509 Harbourfront

509 Harbourfront
CLRV 4152 and the now-retired PCC 4500 on layover at the Exhibition Loop.
Overview
Type	Streetcar Route
Locale	Toronto, Ontario
Termini	Union Station (East) Exhibition Loop (West)
Stations	Union Queens Quay Exhibition Loop
Operation
Operator(s)	Toronto Transit Commission
Depot(s)	Roncesvalles, Russell [1]
Rolling stock	CLRV, Flexity Outlook
Technical
Line length	4.65 km (2.89 mi) [1]
Track gauge	4 ft 10 7⁄8 in (1,495 mm) - TTC Gauge
Electrification	600 VDC Overhead
Route map Legend Legend GO Transit & VIA Rail Yonge–University–Spadina line Union Station  510  Queens Quay Station  510   6  Bay Street Queen's Quay York Street Lower Simcoe Street Rees Street Lower Spadina Avenue  510  510 to Spadina Station Dan Leckie Way Queen's Quay Bathurst Street Bathurst & Queen's Quay Bathurst & Fleet  511  Bathurst Street Fleet Street Bastion Road(Lake Shore Boulevard) Fleet Loop Fort York Boulevard Strachan Avenue Fleet Street Private Right-of-Way Exhibition Loop  511   521   29

509 Harbourfront is a streetcar route in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission.

History

The Harbourfront LRT, originally designated 604 Harbourfront, began service in 1990. It was the first new Toronto streetcar route in many years, and the first to employ a dedicated tunnel, approximately 600 metres long. This starts with an underground loop at Union Station, runs south along Bay Street to the underground Queens Quay station, then turns west and emerges onto Queens Quay. The line's original terminus was Queens Quay and Spadina Loop, at the foot of Spadina Avenue; beyond this point non-revenue trackage ran north on Spadina to King, as otherwise the new line would have been disconnected from the rest of the network.

Numbers in the 600-series were used at that time within the TTC for rapid transit routes (i.e., subways and the Scarborough RT) rather than low numbers as is the case today, and the Harbourfront LRT was given a number in this series to indicate that it was different from other streetcar routes; it was also shown like a subway line on the TTC map. Since the route is not grade-separated, this was later felt to be misleading and it was treated like other streetcar lines, taking the number 510.

In 1997, the completion of a dedicated right of way on Spadina Avenue resulted in the Harbourfront route being relaunched as the 510 Spadina. The "Harbourfront" route name disappeared until 2000, when the Queens Quay streetcar tracks were extended west to Bathurst and Fleet Streets. The Harbourfront was then reinstated with the new number 509, and extended to Exhibition Loop at Exhibition Place, sharing its route with the 510 from Union to Spadina and with the 511 Bathurst from Bathurst onwards. The Fleet Street portion of Route 509 has since been converted to a parallel private right-of-way, so that the entire route operates entirely separate from road traffic.

A proposed Waterfront West project would have extended the Harbourfront line farther west to join the existing right-of-way along the Queensway, however this project was shelved by the city in 2013.^[2]

In July 2012 Waterfront Toronto began a major reconstruction of Queen's Quay West, requiring the 509 streetcar to be replaced with buses for the duration of the construction.^[3] This closure has been extended several times and streetcar service resumed in October 2014.^[4][5]

Operation

Flexity Outlook low-floor streetcar departs Exhibition loop to Union station on the 509 Harbourfront line

Despite its political image as a ‘modern, rapid transit’ streetcar line, the 604 Harbourfront route was originally operated using rebuilt PCC streetcars, which were referred to as "Red Rockets" in a branding effort. These were soon replaced by Toronto's CLRV streetcars, which form the majority of the city's current fleet.

Because of the amount of shared track, the Toronto Transit Commission has grouped the 509 Harbourfront and 510 Spadina routes together for accounting and measurement purposes.

On March 29, 2015, the new Flexity Outlook low-floor vehicles being used on 510 Spadina were transferred to the 509 Harbourfront route to provide extra service during scheduled track construction at the intersection of Spadina Avenue at College Street.^[6] At the same time this route was also switched over to a Proof-of-payment (POP) all-door boarding system, similar to that already in place on many other streetcar routes.^[7]

Route

Most stops along the 509 route are surface stops with islands separating the regular traffic from the streetcar tracks. Streetcars begin underground at Union Station and pass through a dedicated underground streetcar station at Queens Quay before climbing to the surface.^[8]

Points of interest

References

External links

Media related to 509 Harbourfront at Wikimedia Commons

• Route 509 - Harbourfront Streetcar (Transit Toronto)

Toronto Transit Commission Buses Blue Night Network Fleet Routes Wheel-Trans York University Busway Rapid transit  Yonge–University  Bloor–Danforth  Scarborough  Sheppard  Eglinton Rolling stock Stations Signals Streetcars 501 Queen 502 Downtowner 503 Kingston Rd 504 King Cherry Street 505 Dundas 506 Carlton 508 Lake Shore 509 Harbourfront 510 Spadina 511 Bathurst 512 St. Clair 521 Exhibition East Rolling stock Loops Facilities Arrow Road Bus Garage Birchmount Bus Garage Davisville Subway Yard Eglinton Bus Garage Eglinton LRT Carhouse Greenwood Subway Yard Hillcrest Complex Lakeshore Bus Garage Leslie Barns Malvern Bus Garage McCowan RT Yard Mount Dennis Bus Garage Queensway Bus Garage Roncesvalles Carhouse Russell Carhouse Toronto Coach Terminal Vincent Subway Yard Wilson Bus Garage and Subway Yard William McBrien Building Gray Coach History TTC incidents 1995 subway accident 2006 strike 2008 strike (Plans: Network 2011 Transit City The Big Move) Predecessors Williams Omnibus Bus Line (1849-1862) Toronto Street Railway (1861–1891) Toronto Railway Company (1891–1921) (Toronto and York Radial Railway (1898–1922), Metropolitan Street Railway (1885-1897)) Toronto Civic Railways (1912–1921) Hydro Electric Railways (1922-1927) Toronto Transportation Commission (1921-1953) Miscellaneous Accessibility Fares Metrolinx Personnel Font Transit Enforcement Unit Proposed Downtown Relief Line East Bayfront Finch West Sheppard East Yonge extension Scarborough subway extension Unbuilt or cancelled Don Mills Eglinton West Jane Queen Scarborough Malvern Waterfront West 507 Long Branch 522 Exhibition West Italics indicate a project under construction