London station (Ontario)

London
A Via train at the station in London, Ontario
Location 205 York Street, London, ON
Canada
Coordinates 42°58′55″N 81°14′47″W / 42.9819°N 81.2464°W / 42.9819; -81.2464Coordinates: 42°58′55″N 81°14′47″W / 42.9819°N 81.2464°W / 42.9819; -81.2464
Owned by Via Rail
Platforms 1 side platform, 1 island platform
Tracks 5
Connections London Transit
Construction
Parking Yes
Disabled access Yes
History
Opened 1963
Rebuilt 2001
Services
Preceding station   Via Rail   Following station
toward Sarnia
Sarnia–Toronto
toward Toronto
toward Windsor
Windsor–Toronto
toward Toronto
  Former services  
Amtrak
toward Chicago
International
toward Toronto

London station in London, Ontario, Canada is a major interchange for Via Rail trains running from Toronto west to Sarnia and Windsor. The station is a large, modern, wheelchair accessible building on the south end of the city centre, and connects to local public transit bus services.

History

The first passenger station at this site was completed by Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1853. The station continued to serve the London area for the Grand Trunk Railway after the two companies amalgamated in 1882.[1] The original building survived until 1935 when it was torn down to make way for a new station built by the Canadian National Railway.[2]

Former CN station in 1966.

The first CN station was demolished and gave way to two structures, a three-storey building at 205 York Street (now home to the CN Credit Union) completed in 1963[3] and the 10-storey CN Tower Building at 197 York Street built in 1969.[4] The latter building, an International-style structure was closed in 2000 as CN staff dwindled and was imploded at 9:15 a.m., on February 4, 2001.[5] The old credit union building was incorporated into the current station structure after 2001 and remaining site of the old station became a parking lot. The platform area from the previous stations were retained in the new station.

The International Limited was operated jointly by Via Rail and Amtrak between Chicago and Toronto. The service, which had started in 1982, was discontinued in 2004.[6]

References

  1. ↑ http://images.ourontario.ca/london/69363/data?n=5
  2. ↑ http://cnr-in-ontario.com/References/index.html?http://cnr-in-ontario.com/References/RailwayAge_19370213_0285-0289.html#285-1
  3. ↑ http://www.london.ca/d.aspx?s=/About_London/timeline8.htm Archived 2010-12-18 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ http://www.cncu.ca/cncuHistory.html#anchor1980
  5. ↑ http://www.odysseymediagroup.com/nan/Editorial-Rail.asp?ReportID=18303
  6. ↑ Melzer, Matt (23 April 2004). "Final Run of the Amtrak / VIA International". TrainWeb.org. Retrieved 4 August 2015. From 1982, Amtrak and VIA Rail Canada had jointly operated the International train between Chicago and Toronto
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