Southland LRT station reopens

CALGARY – Transit users nearby Southland were happy to get back use of the station Friday morning following a seven week closure.

However, the construction headache served as a preview of other headaches to come along the city’s south LRT line.

Transit officials say they’ll likely have to close down Chinook station early next year to extend its platform for future four-car service, as well as 39th Avenue and possibly Heritage stations after that.

The no-frills station at 39th Avenue will likely have to close longer than seven weeks. Its open-air platform has deteriorated after 30 years of weather exposure and will need to be fully rebuilt. Enslen also said the Chinook closure may be lengthy, because the city may decide to overhaul the main station entrance building as well.

Every LRT platform in the system will be extended to handle the four-car service that starts in 2014 -the downtown stations have been rebuilt. Some newer stations were built to handle four cars, and many won’t have to close for much more than a few weekends, because they were constructed in precast concrete segments.

Crews started working on the Southland platform in February. In March, officials announced a six to seven-week closure would be necessary.

Although the Southland station has reopened, construction will continue.

The ground-level pedestrian ramp will remain off-limits, meaning the station won’t be accessible to wheelchair users for several more weeks.

With files from the Calgary Herald