ttc complaints

Here's the real reason for that massive TTC meltdown yesterday

Snow can be terribly annoying for Toronto commuters, yes, and it does sometimes lead to absolutely horrendous public transit delays.

This wasn't the case yesterday, however (though you can still blame the weather for an uptick in car accidents on local highways).

TTC Spokesperson Stuart Green has confirmed that the cause of yesterday's massive, two-and-a-half hour service disruption on Line 2 of the Toronto subway system had nothing to do with snow or cold.

"It was not weather-related, but we understand how the conditions would serve to frustrate a bad situation," wrote Green on Twitter Thursday evening. "With apologies for the inconvenience."

Green attached a statement from TTC CEO Rick Leary to his message.

In it, Leary states that Thursday morning's "substantial delay" was caused not by snow, but by "corroded cable coming into contact with fencing at track level on the Bloor Viaduct, resulting in a shorting out of electrical power."

"The circuit breaker system ultimately worked as designed — it cut power to prevent any more serious damage to our system or significant damage to the bridge structure," he continued.

"As a result, we were unable to reestablish power on Line 2 for approximately 2.5 hours."

Leary admitted in his statement that the power shortage came at "the worst possible time — rush hour."

Leary also promised that TTC staff are taking all necessary actions to prevent something like this from happening again.

"This particular part of Line 2 is 53 years old and is already the subject of a thorough review of the entire line's infrastructure," he explained of where the shortage happened.

"The full assessment will be presented to the Board in Q4 2020. This will include ensuring that cable replacements are covered in this area for 2020-2023 state-of-good repair planning."

As for why Line 1 was messed up, Green says it was likely overflow from Line 2.

Lead photo by

Cristiano de Matos


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