'What sort of signal issue shuts down an entire subway line:' Major rush hour delays on TTC for second time this week

The head of the TTC is apologizing after a signal issue shut down service on all of Line 1 Wednesday morning, as he sheds light on what caused the problem.

“This morning was another difficult day for TTC customers. We know thousands of customers were inconvenienced, and we sincerely apologize,” interim CEO Greg Percy said in a statement published on social media.

Trains on the busy line, which runs from Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station to the downtown core and back up to Finch Station, were stopped just after 7 a.m. for roughly 30 minutes.

Shuttle buses were deployed, and service was eventually restored, but the TTC warned that delays would persist as the system recovered. Some commuters who messaged CTV News Toronto said they were forced to use a ride-sharing service to get to their destination, and experienced “surge-pricing.”

Percy noted three other similar service delays have occurred in the past week, including a 60-minute stoppage on Line 1 on Monday.

In a statement to CTV News Toronto, the advocacy group TTCriders counted a handful of other service stoppages or delays and said customers are “extremely frustrated.”

“Subway shutdowns mean missed appointments and being late for work and school, create chaos and safety issues on subway platforms, and drive people away from using transit,” executive director Shelagh Pizey-Allen said.

“What sort of signal issue shuts down an entire subway line, and why does it keep happening? Why are there so many signal issues on Line 1 when Automatic Train Control (ATC) was only installed two years ago? Transit riders deserve answers about what is happening and how the TTC plans to fix recurring signal issues.”

For the TTC’s part, Percy said Wednesday morning’s signal issue occurred after a server that operates the routing of trains on the ATC signalling system went offline “for unknown reasons,” adding that a similar outage occurred at around 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“This system is designed with a failsafe mechanism that stops service when an operating anomaly is detected. In these cases, the system worked as designed,” he wrote.

However, he said the number of ATC signalling issues in such high frequency is “unacceptable.” Percy went on to say that the TTC is working with the equipment manufacturer to conduct a thorough “deep dive” into the incidents to see if there is any connection between them.

The TTC’s ATC system became fully operational in 2022 and was touted as a way to allow for faster train service.

On top of the ATC issues the TTC is looking into, there are also 12 so-called “reduced speed zones” across the network where trains travel at speeds between 15 and 25 km/h (versus the regular operating speeds of between 40km/h and 60 km/h) to accommodate track work.

Pizey-Allen says those slowdowns add two minutes per zone to any one customer’s commute.  

Speaking to reporters at an unrelated event, TTC Board Chair Jamaal Myers said he and other Toronto transit officials understand the frustration commuters have been feeling over the past week.

“We feel these issues ourselves, firsthand. So, we get it. We’re working on it. And when we have a better answer, we will come back with a more detailed timeline of what actually occurred and what we’re doing to prevent this from happening in the future,” he said.