 TTC worker crushed to death in tunnel, shutting down subway and creating commuter havoc. (Dave Thomas, Sun Media)
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A TTC worker driving a subway maintenance train was crushed to death when a steel platform apparently clipped the wall and crashed into the operator's compartment yesterday morning.
Two others in the 11-man crew who were riding in the train received non-life threatening injuries in the 4:30 a.m. incident in the Yonge St. subway tunnel south of Lawrence Ave.
The crew was returning to the Davisville station after a shift of removing asbestos from the tunnel walls.
The tragedy caused damage to the subway tunnel that could force an extended closure of the Yonge line between Eglinton and York Mills Aves.
The stretch was shut down just before the start of yesterday's morning rush and remained closed during the evening busy period, forcing the TTC to use convoys of buses to move passengers.
The TTC was unable to say whether the subway tunnel would be open today.
The heavy metal platforms -- there were four on the flatbed -- are used by workers to reach tunnel walls. One dislodged from the rail car apparently after hitting something protruding from the wall, and crashed into the front of the train.
The operator was pinned in the driver's compartment by the platform and twisted metal.
The fatality is under investigation by Toronto Police and the ministry of labour.
One member of the TTC crew openly wept as he tried to explain to a transit safety officer what occurred in the tight confines of the tunnel.
The TTC said 84 shuttle buses were used to link York Mills and Eglinton. It's estimated one subway car can hold about the same number of passengers carried on three buses.
The driver who was in control of two retired cars, RT 48 and RT 49, was pushing the flatbed car with the four platforms. A source said the fourth unit, directly in front of the train where the driver sat in his compartment, somehow caught the subway wall and pushed into the front of the train. The impact then lifted the roof of the subway car into the ceiling of the tunnel and pinned the victim.
"It's a tangled mess," the source said.
The train car must be removed, the tunnel inspected and experts then must determine if any asbestos had been moved in the crash.
Eight other workers were in the last car and were not injured, but TTC interim chief general manager Gary Webster said counsellors were dispatched to help them deal with the death and injuries.
Traffic investigators don't know exactly why the platform was dislodged, but it could involve the unit hitting something on a subway wall.
"That caused the flatbed truck to destabilize causing it to hit a temporary wall in the (southbound) tunnel that protected some part of our panelling," TTC chairman Adam Giambrone said. "And that further caused it to destabilize.
"One of the units dislodged and shifted back into the second car and led to the operator (being) crushed," he said.
Two Toronto firefighter rescue teams used hand-powered hydraulic equipment to cut through the crumpled aluminum subway car and lift the metal scaffolding to reach the victim.
Firefighters were hampered by the confined space in the tunnel and could not use fuel-powered generators to power their hydraulic equipment underground because of the lack of proper ventilation. One source said the space between the car and the tunnel wall could only allow one person.
Also hampering work and rescue crews was asbestos found in the area. Rescuers wore two white environmental suits with the sleeves and pant legs sealed with duct tape.
The victim's body was also decontaminated after rescue crews took it from the compartment. An autopsy will be performed at the Centre of Forensic Science.
The Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents the dead worker and the two injured men, issued a statement that members' concerns were with the families of the three.
"At this time and until further notice, the union will be making no detailed statements on the accident or any of the circumstances surrounding it," Local 113 president Bob Kinnear said.
But one worker at the scene wondered how this incident will temper relations between the commission and its workers.
In February 2006, eight TTC workers were overcome and four firefighters also were injured by toxic carbon monoxide fumes as they used a power washer in the southbound tunnel about 450 metres north of the Eglinton station.
Mayor David Miller said one incident like yesterday's tragedy is too many.
"Until we really know the cause, we can't know a solution. But it's appropriate for the TTC to be reviewing its safety procedures," he said, "because accidents like this shouldn't happen."
