COWI reaches subway milestone
By Adam Freill
Construction InfrastructurePair of new subway stations to serve Toronto’s Ontario Line on steady progression towards construction stages.
Artist’s rendering of the Queen-Spadina station on the Ontario Line in Toronto. (Image courtesy of Metrolinx and HDR.)
International engineering consulting group COWI has reached the half-way mark of the design of two new subway stations for Toronto’s Ontario Line. The stations, located at King and Bathurst and at Queen and Spadina, will soon move to the construction documentation phase.
Scandinavian architecture firm, Arkitema, a part of COWI Group, is supporting COWI’s North American team with its in-depth knowledge of metro station design and passenger experience. COWI says that, when designing the stations, Arkitema took a holistic approach aiming to create clean, sleek contemporary layouts with meticulous attention to detail, aesthetics and a welcoming atmosphere.
“This is an exciting project for our North American team,” stated Thomas Dahlgren, president of COWI North America. “With the Ontario Line, the balance has been to translate the project requirements into the quality that we prioritize over in Denmark: Simple, rational and aesthetic solutions with inviting, open and friendly spaces, creating simple, intuitive pathways. Our goal was to create modern layouts with a strong focus on enhancing the passenger experience.”
COWI was awarded the design and engineering contract by Ontario Transit Group, a joint venture between Ferrovial Construction and Vinci Construction. The new stations will be situated within a 10-minute walking distance for around 50,000 local residents and will create vital connections between popular transport routes.
The Ontario Line, the largest single expansion in Toronto’s subway history, is a 15.6-kilometre rapid transit line that will connect Exhibition Place to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT at Don Mills Road and Eglinton Avenue East. The expansion includes 15 fully accessible stations and more than 40 new connections to GO train lines and existing subway, streetcar and bus lines. It will run along the existing rail corridor in Riverside and Leslieville.
Expected to accommodate around 388,000 passengers per day, the line is expected to relieve crowding on popular transport routes throughout the city and bring transit to underserviced neighbourhoods, reports COWI.
