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The ongoing revitalization of Union Station has already brought us a new concourse and subway platform, and now the multifaceted project is yet another step closer to completion, meeting a major milestone this past weekend. Easily the most visible element in the revitalization, the new glass atrium covering the centre third of Union's train shed had it's crane disassembled and removed over the weekend, and photos provided by GO Transit do an excellent job of illustrating the process.
To remove a crane, you need another crane, and in the image above, a portable crane can be seen on the lower right hand side, preparing to take down the main tower crane, section by section. In the following image, the crane disassembly is clearly under way, and the crane's jib has been partially removed.
After the jib was disassembled and removed, it was the counter-jib's turn.
Following the removal of the counter-jib, the tower apex was removed.
The final step of the disassembly was the removal of the tower crane's mast sections, which were carefully hoisted through the opening in the atrium's glass roof.
With the crane now removed, we can expect the remaining open section of atrium roof which was previously occupied by the crane, to be sealed up with glazing, completing it.
The images above give a pretty good summary of the crane removal's process, but even more informative is this time lapse video documenting the event from start to finish.
video courtesy of GO Transit
We are keeping a close eye on the various jobs under way at Union Station, returning with updates as work continues to hit milestones. In the meantime, additional information and renderings of the Union Station Revitalization and Union Subway Station second platform expansion and the can be found in our project dataBase files, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or leave a comment in the space provided at the bottom of this page.
