Kennedy (TTC)

"Kennedy station" redirects here. For the adjacent commuter rail station of GO Transit, see Kennedy GO Station.
Kennedy

The Eglinton Avenue entrance, on the north side
Location 2455 Eglinton Avenue East
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
Coordinates 43°43′57″N 79°15′49″W / 43.73250°N 79.26361°W / 43.73250; -79.26361Coordinates: 43°43′57″N 79°15′49″W / 43.73250°N 79.26361°W / 43.73250; -79.26361
Platforms 1 centre platform (2 BD line)
2 side platforms (3 SRT line)
Tracks 3 (2 on BD and 1 for SRT)
Connections TTC buses
Kennedy GO Station
Construction
Structure type underground (2 BD line)
elevated (3 SRT line)
Platform levels 3
Parking 1135
Disabled access Yes
History
Opened 21 November 1980 (1980-11-21) (2 BD line)
22 March 1985 (1985-03-22) (3 SRT line)
Traffic
Passengers (2013[1]) 70,890 (2 BD line)
37,190 (3 SRT line)
108,080 (Total)
Services
Preceding station   TTC   Following station
toward Kipling
 Bloor–DanforthTerminus
Terminus Scarborough
toward McCowan
toward Mount Dennis
 Eglinton
Opens 2022
Terminus

Kennedy is the terminal subway station of the Bloor-Danforth and Scarborough RT lines of the Toronto subway and RT. It is located just east of Kennedy Road and south of Eglinton Avenue East.[2]

Kennedy is the fifth busiest station in the system, after St. George, Bloor-Yonge, Sheppard-Yonge & Union, serving a combined total of approximately 108,080 customer trips a day.

This station will be part of the Eglinton Crosstown line in which will open in 2020.[3]

History

The station opened in 1980 when the Bloor-Danforth line was extended in what was then the Borough of Scarborough. The Scarborough RT platform opened later in 1985 along with the rest of the line.[4] The adjacent Kennedy GO Station on GO Transit's Stouffville rail line opened in 2005.[5]

In 1999, this station became accessible with elevators.

In 2008, the Toronto Star reported this station to be a "known problem area" in terms of crime in the subway system, along with Lawrence West, Lansdowne, and Warden stations.[6] Reports include the shooting of two on the subway platform in April 1993, the stabbing death of 15-year-old Ishmael Spence inside the station, and the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Kenroy John while waiting for a bus in 2003.[7]

On 4 September 2012, the Emergency Task Force of the Toronto Police were called in after reports of a suspicious package with a note attached reading, "Don’t sit on it, it’s a bomb." The investigation lasted for four hours, resulting in all bus services diverting to nearby Lawrence East and Warden stations, and shuttle bus services replacing both subway and RT lines, to find out it was simply a prank. The suspect was not found and arrests were never made.[8]

Station description

The station is located south of the elevated Eglinton Avenue East, just east of Kennedy Road and is built on four levels. The top level of the station holds the Scarborough RT platforms, which connect to the bus platform below it by stairs, escalators, and elevators. Other than the bus platform, the ground level also holds all four entrances into the station, located around the station. The two accessible entrances into the station are located at the South Parking Lot and by the GO station entrance nearby the Don Montgomery Community Centre. The other two entrances are located at Service Road and Transway Crescent (photo shown above), and a second entrance by Transway Crescent only accessible by motor vehicles.

Below ground level is the concourse that spans the length of the station. All entrances lead down to the concourse level. From here, there is elevator access to every other level of the station, including the Bloor–Danforth subway platform below it, making it fully accessible.

Parking

Four parking lots surround the station, providing commuters with a total of 1135 spaces; East (151), North (112), North Service Road (199) and South (673). All lots charge cash fare from 5:00am to 3:00pm weekdays, and are free after 3:00pm and all day weekends and holidays. The cost for Kennedy North, North Service Road and South Lots is $5.00, and Kennedy East Lot is $3.00.

Subway infrastructure in the vicinity

Scarborough RT

SRT leaving the station, showing the sharp curve that would complicate replacing the SRT with heavy rail.

Leaving the station, the Scarborough RT line descends to ground level and turns north to run alongside the Canadian National Railway railway tracks.

Although the Scarborough RT trains are bidirectional, at this station they originally reversed on a loop like single-ended streetcars, because when Kennedy station was built, the TTC planned to run the line as a dedicated right-of-way for streetcars, rather than the light metro that was eventually constructed. They would enter the station from the east, unload passengers, run onto an elevated loop west of the station to reverse, return to the station, and call at a second platform to load passengers before departing eastward. The original floor finishing and platform edge markings for the then originally planned LRT was never removed, and is still visible at the sides of the track bed.

The ICTS trains could not handle the sharp curves of the loop as well as expected, so the station was rebuilt in 1988 to eliminate its regular use. Because of another curve at the east end of the station, it was not possible to add a scissors crossover there, so the station was reduced to a single terminal track. Trains now use that single track to reverse; platforms on either side allow for trains to open their doors on both sides while stopped. The original loading platform on the south side of the tracks, extended to meet the single remaining track, is still the one primarily used for loading, and the other for unloading. The loop track still exists, now constituting a dead-end tail track where a train could be stored if necessary.

Original design was to have SRT trains loop at the west end of the station, but the single track now provides access to the trains from platforms on both sides

Bloor–Danforth Line

East of the station, there are two tail tracks that allow space for two trains to be out of service. West of the station, there is a double crossover to allow trains to enter either side of the platform. It then continues running in a southwest diagonal alignment under the former Canadian National Railway spur line towards the Chestnut Portal, which is then elevated into Warden station.

Nearby landmarks

Nearby landmarks include the Don Montgomery Community Centre (formerly called Mid-Scarborough Community Centre).

Surface connections

Bus platform level of the station

There are 10 platforms for its 11 routes at the station. The most recent realignment occurred on December 8, 2014.[9]

86B to Highland Creek
86C to Sheppard Avenue
86D to Beechgrove Drive via Lawrence Avenue
  • Platform 4
  • Platform 5
    • 116A Morningside to Conlins Road via Ellesmere Road
116B to Kingston Road & Eglinton Avenue (rush hours only)
116C to Finch Avenue
12B to Victoria Park Station (Saturday, Sunday and Holidays)
  • 57 Midland to Steeles Avenue
  • Platform 8
  • Platform 9
    • 43A Kennedy to Steeles Avenue
43B to Scarborough Centre Station via Progress Avenue
  • Platform 10
    • 21A Brimley to Scarborough Centre Station
21C to Steeles Avenue via Scarborough Centre Station
  • 131E Nugget Express to Old Finch/Morningview via Scarborough Centre Station (rush hours only)

Future

The station is set to undergo major changes over the coming years, as the Scarborough RT is proposed to be replaced by a extension of the Bloor-Danforth line, and the Eglinton Crosstown is built to terminate at Kennedy.

If approved, it will result with the removal of the RT portion of the structure, and new underground facilities for the Eglinton Crosstown (in the form of tunnels and platform to the north of the existing station), and the new eastward tunnel for the Bloor-Danforth extension. Completion is to be expected by about 2020-22.[3]

Other future plans announced in January 2016 will also impact the station, as the frequent Smart Track service is set to be implemented on the Stouffville GO corridor, and the Eglinton Crosstown may also be extended further east.

References

  1. ↑ "Subway ridership, 2013" (PDF). Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved September 12, 2015. This table shows the typical number of customer-trips made on each subway on an average weekday and the typical number of customers travelling to and from each station platform on an average weekday.
  2. ↑ "TTC Kennedy Station". Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Kennedy Station - Crosstown". Eglinton Crosstown. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "TTC Milestones". Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  5. ↑ "The Scarborough Rapid Transit Line". Transit Toronto. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  6. ↑ 4 held in subway swarmings
  7. ↑ Boesveld, Sarah; Fuller, Amy (29 March 2008). "'Pandemonium' after woman shot in subway". Toronto Star. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  8. ↑ Talbot, Michael (4 September 2012). "Kennedy subway station bomb scare a prank: police". CityNews Toronto. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  9. ↑ http://transit.toronto.on.ca/archives/weblog/2014/12/03-ttc_revisi.shtml

External links

Media related to Kennedy Station at Wikimedia Commons

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