Take a tour of a hidden LRT station that was built in the 1970s but never used, and is the inspiration for Future Station, the 2015 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art in Edmonton. Video by Ryan Jackson, edmontonjournal.com
They are withholding facts here. This station was going to be used to transport inmates from the old remand to the max just north of Edmonton with special armoured rail cars. This was obviously never completed.
my Dad worked for the court house in the late 70's and early 80's and he told us that they did transport inmates a few times. But it was deemed unsafe for the general population, and a waste of money and besides the walking tunnel between the courthouse and the remand was already under way
I had known there was a "ghost Station" there since the 80s, I had lived in Edmonton from 1980 to 2001 and have recorded it passing thru Churchill on etc etc, from inside the train, you really can't see too much going 35 kmh, but seeing it from outside the train, it adds to the location of what was going on. I have heard it was for prisoners on Remand, going on so called "prison trains" to another location, but also I have seen the original plans in the 1960s of how the original LRT system would have looked like. Who knows long term, they might have service to the Intl Airport and WEM. :D
@@SageTheEnby0 Not officially. Phase 1: to Heritage Valley (starting soon) Phase 2: to city limits (TBD) Phase 3: to airport (one day maybe) Should build it all in one phase.
Question is where does someone access these stairs in the courthouse and old remand center ? I'd love to see what it looks like from the other side of those concrete walls . There are many publicly unknown areas throughout Edmonton's lrt system that are really cool but only lrt maintenance crews know about
I have ride by here countless times since the LRT first started up in 1978. I always wondered what this wider section was between the tunnel entrance and the Churchill Station north Metro Line turnout. I am glad to have stumbled upon this video and have my question answered.
For those interested the other two planned but never built stations were to be at Railtown on the CP Right of Way between 102 and 103 Avenue and a proper MacEwan University station at 107 St and 105 Avenue... These two additions would, could and should have created a great downtown subway loop. For those wondering where the info is from? It's from the Official ETS LRT design guidelines document. It also shows a phantom station next to the downtown Convention Centre in some of the plans which would have been cool to use/see built too!
I know it was intended for prisoner transport HOWEVER it should be fitted and completed as part of a rebuild of the entire block as "Edmonton Central Station" the HSR final destination in Edmonton for the Ellis-Don Prairie Link or some sort of regional rail for Edmonton. Now more than ever we should be shifting away from cars into a rail based electrically powered transport system that's 4X more efficient than cars/buses/trucks... Not to mention cleaner, quieter, etc.
Redundancy in any kind of infrastructure is a vitally important hedge against the unexpected trials and tribulations people could experience some day while living in a large city. - I first said that while not having a degree in Engineering myself too during maybe around the year 20016 or so.
@@RiceHatAhh405 Thanks for that, but I was referring to underground existing stations, not future above ground stations. Are there other underground "ghost" stations, where the infrastructure is already in place, but isn't accessible to the public?
Two more were planned but never built although they should be... Railtown at 102/103 Ave and the CP ROW which is a park... The other station unbuilt would be a proper MacEwan University station at 107 St at 105 Avenue... These exist in the official design guidelines book for ETS LRT planning. At one time a spur line and station next to the downtown Convention Centre also looked to be planned but the Valley Line largely replaced that concept...
That nice mint green was not put on for cosmetics. It was painted so track and signal workers could locate the "Insulated Rail Joint". It is deferent from other rail joints as it stops the electrical energy from entering the next "block" aka rail.
I don't know why nobody has done any GROUND PENETRATING RADAR to get a visual of the station. Obviously after 60 years you can't get in there ever again, but I'd be interested in seeing it. No more tours.
There's also a unused station that is connected to the CN tower. Not long after I moved here I worked security guarding a street access stairwell that was on the north west side of the property. Now with the epcor tower there I'm not sure if it's still around.
That unused station connected to the CN Tower used to belong to the Via-Rail company, and it was the point in Edmonton where Via Rail passengers would get on board the train there, instead of its current location along 121st Street, south of the Yellowhead. 🥲 If you take a look at Google World maps in 3D mode from about 1Km overhead, you can see how that spur line where the current station is continues southbound until you reach the Brew City Market (formally the old Molson House and Molson's brewery site) where the line starts to wrap around the corner of the cemetery there, and then proceeds eastbound towards the CN Tower. Those lands in there used to be rail yards for CN Rail (between 105Ave and 104 Ave and from 120th Street to roughly 102nd Street. That was the initial reason why Edmonton had that "Rat Hole on 109th Street between 105th Ave and underneath 104th Ave, ending at 103rd Ave. There was also an underpass on 101 Street between 105th Ave and 104th Ave as well at the time. And then the spur lines continued towards the CN Tower and the old Post Office (currently the R.A.M.), and hence the underpass still on 97th Street, which was there to allow vehicles to pass under the shared CN Rail and Via Rail Spur lines, heading further east until you hit the point where the LRT comes out of the ground, and you can still see the spacing left for the old rail lines on either side of where the LRT goes underground. From there, the old shared CN Rail and Via Rail lines paralleled the LRT tracks, all the way out past the LRT's Clairview terminus and back out to rejoin the CN Main line.
@@levyan4718 Yes, I know that the the old downtown post office was completely demolished, and that the Royal Alberta Museum has nothing to do with the old CN Rail line and VIA Rail spur. I was alluding to where the rail line was running along and what land marks, both in the past history of the city when the rail line was there and the current present we all live in with the rail line no longer there. Most people understand that the old post office was completely demolished, including the atomic bomb shelter that was in the basement of the old Post Office sorting plant downtown there, just as most people would recognize that the new RAM had nothing to do with the old Post Office other than residing on roughly the same footprint of the old post office. It was just to help people visualize where the rails actually ran, now that the land where they used to sit has been for the most part, reconfigured almost to the point of being unrecognizable to present day Edmontonian's.
@@a.v.2491 I'm seriouse do you know how many heroin needles and crackheads I've seen downtown and near northside Edmonton? Metheads just walk up to you all the time and you got a bunch of 16 white kids who hang out with natives trying to bum smoke off everyone at public trans stations...It's not bueno.
Art probably not a fuck up most likely why its not being used today or because it connected to the underground tunnels they use to walk prisoners to court from remand there a purpose but the public in the dark
Respectfully, this is a load of nonsense. As of 2023, Edmonton has pedways and an existing ugnd 'subway' system already in use. Even if this purported ugnd transportation route exists, it has working lights and exhaust air system for you to visit???? Come on!!! This is a fake garbage video.
