Dundas West (TTC)

Dundas West is a subway station on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth of the Toronto subway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located just north of Bloor Street West at the corner of Dundas Street and Edna Avenue. The station is about 200 metres west of Bloor GO Station on the GO Transit Kitchener line and the Union Pearson Express.

The station, which is the northwestern terminus of the 504A King and 505 Dundas streetcar routes, has two streetcar platforms and five bus bays to allow riders to transfer between connecting routes. Wi-Fi service is available at this station. A McDonald's restaurant serves the station, with access from both the fare-paid and non-fare-paid areas of the station's upper level, and there is a Gateway Newstand on the mezzanine level.

Overview

To the east of the station, the subway runs in a twin-bored tunnel until just before the next station ( Lansdowne). This allowed the tracks to pass underneath nearby railway lines without disturbing them during construction. To the west, the tracks follow a short "cut and cover" tunnel before emerging outside at the ''Dorval Portal''. Trains run in the open air until they enter Keele Station.

The four tunnels comprising the Vincent Subway Yard are underground and south of the subway platforms. This station also houses the Subway Track Maintenance Office, which is located on the Mezzanine level.

Nearby landmarks include The Crossways residential and retail complex, Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School, The Lithuanian House banquet hall, Roncesvalles and The Junction neighbourhoods.

History

Dundas West station opened in 1966 as a part of the initial segment of the Bloor–Danforth line between and .

In 2002, as part of a scheduled reconstruction of the streetcar tracks on Dundas Street, a second streetcar track and platform were added to improve reliability on both the 504 King and 505 Dundas streetcar routes. Until the completion of the second track, a streetcar waiting in the station on either route could hold up vehicles on the other. At the same time, elevators were added, making the station wheelchair-accessible.

Following controversy over the namesake of Dundas StreetHenry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, who delayed the abolition of the transatlantic slave tradeToronto City Council voted in 2021 to rename Dundas Street and other civic assets named after Dundas, such as Dundas West station. A new name was to be chosen in April 2022. In December 2023, citing costs, Toronto ultimately decided to keep Dundas' name for the street but to rename Yonge-Dundas Square and the two subway stations named after him, Dundas and Dundas West.

In April 2022, the streetcar loop was closed for two months to replace track and to extend the 505 streetcar platform to accommodate two Flexity Outlook streetcars.

Surface connections

TTC routes serving the station include:

Connection to Bloor GO station

Metrolinx has contracted to build a connection between Dundas West station and the nearby Bloor GO Station via a new pedestrian tunnel at the east end of the subway platforms. Customers transferring from the TTC to GO/UPX need to walk east along city streets from the only station entrance at the west end of the subway platforms. The new tunnel will shorten that distance to . The work includes:
* a new concourse in the lower level of The Crossways’ building
* elevator access to the TTC platform level
* two elevators and a stairwell to connect GO's Bloor tunnel to a new TTC concourse
* an electrical backup system in case of power outages

Metrolinx began proceedings to expropriate necessary properties for a pedestrian tunnel in September 2017. Metrolinx intended to start construction in 2018, but this was delayed when the ownership of the Crossways changed hands. Metrolinx expected property within the Crossways' parking garage necessary for tunnel construction to be transferred to Metrolinx in 2019. By August 2023, the contract to construct the pedestrian connection between the two stations was awarded to Kenaidan Contractors Ltd. Construction on the tunnel began in May 2024.

In 2011, Metrolinx predicted there would be 2,000 transfers between the two stations by 2031. , there were approximately 600 daily transfers.

References

External links

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{{TTCstations

Line 2 Bloor–Danforth stations
Toronto streetcar loops
Railway stations in Canada opened in 1966
Railway stations located underground in Canada