London station (French: Gare de London, IATA: XDQ)[1] 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.[2] The original building survived until 1935 when it was torn down to make way for a new station built by the Canadian National Railway.[3]
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[4] and the 10-storey CN Tower Building at 197 York Street built in 1969.[5] 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.[6] During demolition of the 1969 structure and construction of the present station, train services temporarily reverted to the 1963 station. 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 operated from 1982–2004.[7] The current Corridor service maintains the Canadian section of the International route.
From October 18, 2021 until October 2023, GO Transit operated a single daily round trip between Toronto and London on the Kitchener line commuter rail service on weekdays during the peak periods.[8]
See also
- Quebec City–Windsor Corridor (Via Rail) – trans-provincial passenger rail corridor which includes Stratford
- Rail transport in Ontario
References
- ^ "Airport codes London Railway Station in London, Ontario, Canada (CA) | ICAO, IATA international codes, location, coordinates". Retrieved 2022-08-06.
- ^ N6a 6h9, On. "Grand Trunk Railway Depot, London, Ontario". images.ourontario.ca.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "C.N.Rys. in Ontario; Information Sources". www.cnr-in-ontario.com.
- ^ "Event Highlights for the City of London 1960 to 1969". www.london.ca. Archived from the original on 2010-12-18.
- ^ "CN (London) Credit Union". Archived from the original on 2002-10-12.
- ^ "Rail - VIA Unveils Design Of New London, Ontario Station". Archived from the original on 2011-11-12.
- ^ 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
- ^ "GO Transit to end Toronto-London, Ontario, commuter train". Trains. 2023-07-04. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
External links
Media related to London, Ontario railway station at Wikimedia Commons- Via Rail station page for London station (Ontario)
