Eglinton West is a

subway station A metro station or subway station is a train station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase Train ticket, tickets, board trains, and Emerg ...

Line 1 Yonge–University Line 1 Yonge–University is a rapid transit line of the Toronto subway. It serves Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada. It is operated by the Toronto Transit Commission, has 38 stations and is in length, making it t ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the median of

Allen Road Allen Road, formally known as William R. Allen Road, is a short municipal expressway and arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It starts as a controlled-access expressway at Eglinton Avenue West, heading north to just south of Transit Road ...

on the north side of Eglinton Avenue West. It will become an

interchange station An interchange station or a transfer station is a train station for more than one railway route in a public transport system that allows passengers to change from one route to another, often without having to leave a station or pay an additional ...

with the upcoming

Line 5 Eglinton Line 5 Eglinton, also known as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT or the Crosstown, is a light rail transit line that is under construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that will be part of the Toronto subway system. Owned by Metrolinx and operated by t ...

, at which point it will be renamed Cedarvale.

History

The station opened in 1978, as part of the Line 1 extension from to station. Eglinton West had been planned to be an interchange station as part of the proposed

Eglinton West line The Eglinton West line was a proposed east–west rapid transit line in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose construction began in 1994 but was cancelled in 1995. It was to start from the existing Eglinton West station on the Toronto Transit Commissi ...

(not to be confused with the

Eglinton Crosstown line Line 5 Eglinton, also known as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT or the Crosstown, is a light rail transit line that is under construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that will be part of the Toronto subway system. Owned by Metrolinx and operated by t ...

). This was one of the three proposed subway lines in the

Network 2011 Network 2011 was a plan for transit expansion created in 1985 by the Toronto Transit Commission. It was centred on three proposed subway lines: the Downtown Relief Line, Eglinton West Line, and the Sheppard Line. Only a portion of the Sheppard L ...

Plan created in 1985 by the

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the primary public transport agency in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operating the majority of the city's transit bus, bus and rail services. It is the oldest and largest of the urban transit service providers ...

. The project was cancelled in 1995 after the election of a Progressive Conservative government led by

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. Taking the PC ...

. Afterwards, the small amount of tunnel that had been dug under the station was refilled. Since October 2005, the station has been wheelchair-accessible. In December 2012, commuter parking lots formerly located east and west of the station building on the north side of Eglinton Avenue were taken out of service, leaving no immediately adjacent parking. The lots were used as staging areas for the

tunnel boring machine A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole" or a "worm", is a machine used to excavate tunnels. TBMs are an alternative to drilling and blasting methods and "hand mining", allowing more rapid excavation through hard rock, wet or dry so ...

s (TBMs) during the construction of

. On the weekend of 18 and 19 April 2015, the TBMs Dennis and Lea were extracted from the east-side staging area and then transported on a heavy truck trailer to relaunch from the west-side staging area. The two staging areas will each be the location of a new station entrance.

Description

The station building is located on the north side of Eglinton Avenue West between the entry/exit ramps for

. The station currently has two levels: street level and the platform level for Line 1 trains. The station's pedestrian entrance, the station concourse and a bus terminal are all located at street level. The bus terminal, located in a fare-paid area, surrounds the concourse area with bays on three of its four sides. After the opening of Line 5 Eglinton in 2024, Eglinton West will have two more station entrances: one just east of the Allen Road entry ramp, and the other just west of the Allen Road exit ramp. The current entrances will be retained for direct access to the bus terminal for walk-in patrons not riding the subway or LRT, and the new entrances will all be on the north side of Eglinton Avenue. On the south side of Eglinton Avenue just west of Everden Road, there is a possibility of an emergency exit or a fourth entrance to be incorporated into some future private development. The Line 5 tunnel and platform will pass under the Line 1 platforms. Above the Line 5 platform level, there will be a new underground concourse divided in two sections by a gap where the Line 1 tracks cross. Crossover tracks to reverse Line 5 trains will be located just east of the Line 5 platforms.

Architecture

The station was designed by

Arthur Erickson Arthur Charles Erickson (June 14, 1924 – May 20, 2009) was a Canadian architect and urban planning, urban planner. He studied at the University of British Columbia and, in 1950, received his B.Arch. (Honours) from McGill University. He is kn ...

and Clifford & Lawrie. The main ticketing and concourse area at surface level is sheltered by an exposed concrete space frame supported by eight circular columns. The concrete ceiling is, in effect, a large slab, and overhangs the entrance. With a glass curtain wall, it appears to float. Inside, it is coffered throughout the station, with skylights in certain areas, allowing for increased penetration of natural light. Eglinton West makes use of sandblasted concrete and brick wall finishes extensively, distinguishing it from most stations on Line 1 and Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, where tiles are predominant. CedarvaleStationSecondaryEntranceJune2024

CedarvaleStationSecondaryEntranceJune2024

As the north end of the station is in Allen Road's median, the Line 1 platform level is partly built at surface level. Designers took advantage of this and added windows at platform level. The northbound platform has regular windows, allowing for a view onto Allen Road, while windows on the opposite platform were frosted during construction of the aborted Eglinton West subway in 1994. This combination of window treatments allows transit riders to view cars speeding onto Allen Road's northbound expressway lanes, while blocking views of cars stuck in traffic approaching Eglinton, where the expressway—originally planned to continue south to downtown—ends. During July 2009, the TTC installed an $850,000

green roof A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage ...

over the northern end of the station to reduce maintenance costs, increase the lifespan to 40–50 years, reduce the heat island effect by lowering the temperature of the surrounding area by a few degrees, and to reduce runoff. The TTC had to repair the roof anyway, since it had been leaking since 2000. The plants atop the 835-square-metre roof are low-maintenance

sedum ''Sedum'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. The genus has been described as containing up to 600 species, subsequently reduced to 400–500. They are leaf succule ...

s. and stations are slated to have green roofs installed as well.

Art

The station's artwork, on two enamel murals facing each other, is ''Summertime Streetcar'' by Gerald Zeldin, is a montage of

PCC streetcars The Presidents' Conference Committee (PCC) is a streetcar (tram) design that was first built in the United States in the 1930s. The design proved successful domestically, and after World War II it was licensed for use elsewhere in the world where ...

from differing perspectives. The artwork is two storeys high and is located in the appropriately high ceiling section of the platform level. In future, as part of a program to install artworks at major interchange stations along Line 5 Eglinton, the station will feature the artwork ''Super Signals'' by

Douglas Coupland Douglas Coupland (born 30 December 1961) is a Canadian novelist, designer and visual artist. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller '' Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture'', popularized the terms Generation X and McJob. He ...

consisting of aluminum panels with brightly coloured concentric circles against a background of black and white diagonal lines. The artwork is an exaggeration of traditional wayfinding graphics.

Line 1 infrastructure in the vicinity

South of the station, Line 1 continues underground below Everden Road to reach the Cedarvale Ravine, then continues southeast below the ravine. Moving northward, tracks continue on the surface, in the median of Allen Road.

Nearby landmarks

Nearby landmarks include the York–Eglinton BIA, Little Jamaica, and the

Oakwood-Vaughan Oakwood Village, formerly known as Oakwood–Vaughan, is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located in the former inner suburb of York, the neighbourhood is a Business Improvement Area (BIA); it has an annual arts festival and a public ...

and Humewood-Cedarvale neighbourhoods.

Surface connections

TTC routes serving the station include:

Notes

References

External links

* {{TTCstations Line 1 Yonge–University stations Line 5 Eglinton stations Railway stations in Canada opened in 1978 Arthur Erickson buildings Railway stations in highway medians Railway stations located underground in Canada