Vancouver is set to lose one of its more mysterious landmarks as a tunnel that runs from the downtown Canada Post building to what is now Waterfront station is expected to be filled in next year.
The Crown corporation opened the 2,400-foot tunnel in 1959 as a "model of Canada Post future thinking," The Globe and Mail reported.
Check out some photos of the Canada Post tunnel in Vancouver. The story continues below the slideshow:
The tunnel, which links what used to be a CPR train station with the Canada Post building, transported mail from ships and trains on conveyor belts and maintenance engineers would ride through it on bicycles, said CBC News.
But the facility soon became an anachronism as Canada Post began transporting letters by air. The corporation still felt that delivery of heavier packages would continue by rail.
The tunnel was shut down in 1965, and since then it's been used for Halloween parties and film shoots such as "The X-Files" and "Friday the 13th, Part VIII."
Proposals to keep the tunnel open for experimental farming have been floated but factors such as air quality, lighting and access have necessitated its closure, said News1130.
"What the heck do you do with a tunnel that runs under city streets to a train station that has really no function?" city historian John Atkin told the radio station.
"And in our culture where everything is a liability, you can see that some great empty space under city streets, probably keeps somebody awake at night.”
The Crown corporation opened the 2,400-foot tunnel in 1959 as a "model of Canada Post future thinking," The Globe and Mail reported.
Check out some photos of the Canada Post tunnel in Vancouver. The story continues below the slideshow:
The tunnel, which links what used to be a CPR train station with the Canada Post building, transported mail from ships and trains on conveyor belts and maintenance engineers would ride through it on bicycles, said CBC News.
But the facility soon became an anachronism as Canada Post began transporting letters by air. The corporation still felt that delivery of heavier packages would continue by rail.
The tunnel was shut down in 1965, and since then it's been used for Halloween parties and film shoots such as "The X-Files" and "Friday the 13th, Part VIII."
Proposals to keep the tunnel open for experimental farming have been floated but factors such as air quality, lighting and access have necessitated its closure, said News1130.
"What the heck do you do with a tunnel that runs under city streets to a train station that has really no function?" city historian John Atkin told the radio station.
"And in our culture where everything is a liability, you can see that some great empty space under city streets, probably keeps somebody awake at night.”
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