Full service has been restored on the Yonge subway line after about six hours of closures between Bloor and Eglinton stations.
A work crew on Jackes Avenue, above the subway tracks south of St. Clair Avenue, dug into the concrete housing the subway tunnel below at about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, said TTC corporate communications director Brad Ross.
The third-party contractor -- unrelated to the TTC -- was doing repairs when workers dug a trench along the roadway, not realizing a subway line ran beneath the area.
They “inadvertently punctured the roadbed, exposing the subway between St. Clair and Summerhill stations,” says a TTC news release.
There was concern the digging had compromised the tunnel and engineers were brought in to establish its safety.
In a post on the Twitter social networking website Wednesday night, Toronto Mayor David Miller said the error was made by a private contractor working for Enbridge gas.
Stranded TTC riders thronged Yonge Street during rush hour while several roadways near Yonge and Bloor Streets were closed to facilitate shuttle buses called to replace the subway.
About 50 shuttle buses were called it, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with the massive influx of riders looking to get home after work. The TTC said 300,000 people were directly affected by the closure and thousands more faced delays.
Some reported waiting for two hours to get on the northbound subway at Eglinton station.
Full service resumed at about 8:30 p.m. after TTC crews affixed a 23-metre slab of concrete to the hole. However, TTC chair Adam Giambrone says the solution is merely temporary and more work will have to be done to permanently repair the tunnel.
