Path: utzoo!yunexus!telly!evan
From: evan@telly.UUCP (Evan Leibovitch)
Newsgroups: tor.general
Subject: Re: Phantom subway station?
Summary: yup
Message-ID: <415@telly.UUCP>
Date: 24 Nov 88 16:01:08 GMT
Article-I.D.: telly.415
References: <1636@maccs.McMaster.CA>
Distribution: tor
Organization: System telly, Brampton, Ontario
Lines: 46

In article <1636@maccs.McMaster.CA>, gordan@maccs.McMaster.CA (gordan) writes:
> According to a story I heard the other day, there is supposedly a
> phantom subway station in Toronto.
> 
> According to this story (which is thirdhand information, [...]
> there is a shiny new subway station somewhere below the city, with about
> 500 m of dead-end track leading from it.  The funding to complete it
> supposedly ran out, but this station may yet someday come into service.
> 
> Any chance of this being true?

Sort of, but I wouldn't call it 'a shiny new' station.

When they originally designed the University subway line (LONG before it was
extended north of St. George), the TTC developed a way for subways to travel
between the Yonge and Bloor lines.

The way it works, a train travelling north from Museum runs into a switch which
allows it to travel east OR west to the bloor line. Going west takes the train
to a second platform on St. George, and continues to join the Bloor line just
before the Spadina station.

Similarly, a train going east on the switch ends up on a second platform at the
BAY station. the track then meets the Bloor line before hitting Yonge.

The westbound switch to St. George is in constant use. Originally that was the
terminus for the Yonge-University line, but later got extended to Wilson.

It is that second platform at BAY that hasn't been in use in ages, though
trains pass through it often overnight to go from the Yonge line to the
Greenwood yards. If you look closely at the Bay station you'll notice a few
boarded-up stairways. They go to the phantom platform.

At one time in the 60's the TTC experimented with trains that travelled 
Eglinton->Union->Bay->Warden and Eglinton->Union->St.George->Islington,
but the scheduling headaches proved too much. As computerized scheduling
systems come into play, perhaps they'll bring it back to use.

I had also heard that construction started on a second level of the Queen
station back when they were discussing running a line under Queen. But I
don't believe that was ever completed.

-- 
Evan Leibovitch, SA of System Telly                   "I am most concerned that
Located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario, Canada          nobody will remember me
evan@telly.on.ca -or- uunet!attcan!telly!evan            when I am dead" - Anon.