops out of the building and across the street. I hadn't thought of it when I made my initial post, but I can see how there are certain advantages to being removed from Union proper: for instance, if there's a bomb scare and they have to evacuate the station building, at least someone can stay at their desk to keep the train network in the loop.

Whenever they built the current room, I imagine the assumption was that having Ops a door away from the passenger concourse was a useful thing---I'm picturing some poor guy running out to post a typewritten bulletin on a board watched by a horde of angry travellers that snow on the switches means the 5:34 train is cancelled. When your updates are going out to LCD screens, though, I guess having that kind of proximity is no longer particularly useful.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

What is the control room for that is on the top floor of the building underneath the pedestrian bridge connecting John Street to the Skydome?

CSIS? If it's the building that I am thinking of. Might be the old John St pumping station (don't know what it's used for now though, if anything)

 

[41stfloor]

I believe that there may be enough room for the ROCC in and behind the old car rental outlet that is behind the bus terminal and adjacent to the East Bay Teamway. It would make sense for it to be tucked in out of the way in a place like that.