St George Station

St. George is a station on the Yonge-University-Spadina and Bloor-Danforth lines of the subway system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The station was first opened on February 28, 1963 for the University section of the Yonge-University-Spadina line, followed by the Bloor-Danforth line on February 26, 1966, and finally on January 28, 1978 for the Spadina section of the former line. It is located at 323 Bloor Street West at St. George Street. Nearby landmarks include the Bata Shoe Museum, University of Toronto Schools, the north side of the University of Toronto, the Royal Conservatory of Music, the Chinese Consul General, and the York Club. This is the second busiest station, after Bloor-Yonge Station, serving a combined total of approximately 239,790 people a day.

Some areas of the station retain the motif of a crest with a dragon, referencing the Christian legend. However, St. George Street is named for Quetton St. George, a French-born British citizen who lived in Toronto in the 19th century.

Upon leaving the station, the line curves south by 90 degrees to run under Queen’s Park (the street). The two tracks split into separate tunnels in this area, briefly running at different levels to form a grade-separated junction with the second pair of link tracks from the Bloor-Danforth line, which curves in from the east.

South of the station, the tunnel turns off-street and curves eastward through 90 degrees to run briefly parallel to Bloor Street; the connecting tracks from the Bloor-Danforth subway then rise on each side to meet it.

Between 1963 and 1966, there was a direct surface connection at the Bedford Rd. entrance to BLOOR and DANFORTH streetcars, some of which used the Bedford Loop during rush hours. The Bedford Loop was immediately south of the station structure, streetcars entered from Bedford Rd., turned west into the loop beside the station, and exited south on to Bloor St. The loading platform was immediately west of the parkette on the north side of Bloor, and is now the site of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). This loop gave passengers travelling in peak hours a more direct connection between the subway and eastbound and westbound streetcars than walking to/from the curbside stops. The loop closed in February 1966 with the opening of the Bloor-Danforth Subway.

Interlining

Bay and St. George stations each have four parallel tracks, two above two. Between these stations and Museum is a full double-track, grade-separated wye junction. The tracks to/from Museum connect to the upper St. George and Lower Bay stations, while the tracks along Bloor use lower St. George and upper Bay. From February to September 1966 all three sides of the wye were used in regular service: from each of three terminals — Eglinton, Keele, and Woodbine — trains ran alternately to the other two (between Eglinton and Museum they went via Union).

Thereafter the Bloor-Danforth Line became a separate route, lower Bay was closed, and upper St. George became a terminus until the line to Wilson was opened. Lower Bay is sometimes used as a movie or TV set representing various other cities, and has been used for platform-surface experiments.

Tenants

Surface connections

Station Entrances

The station has two entrances: