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Riders face delays after subway car loses wheels and damages section of track near Kennedy

Feb 05, 2008 04:30 AM
Tess Kalinowski
TRANSPORTATION REPORTER

TTC officials are searching for the cause of a subway train accident near Kennedy station that damaged a section of track yesterday and disrupted the commute for thousands of passengers.

TTC chair Adam Giambrone said there were indications that a piece of the car's undercarriage may have come loose and been dragged eastward to Kennedy.

When the train changed direction for the last westbound run of the night, around 1:05 a.m., whatever was under the car probably snagged on the track causing four of the eight wheels on the last car to come off the track. That made the car lean to the south, said TTC spokesperson Danny Nicholson. The track, switches and signals were damaged.

A metal ceiling slat may also have fallen and become tangled in the underside of the car, Giambrone said. That happened a few years ago, causing a small fire at the Dupont station.

Giambrone dismissed any suggestion that the TTC's subway trains are unsafe. Transit workers' union head Bob Kinnear agreed.

None of the four passengers and two crew members aboard the train was injured in the incident.

But even if the subway had been at capacity with 1,300 passengers, there would have been no risk of injury, said Giambrone.

"I'm not calling this a derailment," he said. "This (subway) didn't tip over. It didn't skid over (the track)."

The stretch of track 100 metres west of Kennedy was shut down after the incident and 30 TTC buses were used to shuttle passengers to Warden station. It was not clear if the track would be repaired in time for this morning's commute, although a statement released yesterday said repair crews would work through the night.

Kennedy station is the TTC's fourth busiest and a key transfer spot for riders accessing Scarborough's rapid transit system and GO Transit.

The TTC said the shuttle service will continue today if needed but passengers are being asked to plan their trip through the Warden station wherever possible.

During yesterday's afternoon rush hour commuters took the detour in stride.

"It hasn't been a problem," said Sean Gray, 35, a printer who works at Bathurst and Bloor Sts. and lives near Kennedy station.

By 5 p.m., the crush of commuters got heavier, but the buses were able to clear the bus bays before the next wave of commuters was offloaded.

There has been no maintenance issue with the TTC's older H6 cars, which was the car involved in the incident, said Giambrone. The H6 series subway cars have been used by the TTC for about 20 years and have a life expectancy of about 30 years.

A member of a TTC work crew was killed south of Eglinton station in April when a piece of equipment on a work car snagged on a tunnel wall. In August 1995, three people were killed and about 140 were injured when a subway train smashed into the back of a car stopped at a signal light north of Dupont station.

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_19240.aspx