| Dupont TTC Subway Station |
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| Station statistics | |||||||||||
| Address | 278 Dupont Street | ||||||||||
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| Structure | underground | ||||||||||
| Platforms | side | ||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||
| Opened | 28 January 1978 | ||||||||||
| Presto card | No | ||||||||||
| Traffic | |||||||||||
| Passengers (2009-10) | 16,870 | ||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||
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Dupont is a station on the Yonge–University–Spadina line of the subway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Spadina Road at 278 Dupont Street.
Dupont is one of the few TTC stations where it is possible to view an adjacent station by looking down the tunnel. The tunnel south to Spadina is relatively short and straight, and Spadina is visible from the northbound Dupont platform.
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The station opened in 1978, as part of the subway line extension from St. George to Wilson Station.
The 1995 Russell Hill subway incident happened just north of the station on the southbound line on August 11, 1995. Three people were killed and 30 were taken into the hospital with injuries when one train rear-ended another train. The subway line was shut down for five days following the collision accident. Investigations found that human error and a design flaw in the mechanical safety devices caused this accident.[1]
On 1 June 2006, at 9:30 ET, a metal inspection cover in the bottom of a train inside the station dislodged and wedged in the third rail. This filled the station with smoke, and forcing the evacuation of the station. The section between St. Clair West and St. George Stations was closed for approximately one hour, forcing the use of shuttle buses within that section.[2] Some believed the incident to have resulted from sabotage by TTC personnel, as TTC workers had commenced a wildcat strike on May 29; this possibility was discarded by the Toronto Police.[3]
Dupont Station was designed by Dunlop-Farrow Architects.[4] The station's two entrances at Dupont Street and Spadina Road are glass "bubbles" framed with orange-painted metal. The station has no bus platforms. Ron Baird designed distinctive circular, interlocking doors which provide maintenance access to a concealed electrical substation.[5]
The station is unique in its motif of rounded surfaces and finishes. Interior walls are clad with orange tiles. Some of the platform benches are unique to the station, being also rounded and clad with the same small tiles as the walls. The overall effect of the interior's rounded surfaces and colour scheme is of an earthly cavern.[6]
In terms of artwork, the station contains murals by James Sutherland, entitled Spadina Summer Under All Seasons. Using thousands of pieces of glass, Sutherland created colourful mosaics of flowers directly into the station’s tiling. Two large mosaics of a giant flower in cross-section face each other across the tracks, reaching upward into a mezzanine level lined with smaller flower mosaics.
Nearby landmarks include Casa Loma, Spadina House, George Brown College, and the Toronto Archives.