Coordinates: 43°40′02″N 79°27′36″W / 43.66722°N 79.46000°W / 43.66722; -79.46000 The West Toronto Diamond is a Canadian railway junction in Toronto, Ontario.
Located near the intersection of Keele Street and Dundas Street, it is near the Union Station terminal trackage operated by Toronto Terminal Railway (TTR). It links the tracks of Canadian National Railway with those of Canadian Pacific Railway. CP's West Toronto yard is located immediately to the west.
The junction was originally controlled by a complex interlocking built by Saxby and Farmer which controlled 21 switches, derails and locks, plus 17 signals. The interlocking was controlled from an interlocking tower located at the centre of the junction. In 1965 the interlocking was converted from local control to remote control, operated by the CP Toronto Terminal RTC in Montreal.
Both CN and CP had stations named West Toronto adjacent to the junction. The CN station, served by trains on the route to London via Guelph and Kitchener, was on the east side of the CN tracks at Old Weston Road and Junction Road. It closed in 1988.
CP's West Toronto station was a more notable structure, on the west side of the CP tracks at Old Weston Road and Dupont Street. The station was closed when its last remaining train service, The Canadian to Vancouver, was rerouted in 1978. Heritage interests had been talking to politicians about having it preserved when CP abruptly demolished the building on November 25, 1982. It was one of a series of demolitions of closed stations they had carried out about that time, at least once using similar tactics. After the demolition the company rebuilt the junction curves used by the new Milton line GO trains on a gentler alignment. The company claimed that this had been urgently necessary, that they had "tried" to give notice, that as a federally regulated company they did not need municipal permission, and that since the building was already closed it was no longer a station and so they did not need federal permission either. However, the Canadian Transport Commission ruled on May 3, 1983, that the demolition was illegal.
Construction work is underway to convert the West Toronto Diamond into a grade-separated junction allowing GO Transit, Via Rail and CN trains to pass through a new underpass of the CP Rail line without delays.
The West Toronto Diamond is often referred to as "the junction" and gives Toronto's The Junction neighbourhood its name.
Famous quotes containing the words west and/or diamond:
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