Line 3 derailment highlights TTC aging issues, transit advocacy group says
Posted July 25, 2023 5:24 pm.
Last Updated July 25, 2023 6:12 pm.
For years there has been discussion about the Scarborough RT coming to the end of its life and the need to do something about it, whether that was to continue to maintain it or replace it. By the time a decision was made on how to provide transit in the city’s east end, it was too late.
On Monday evening, the rear car of the Line 3 LRT train separated from the rest of the train and derailed. It’s unclear what caused the incident.
There were 44 passengers who needed to be evacuated, and five people suffered minor injuries, according to TTC officials.
“People are saying you know that the RT is past its designed lifespan. There have been reliability issues for years. It’s been under-invested in. But this is still completely unacceptable. A shock that an accident like this could happen,” said Shelagh Pizey-Allen, the director of “TTCriders,” a transit advocacy group.
Ten years ago, the Scarborough RT started being extended beyond its limits. The 6.4-kilometre above-ground transit line has continually been under repair since.
Four months shy of being de-commissioned, the derailment has brought other aging issues on the TTC into focus.
“This raises so many red flags about the state of maintenance on the TTC investment and keeping the system safe and reliable, and it’s kind of like if you want to have a puppy, you need to be able to take care of it,” explained Pizey-Allen.
Previous battles between the province and the city led to multiple delays in building something else. Plans for another LRT made way for a subway extension without an agreement on the number of stops, dating back to when Premier Doug Ford was a councillor and his brother Rob was Toronto’s mayor.
“[A subway] could have been done many years ago if the province would have stepped up and supported us. We had the funding. We had council approval, and we had the federal approval,” Ford commented on Tuesday.
RELATED: TTC’s Line 3 shut down after train derailment; multiple passengers injured
The province is building the Scarborough subway extension connecting Line 2 from Kennedy Station to Sheppard Avenue and McCowan Road. It’s expected to be complete in 2030.
In the meantime, buses will transport passengers through Scarborough once the LRT is officially de-commissioned. This could happen earlier than expected. Following the derailment, TTC spokesperson Stuart Green told CityNews that the possibility the RT will remain out of service permanently is “not off the table.”
A Scarborough train on Line 3 derailed on Monday, July 24, 2023, forcing the closure of Ellesmere station. Photo: Nick Westoll/CityNews.
“It would be an extreme measure because part of the November de-commissioning involves a lot of work with the city to get traffic priority. Q-ing bus lanes, traffic signal priority, that kind of thing,” Green said.
“There’s a possibility we don’t restart it. But if we don’t, we would make sure other things are in place, including our own service.”
The city recently decided to move ahead with designing a dedicated rapid busway in the very same corridor but wants the province to reimburse the TTC for the $2.9 million needed for this phase of the work.
“We have started to put money into designing the busway, and the other millions of dollars needed to build the busway we have the province will come to the table,” said Mayor Olivia Chow.
“I’d like to focus on the here and now. Let’s get the buses as quickly as possible, give them the right of way on the roads so that all those transit riders that need a Scarborough RT have a way to get to work quickly and have a way to get home quickly.”
The TTC also recently cancelled a request for proposals to replace subway trains on Line 2 because other levels of government have provided no funding.
Green said the trains currently running have another five or so years left.
“We’ve started looking into and negotiating with our partners with the province, the federal government, and the city as well, about how we replace the trains on Line 2,” said Green. “They will be replaced if we can get the funding — if and when we get it.”
