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Not quite - e.g. expandability of the Sheppard subway platforms/train length.

AoD

While true, LOL.........its worth noting here, the initial plans did not call for 'future proofing'; they called for full-length platforms and stations. We got what we got, because budget cuts were ordered.

The decision was made to save money by not doing any fit and finish (tile, lighting, ceilings, signage, etc.) on roughly 1/3 of each platform.

So it was more accident of fate, err, Mike Harris, more than it was great foresight.
 
Thrice with the 70-year old east-west platforms at Queen station under the existing subway station. And then there's the starts of the RT station at Kipling, when they built the subway station.
I believe utility relocation work was also done under Osgoode, although nothing was built. We can also add Donlands Station being underpinned for a DRL plan that would never come.
 
Thrice with the 70-year old east-west platforms at Queen station under the existing subway station. And then there's the starts of the RT station at Kipling, when they built the subway station.

If that is the case, the Finch West debacle, is that laziness then?
 
If only we actually planned ahead when designing/building known future transfer stations. Like I get issues with adding new platforms to stations like Eglinton or Queen or Bloor, which were built a long time ago, but it's a shame we didn't plan more for a better transfer station at Finch West.
If they waited until the planning was done for the Finch LRT, then they'd only be opening the TYSSE now.

At some point, you just have to say "screw it" and get on with the work at hand. That they have still managed to fully operate the subway without any closures, and have panels built within the existing station box, shows that they did take it into account while building the subway station.

For the record, I think that you would be very surprised to hear about some of the future plans and "rough-ins" that have been built as part of our current subway system. Several of them are not likely to be built in any of our lifetimes.

Dan
 
While true, LOL.........its worth noting here, the initial plans did not call for 'future proofing'; they called for full-length platforms and stations. We got what we got, because budget cuts were ordered.

The decision was made to save money by not doing any fit and finish (tile, lighting, ceilings, signage, etc.) on roughly 1/3 of each platform.

So it was more accident of fate, err, Mike Harris, more than it was great foresight.

I seem to recall that during Mel Lastman's bitter battle with Queen's Park regarding subway expansion that he claimed they could "at least get the tunnels built - we can always add the tracks at a later time." LOL!
 
If they waited until the planning was done for the Finch LRT, then they'd only be opening the TYSSE now.

At some point, you just have to say "screw it" and get on with the work at hand. That they have still managed to fully operate the subway without any closures, and have panels built within the existing station box, shows that they did take it into account while building the subway station.

For the record, I think that you would be very surprised to hear about some of the future plans and "rough-ins" that have been built as part of our current subway system. Several of them are not likely to be built in any of our lifetimes.

Dan

Which ones are you thinking of Dan?

Excepting the really historical ones........

I'm aware of the space for the centre platform at Sheppard-Yonge.

The way in which Kipling was organized to allow for both the ALRT than never happened and for a future Line 2 extension.

Was Sheppard West/nee Downsview specifically organized for a future Sheppard Subway connection?
 
Which ones are you thinking of Dan?

Excepting the really historical ones........

I'm aware of the space for the centre platform at Sheppard-Yonge.

The way in which Kipling was organized to allow for both the ALRT than never happened and for a future Line 2 extension.

Was Sheppard West/nee Downsview specifically organized for a future Sheppard Subway connection?

This is by no means a comprehensive list, just going from memory here....

The former Downsview Station was absolutely built with an eye to allow the later construction of an east-west subway station. There isn't a station box prebuilt and waiting, but utilities were moved, there are kock-out panels in place, and the structure at the north end of the station was built to allow another platform overtop of it. Connections between the two lines would have been made at Wilson Yard, where the tail tracks from the east-west station would have swung north-south and tied in there.

Speaking of Wilson Yard, there are long-standing plans to revamp the access to the south with a grade-separated access, much as at Greenwood Yard. It doesn't seem that the original yard was built with this in mind, but the TTC has called for the allowance of its construction on several of the EAs for the area over the past 20-plus years.

On Yonge, the track alignment was conceived and utilities were moved to allow for the future construction of "mid-block" stations between Eglinton and Lawrence (approximately Blythwood), between Lawrence and York Mills (about Fairlawn), and between Sheppard and Finch. Of those, only one station has since been built, North York Centre.

Sheppard has its own example of this, approximately at Willowdale.

Sheppard-Yonge is more complex than just the built-but-unused platform at the Sheppard Level - there are small sections of side platforms built at the Yonge level, along with knock-out panels to service them. The ultimate goal is to have "Spanish Solutions" at both levels.

You've of course noted the Kipling LRT - there was a matching facility planned at Kennedy and built as well, which was later infamously turned into the SRT platform. If you look around at those platforms, you can see several signs of its original purpose, such as the original low-level platform edge finishes and mounting locations for overhead catenary.

Dan
 
This is by no means a comprehensive list, just going from memory here....

The former Downsview Station was absolutely built with an eye to allow the later construction of an east-west subway station. There isn't a station box prebuilt and waiting, but utilities were moved, there are kock-out panels in place, and the structure at the north end of the station was built to allow another platform overtop of it. Connections between the two lines would have been made at Wilson Yard, where the tail tracks from the east-west station would have swung north-south and tied in there.

Speaking of Wilson Yard, there are long-standing plans to revamp the access to the south with a grade-separated access, much as at Greenwood Yard. It doesn't seem that the original yard was built with this in mind, but the TTC has called for the allowance of its construction on several of the EAs for the area over the past 20-plus years.

On Yonge, the track alignment was conceived and utilities were moved to allow for the future construction of "mid-block" stations between Eglinton and Lawrence (approximately Blythwood), between Lawrence and York Mills (about Fairlawn), and between Sheppard and Finch. Of those, only one station has since been built, North York Centre.

Sheppard has its own example of this, approximately at Willowdale.

Sheppard-Yonge is more complex than just the built-but-unused platform at the Sheppard Level - there are small sections of side platforms built at the Yonge level, along with knock-out panels to service them. The ultimate goal is to have "Spanish Solutions" at both levels.

You've of course noted the Kipling LRT - there was a matching facility planned at Kennedy and built as well, which was later infamously turned into the SRT platform. If you look around at those platforms, you can see several signs of its original purpose, such as the original low-level platform edge finishes and mounting locations for overhead catenary.

Dan

So, Finch West was an oops?
 



 
I seem to recall that during Mel Lastman's bitter battle with Queen's Park regarding subway expansion that he claimed they could "at least get the tunnels built - we can always add the tracks at a later time." LOL!
That's exactly what Toronto did. By the time they got to the tunnels and electrification, the province had changed course enough they got some funding for that.

That's not funny - that's political genius.
 
Which ones are you thinking of Dan?

Excepting the really historical ones........

I'm aware of the space for the centre platform at Sheppard-Yonge.

The way in which Kipling was organized to allow for both the ALRT than never happened and for a future Line 2 extension.

Was Sheppard West/nee Downsview specifically organized for a future Sheppard Subway connection?
The way Sheppard West is laid out clearly supports the interchange with it's midlevel concourse running along the entire platform length connecting to only a small pedestrian entrance on the north side of Sheppard. I always assumed that large concourse was built to accommodate eventual transfers to the Sheppard Line.

I believe the TTC also did rough-ins at Pioneer Village for the planned Jane LRT at the time, if I'm not mistaken.
 
The way Sheppard West is laid out clearly supports the interchange with it's midlevel concourse running along the entire platform length connecting to only a small pedestrian entrance on the north side of Sheppard. I always assumed that large concourse was built to accommodate eventual transfers to the Sheppard Line.

I believe the TTC also did rough-ins at Pioneer Village for the planned Jane LRT at the time, if I'm not mistaken.
Highway 407 Station has knockout panels and was positioned in a way to support the far-future 407 Transitway station platforms.
 

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