I've been filling out the area with caches but I realized that the SideTracked series had never expanded to Sheppard West station! So I decided to fix that since it is an important transit hub for the area.
Sheppard West TTC station started it's life in 1996 and was originally the Northwestern Terminus of Line 1 Yonge-University in the City of North York. My have things changed! At the time it was known as Downsview Station, the result of public naming contest. (Likely named for the nearby locations like Downsview Park, CFB Downsview and Downsview Airport) The station opened with a variety of state of the art features, including becoming the first accessible station on the Toronto subway system.
Sheppard West Station became the heart of transit in the area, as a series of bus routes centered around this station as well. But after two decades the name had to change. Not due to anything political, but because the TTC was finally adding an exciting new addition to Line 1.
2017 brought with it the opening of the Toronto–York Spadina subway extension. The expansion added 6 new stations northwest of Downsview station in order to connect Toronto with the city of Vaughan in York Region. Initially it was expected to open in time for the 2015 Pan American Games, the extension went overbudget and opened two years after the original planned date.
While an exciting new connection for Downsview Station, it caused a new problem as the expansion added a new station in Downsview Park. The TTC worried having "Downsview" and "Downsview Park" would cause some confusion for customers and decided to rename the station to Sheppard West. The renaming cost $800,000 and was largely spent on updating the TTC automated announcement system and destination signs.
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About SideTracked Caches
This cache belongs to the SideTracked series. It is not designed to take you to a magical place with a breath taking view. It's a distraction for the weary traveller, but anyone else can go and find it too. More Information can be found at the SideTracked Website