Kennedy (TTC) - Infrastructure

Infrastructure

Leaving the station, the Scarborough RT line descends to ground level and turns north to run alongside the Canadian National Railway railway tracks.

Although the Scarborough RT trains are bidirectional, at this station they originally reversed on a loop like single-ended streetcars, because when Kennedy station was built, the TTC planned to run the line as a dedicated right-of-way for streetcars, rather than the light metro that was eventually constructed. They would enter the station from the east, unload passengers, run onto an elevated loop west of the station to reverse, return to the station, and call at a second platform to load passengers before departing eastward.

The trains could not handle the sharp curves of the loop as well as expected, so the station was rebuilt in 1988 to eliminate its regular use. Because of another curve at the east end of the station, it was not possible to add a scissors crossover there, so the station was reduced to a single terminal track. Trains now use that single track to reverse; platforms on either side allow for trains to open their doors on both sides while stopped. The original loading platform on the south side of the tracks, extended to meet the single remaining track, is still the one primarily used for loading, and the other for unloading. The loop track still exists, now constituting a dead-end tail track where a train could be stored if necessary.

Original design was to have SRT trains loop at the west end of the station, but the single track now provides access to the trains from platforms on both sides