McKnight–Westwinds station

McKnight–Westwinds Station is a CTrain light rail station in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It serves the North-East Line (Route 202) and opened in 2007 as part of the line's first extension.^[1] It was the northern terminus of the line until Martindale station opened in 2012.

McKnight–Westwinds
CTrain station
General information
Location	6200C - 36 Street NE
Coordinates	51°06′33″N 113°58′32.6″W
Owned by	Calgary Transit
Line(s)	Blue Line (202)
Platforms	Center-loading platform
Connections	21 Castleridge 55 Falconridge 43 Chinook 71 Taracove 85 Martin Crossing
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Parking	949 spaces
Accessible	Yes
History
Opened	2007; 17 years ago (2007)
Services
Preceding station CTrain Following station Whitehorn toward 69 Street Blue Line Martindale toward Saddletowne

The station is located on an exclusive LRT right of way, north of the interchange at McKnight Boulevard and Métis Trail (formerly 44th St. NE). The station is 13 km from the City Hall Interlocking. 949 spaces are included at the stop, which is designed for commuter access. The station was only the terminus for less than five years, however, as a further extension (3.1 km) of the Northeast line to Saddle Ridge (originally planned to be complete by 2011) was approved in November 2007. The extension was opened on August 27, 2012, at the cost of $110 million.^{[needs update]} In the first year after the extension was completed, McKnight-Westwinds served average of 11,420 boardings per day. ^[2]

Track crossing

Constructed along with the McKnight-Westwinds station, is the Oliver Bowen Maintenance Facility, located just South of the station.^[3] This facility is not only used for the maintenance of the fleet, but also has storage space for another 65 LRVs (light rail vehicles). This helps in the storage of the 22 additional LRVs that are planned to be purchased within the current 20-year capital plan. Previous to the 2007 extension, all NE LRVs had to come up from Anderson or Haysboro every morning. With the opening of OBMF, NE LRVs can stay on the NE line. Siemens U2s operating on the NW line provide service to Whitehorn or Saddletowne before going out of service for maintenance and then return to the NW line providing service from Whitehorn to Tuscany, before resuming regular operations.

Layout

The station shares an almost identical design to the Somerset–Bridlewood Station which opened on the Red Line in 2004, and the South Campus/Fort Edmonton Park ETS Station which opened in Edmonton in 2009. Alongside this, Saddletowne and Chinook stations both share relatively similar designs, being outdoor central-median stations with canopies and at-grade crossings.

McKnight-Westwinds Station was the first station on the East leg of the Blue Line to not be in the median of a roadway, and the first to be outdoors.

Station Upgrades

Calgary Transit, in collaboration with Shaw Communications, announced on November 16, 2016 that 8 new locations for Public Wi-Fi services would be added to the Calgary C-Train system. These new locations would add public Wi-Fi to 18 new stations; including McKnight-Westwinds Station. These changes ere done as they would improve transit experience for their users, which would improve customer commitment.^[4]

References

1. McKnight-Westwinds Rider's Guide Archived May 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
2. "One Year Review of Blue Line (NE) LRT Extension: Martindale Station, Saddletowne Station, and Transit Service Changes" (pdf). Calgary Transit. p. 8. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 23, 2016.
3. Calgary Transit Archived February 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine - Calgary's Light Rail Transit Line
4. "Calgary Transit and Shaw Communications expand Public Wi-Fi to the Northwest and Northeast CTrain stations". Calgary Newsroom. November 16, 2016. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2023.