Transportation chaos in Toronto following power outage

A power outage in Toronto has brought an afternoon and evening of delays for commuters who rely on the city’s metro (subway) system. Some observers believe that the worst is still to come on Friday morning, when delays may wreck havoc during the rush hour. Toronto’s Yonge line is badly affected and according to a report in the Globe and Mail, subway cars stopped running between Bloor and Lawrence late this afternoon, at around 4.30pm. The outage was reportedly caused by several long cables and wires that became detached from the tunnel’s walls, near the Eglinton station, along the Yonge line.

Public transit workers will reportedly work all night in a desperate attempt to restore service to the city’s busiest subway line, before tomorrow’s morning rush hour. The TTC, Toronto’s Transport Corporation, is hoping that there will not be a repeat of today, when the company had no choice but shut down a section of subway line that serves 60,000 commuters during rush hour alone. The Globe and Mail, however, confirmed that the damage to the line’s electricity was significant and as such, service will be suspended until 6am Friday morning (EST). Originally, the TTC had planned to re-open the line by 7pm. But most troubling of all for Canada’s largest city is that the TTC suggested that there were “no guarantees” that the subway line would up and running again by the morning rush hour.

Thank you to John Wingrove of the Globe and Mail for the initial report.