Frontière station

### Following Station

*Tour Épaisse* (Western-Marine Line, indefinitely closed)Curve Waterfront (Western-Marine Line)
Heritage Park (Cornerwise Cross)Green Spring (Suburban Line)

Frontière (formerly Aquarium Outlook) station is an underground New Kensington City Metro interchange station on the Western-Marine and Suburban Lines. The station is situated in between in the Frontière district, and serves the Frontière Financial Centre. Frontière is the oldest station on the New Kensington City Metro, along with Harmony Junction station, which both opened on 26 July 2020.

## History

Frontière was originally conceived as Aquarium Outlook station, and was one of four stations proposed to be on the Eastern River Line (now Western-Marine Line).

Works first began on Aquarium Outlook station in the largely undeveloped Green Spring (now Frontière) district. At the time being, there were only two small residential houses and an office building in the vicinity, making the station fairly easy to be built. Nevertheless, Aquarius Corporation's headquarters building, which was located directly above the station, was closed until the station was to open.

Eventually, works paused for a while when a calculation indicated that stations would be too close to each other if more than four were placed along the western regions. Thus, Green Spring station was cancelled and shelved, causing the positions of Tour Épaisse and Curve Waterfront to be readjusted. Aquarium Outlook was not affected by this series of station relocations.

After just three days, the Western Marine Line platforms (A & B) were completed, which was the same day that Stage 1 of the Eastern River Line opened.

Platforms C & D opened in late-September 2020 on the third floor of the Aquarius Corp. HQ building to facilitate service by the Cornerwise Cross to the station.

An additional underground platform level was added below the Western-Marine Line platform level in late-November 2020. Platforms E & F were located on this level, served by the Suburban Line, making Aquarium Outlook the third three-line interchange station.

Following the upcoming redevelopment of Green Spring Village into the Frontière Financial Centre that would begin in October 2022, Aquarius Corporation announced that its six-storey headquarters would be demolished and rebuilt into a four-storey cylindrical tower. This would result in the closure of Cornerwise Cross platforms C & D. The Cornerwise Cross was reduced to a four-station line in September 2022 in preparation for redevelopment works at Frontière, and the northern terminus of the station was reduced to Heritage Park station. Original tracks from Heritage Park to Curve Waterfront were demolished afterwards.

Underground service by the Western-Marine and Suburban Lines continued to run, but Exit I, the only entrance into the underground portion of the station, had to be redirected away from the reconstruction of the Aquarius Corp. HQ. It was decided that the original Aquarium Outlook station would be renamed to Frontière to better suit the geographical location of the station in the new Frontière district.

In late-October 2022, two tracks were extended back from Heritage Park station towards the new Aquarius Corp. HQ building. The tracks merged near the building and stopped at a single platform on the northern side of the building on ground level.

Aquarium Outlook station is expected to reopen in 2024 Q4 as a relocated and separate light rail station, served by the Frontière-Southern Waterfront Line.

## Station Details

### **Services**

Frontière is served by the Western-Marine Line, Cornerwise Cross, and the Suburban Line.

### **Platforms**

Platform A: Western-Marine Line (Northbound)

Platform B: Western-Marine Line (Southbound)

Platform C: Cornerwise Cross (Southeast-bound)

Platform E: Suburban Line (for alighting commuters)

Platform F: Suburban Line (Southbound)

**Former Platforms (as part of Aquarium Outlook)**

Old Platform C: Cornerwise Cross (for alighting commuters) [*Demolished*]

Platform D: Cornerwise Cross (Southeast-bound) [*Demolished*]

### **Exits**

Exit I: Waterfront Ave, Aquarius Corp. HQ

Exit II: Aquarius Corp. HQ