New photos from UrbanToronto contributor tnarduzzi bring the viewer behind the hoardings at Toronto's Union Station, the country's busiest transportation hub—currently in the midst of a transformation—for a look at the future mall and Bay Concourse areas.

Photos are taken throughout the massive construction site, so to help orient you we have a plan of the lower levels with annotations indicating where the photos were taken from (the flat side of the triangle), looking in the direction of the photo number. (Click on the image below to see it—or any image—larger!)

Plan base by Partisans showing retail and food locations, annotated by Craig White

1 • We start somewhere you'll never see as a mall customer or a train passenger: Union Station's new loading docks. These are in the southwest corner of the complex, and trucks servicing this area will arrive via a tunnel under Telus House, south of the tracks.

Looking northwest through Union Station's new loading dock, image by tnarduzzi

2 • This is a space the average visitor entering from the Union Plaza doors to the south will see in the future, albeit looking snappier than it does at present. Right now, the south entry includes a temporary ramp (behind the camera) sloping upwards to the VIA and GO York concourses. Access to those will be replaced when this hall is opened up, taking visitors towards stairs leading to the new market area of the Union Station mall.

Looking north from future Union Plaza entrance, with the mall downstairs ahead, image by tnarduzzi

3 • We have walked north, and are now positioned at the "crossroads", where the main east-west and north-south halls meet, and we are looking south through the market area, back towards the stairs that we just came from.

Looking south through the market area and towards the Union Plaza exit from the mall, image by tnarduzzi

4 • If we turn 90° to our right, we get a view through the market area and to the food court. The hoarding at the end hides the two-storey atrium within the GO York Concourse, which you can see in the concourse now.

Looking west towards the food court York Concourse, image by tnarduzzi

5 • Making another 90° turn to the right, we look down a short hall. That platform two-thirds up at the end of it is where there will be stairs leading to the Front Street Promenade area. That's where arriving VIA Rail passengers now appear for those awaiting them.

Looking north towards the Front Street Promenade area, image by tnarduzzi

6 • One more turn to the right and we are facing a cinder block wall to the east. It divides the structurally complete part of the site from the section east of it which is still being excavated…

Looking east towards cinder blocks which hide the Bay Concourse area, image by tnarduzzi

7 • …and this is what it looks like east of that wall. We are now in the area where GO's Bay Concourse once was, and where it will be again after significant dig-down and reconstruction have taken place. Immediately below we are looking south through the area where the 'Blue Route' used to run, it being the walkway that connected the GO concourse to the Air Canada Centre. That walkway is long gone, and in its place are two rows of tall new columns.

Looking south through where the Bay Concourse will be, with mall below, image by tnarduzzi

8 • Looking to the southeast from approximately the same vantage point, we can see a forest of columns, many of which are not as advanced as in the photo above. Along with other evidence of the old floor level in here at the back of the photo, we can see the thick, square footings of the existing columns. With the floor being dug down, the columns' footings are being removed and replaced with taller columns.

Looking southeast through a forest of columns where the Bay Concourse will be, with mall below, image by tnarduzzi

9 • That is being accomplished by temporarily supporting the columns, as seen below, and demolishing the old footing. A new footing is then poured below the new, lower floor level.

A temporarily supported column's footing has been removed, image by tnarduzzi

10 • In the next image, a new rebar cage rises from a newly poured footing. The rebar cage will be extended upwards, and new concrete will be pumped in to join up with the remaining column above. Once it has cured, the temporary supports can be disassembled. All of this work is necessary to keep the station functioning above, as if everything was normal below.

A temporarily supported column will be extended to the new ground level, image by tnarduzzi

11 • One last photo for this story has us in the northwest corner of the Bay Concourse area, looking at the station's north wall. That orange paint on the wall marks where new doors will be cut into the wall. It's through these doors where people will transfer to Union subway station without having to climb stairs: the new floor is at the same level.

Orange spray paint marks where new doors will be cut to access Union subway station, image by tnarduzzi

We will have more soon on the parts of Union which people who currently navigate through the station do see: it's been changing too since our last story. In the meantime, if you've liked what you have seen above and want even more, there are many more shots by tnarduzzi in our thread for Union Station, found at this link. Otherwise, you may be interested in the renderings and other information about Union Station found in our dataBase file for it, linked below. Want to get in on the conversation? You can contribute in our associated Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.