This post is a compendium of galleries of construction projects in various locations on the streetcar system around the city including:
- Broadview Station Loop
- King-Queen-Queensway-Roncesvalles
- Queen Street East
- Gerrard Street East
- Adelaide Street
- Wellington Street
These photos continue from my September 4, 2023 post.
Broadview Station Loop
Excavation of Broadview Station Loop began in mid-September. This work completely closed the loop to bus traffic and blocked Broadview Avenue from Danforth to Erindale. (The excavation of Erindale will occur later, but the street is kept open from the east for local access.)
The depth of the excavation varies depending on whether there was already a concrete slab under the track with embedded ties using Pandrol clips. Although the area south from the station had this type of construction, the station loop itself does not.
Also exposed by the work is the set of I-beams that act as an underground bridge supporting the streetcar tracks as they cross the shallow structure of the subway station below.
Two pre-assembled track panels for the entry and exit switches await installation once the new slab has been poured. The one shown here is staged just north of the Broadview/Danforth intersection, while the other is parked north of Erindale.
King-Queen-Queensway-Roncesvalles
As I write this on October 29, streetcar service has resumed west to Humber Loop. (Photos will follow in a separate post in a few days.)
In mid-October, all service was still turning back at Sunnyside Loop where, thanks to the schedules designed with running time for the Humber trip, there would usually be several streetcars waiting for their time to depart eastbound.
Between Glendale and the start of the original Queensway right-of-way, the track has been regraded to remove a dip.
With the construction finally completed, the eastbound stop at Glendale for St. Joseph’s Hospital has been restored.
Queen East
Streetcar service was restored on the eastern part of Queen with both the 501 Queen and 503 Kingston Road services operating through the construction zone at Degrassi where Metrolinx is rebuilding and expanding the GO Transit corridor.
This will also be the site of the future Riverside/Leslieville Station on the Ontario Line. The existing bridge clearance is substandard and, as at neighbouring overpasses on this corrider, the new bridge and Ontario Line Station will be built with 5m clearance. This should end the problem with high trucks hitting overhead, a common reason for “operational problems” at this location.
505 Dundas cars continue to divert from Broadview Station to Woodbine Loop via Gerrard, Coxwell and Queen.
Gerrard & Carlaw
The GO overpass at Gerrard & Carlaw will not be regraded. The future Ontario Line Gerrard Station will sit parallel to and just west of the rail corridor. After it crosses Gerrard, the OL will descend into the tunnel that will run north to the Don Valley at the Leaside Bridge.
Due to construction at Broadview Station, 505 Dundas cars continue to divert via Gerrard, Coxwell and Queen to Woodbine Loop.
Adelaide Street
Restoration of track on Adelaide Street eastbound for the 501 Queen Ontario Line diversion continues with tangent track now complete from Charlotte Street (east of Spadina) to Victoria Street except where utility relocations are in progress. Several utility chamber relocations were required for this work.
Installation of special work at York & Adelaide is expected to occur in November 2023.
The work from Adelaide to Queen is a separate Metrolinx-run contract for the roadway changes, but the TTC will, as usual, install the track. Actual operation over the diversion is planned for May 2024.
Wellington Street
After a long wait, Wellington Street has finally reopened to streetcars, but not with its usual route, 503 Kingston Road. Instead, the 503 runs west via King to Spadina while the 501D Queen East route loops downtown via Church, Wellington, York, King and Church.
Wellington Street has been redesigned with a widened pedestrian area in what used to be the north curb lane and so the streetcars are in what is now the curb lane for this short section of track.
Steve Munro 
I hate to correct you, but this is not quite true. There is a small gap in this track just west of Victoria as a utility pit is still under reconstruction and there is still no tangent track from the east side of Bay (the new track stops at the driveway entrance to the St Regis Hotel) to the east side of York as several utility pits are still being worked on. As you note the intersection of York and Adelaide remains a large hole.
Steve: Thanks for the correction. I will amend the article.
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Thanks for the update Steve. Do you know if there will be any work required at Adelaide and Victoria? I recall that when the tracks were OOS they were filled in with asphalt. Not sure if that extended into the E-to-N curve.
Steve: I suspect there will be some cleanup of existing track, but have not seen anything about replacing what is already in place.
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So Steve, is the Broadview bus loop still closed for the Nov board?
Steve: TTC announcements imply it will reopen, but I suspect it will be a case that the schedules will be written on that basis, but not actually operated from day one unless the pace of work (which has been glacial for the past two weeks) suddenly picks up.
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When will streetcars return to Broadview station? When will Queen streetcars begin to divert via Richmond, Adelaide streets and what will be the exact diversion (both directions)?
Steve: The TTC has announced that streetcars will return to Broadview Station in February. The Queen diversion is planned for May 2024 and has already been announced as westbound via Church, Richmond and York; eastbound via York, Adelaide and Church.
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Hi Steve, saw your comments on Broadview and was left curious. Will the 504 return to Broadview (the street) before returning to the station? I see that track reconstruction and road paving appear to be complete, at least south of Danforth. Might the 504 return and short turn onto… say Gerrard?
Steve: The plan is to restore the 504/505 bus shuttle from Broadview Station to King & Parliament in mid-November. All 504 King cars will continue to operate to Distillery Loop.
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Steve, maybe a dumb question, but, what is “tangent track”?
Steve: Straight track, hence “tangent”, as opposed to curved rails and special work (switches, frogs, diamonds).
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Broadview Loop next February! Unreal
Steve: The track will be finished fairly soon, but they’re taking another two months for “overhead adjustments”. The whole conversion to pan-only overhead is taking far longer than it should and is triggering extended suspension of service when nothing actually happens. Buses should be back in Broadview Station for the mid-November Board period, and the 504/505 shuttle to King & Parliament will re-appear.
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Peter S: Definitely not a “dumb” question.
A tangent is a straight line, but one that comes off a curve. To infinity [minus one], all railway tracks are tangential to a curve, but the usage of that word as a substitute for plain straight is misleading, and lost in the mists of time.
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Do other cities/transit networks have the same degree of larger disruption for the trackbed and repairs from the heavy transit? Laws of physics would suggest that tonnage is tonnage, but…
Also, I was vexing at the time of design ‘consult’ and somewhat through the process, but the Queensway project is a terrible disappointment for biking as it still leaves a larger gap from the existing and long Queensway bike lanes to the K/Q/R/Q intersection, and thus isolates many Parkdalians from a quick safe and simple trip to High Park and back.
And there’s wasted space within the end result that could have given a bit more room if not a bike lane, including on the south side where City wouldn’t provide even sidewalks, but could plant lightpoles. Highway building is alive and well enough; and yes, bikes are the competition to the transit at times, so the City/TTC don’t mind keeping it dangerous.
Steve: There are critiques to be made of the City’s road designs and the relative weight given to transit, cycling, pedestrians, anything that moves other than cars. However, I do not agree with the idea that cycling is made deliberately dangerous to reduce competition with the TTC. The TTC does a quite good job on its own of driving away riders. You undermine your general advocacy with this argument.
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Is there a reason that the Dundas car (during its Gerrard diversion) uses Kingston Rd & Queen loop rather than turning back at the loop at Coxwell and Queen? That loop never seems to be used.
Steve: More room at Woodbine Loop than at Coxwell-Queen especially if there is more than one car at a time.
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