Ooze on the tracks exposes 'vulnerability' of subway line, says TTC CEO
The ooze that poured down onto the TTC tracks on Tuesday may have been contaminated ground water, says TTC CEO Andy Byford.
The fluid started pooling on the subway tracks overnight on Monday, causing the subway service to be shut down south of Bloor for the entirety of Tuesday morning. Byford said the TTC initially believed the fluid to be combustible or otherwise dangerous.
After testing, Toronto Fire said it believes it to be ground water with higher components of hydrocarbon. The groundwater likely came from a thaw as the weather is warming up, Byford said. It flooded the tracks just north of College station.
However, what the fluid actually was is still a mystery.
TTC spokesman Brad Ross tweeted the substance is still being tested, but lab results have confirmed it wasn't gasoline, diesel fuel or trichloroethylene — an industrial solvent often known as TCE.
Ross said the oily liquid does appear to contain chemical compounds similar to transformer oil, hydraulic fluid and other contaminants that may have been picked up as it seeped through the soil.
Ross said the transit agency is working with the city and the Ministry of the Environment to find the original source of the fluid, and that there haven't been any similar leaks reported since.
Fuel-like smell concerned officials
The transit ordeal began when an "odd smell" was reported early in the evening on Monday.
But the smell seemed to come and go, so there was not much cause for concern, said Byford. But around 11 p.m. on Monday, a train operator noticed the fluid, and reported it smelled like gasoline, kerosene or other fuel.
By 6 a.m., Byford said the TTC had to halt the service for safety. He said any other transit service would've done the same.
The leak exposed the TTC's main artery — Line 1, which brings passengers downtown under Yonge Street — as precarious.
"That is a vulnerability of ours," said Byford.
The closure highlighted a need for a downtown relief line, which Byford admitted during his interview on CBC Radio's Metro Morning he wants to see planned and completed.
