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Well, that was hellish.
Apr. 23rd, 2007 08:13 pmSubway worker killed, two injured in track-level accident
I can't say that I'm surprised - I'm only surprised that it took this long for something like this to happen. I often see people working on the tracks while the trains are running - they squeeze in between the trains and the wall to let them pass. Mind you, this accident appears to have been caused by a maintenance platform on a specialized train coming loose, not by workers being hit by an oncoming train. Still...
Service was out between Eglinton and York Mills all day. Naturally, I had no way of knowing this until I actually got to Eglinton station this morning. I was a little earlier than usual, but not enough to make up for this.
I managed to get on the fifth shuttle bus to stop at the platform after my arrival (and even got a seat). About a third of the way up to Lawrence, I saw something I never want to see again:
According to CANOE, the workers were removing asbestos from the tunnel walls when the accident occurred.
When I arrived at York Mills, the scene was chaos. It must have taken a good half hour for everyone to file through to the subway platform and get on the northbound trains. I hope they never have to evacuate York Mills for an emergency - it's a tiny station with even tinier corridors, and there was barely enough room for two lines of people to get both in and out.
As a result of all this, I finally arrived at Finch station around 9:40 this morning - a full hour and a half after I'd left my apartment (which is five minutes' walk from Eglinton, which is five stations south of Finch - normally, including a stop at Starbucks, the trip takes me about 20-30 minutes). The rest of the trip was uneventful, but I didn't get to work until about 10:40.
Because of this afternoon's rather nasty thunderstorm, Zak decided that he wanted to leave around 5:15 in case it rained again. Vic had already left, which meant that I had to leave as well. I got on the southbound bus around 5:30, and we got to Richmond Hill... where the fun started again.
Apparently (I was facing the back of the bus, so I couldn't see), Yonge Street was blocked off just south of Richmond Hill Centre, which meant that the bus had to go along Highway 7 and High Tech Boulevard (yes, that's really the name of the street) to Bayview, then turn south until Clark Avenue in Thornhill, where it got back onto Yonge. Again, chaos reigned - that detour probably added an hour to the trip home.
The subway was still closed this evening, but the shuttle bus was much faster (I'm just glad I wasn't on it around 5 or 6 this evening). The firefighters were still milling about, and the TTC Command Unit bus was still there, but the police and fire trucks were gone. I only got home about fifteen minutes ago.
So, to sum up...
Left home: 8:10 am
Arrived at work: 10:40 am
Travel time: 2.5 hours
Lunch: 30 minutes
Left work: 5:15 pm
Arrived at home: 8:15 pm
Travel time: 3 hours
Time spent at work: 6 hours 5 minutes (not including lunch)
Time spent in transit: 5 hours 30 minutes
I was tentatively supposed to be having dinner with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cuteteenboy tonight, but I keep getting his voicemail. I guess it's leftover stir-fry again... I'm just glad that I bought enough ingredients on Saturday for five days' worth, unintentional though it was (I don't generally need my wok and Dutch oven to make stir-fry... it had been so long since I last made it that I overestimated how much food would fit into my wok). It means I don't have to slave in the kitchen tonight.
Oh, and according to the TTC employee I spoke to at York Mills this evening, they won't know whether the subway will be open tomorrow until about 5 am... so I guess it's an early night tonight and early morning tomorrow, just in case.
I can't say that I'm surprised - I'm only surprised that it took this long for something like this to happen. I often see people working on the tracks while the trains are running - they squeeze in between the trains and the wall to let them pass. Mind you, this accident appears to have been caused by a maintenance platform on a specialized train coming loose, not by workers being hit by an oncoming train. Still...
Service was out between Eglinton and York Mills all day. Naturally, I had no way of knowing this until I actually got to Eglinton station this morning. I was a little earlier than usual, but not enough to make up for this.
I managed to get on the fifth shuttle bus to stop at the platform after my arrival (and even got a seat). About a third of the way up to Lawrence, I saw something I never want to see again:
- a fire department truck labelled "Decontamination Unit"
- a police department truck labelled "Collision Reconstruction Unit"
- a TTC bus labelled "Command Unit"
- about 50 firefighters milling about
According to CANOE, the workers were removing asbestos from the tunnel walls when the accident occurred.
When I arrived at York Mills, the scene was chaos. It must have taken a good half hour for everyone to file through to the subway platform and get on the northbound trains. I hope they never have to evacuate York Mills for an emergency - it's a tiny station with even tinier corridors, and there was barely enough room for two lines of people to get both in and out.
As a result of all this, I finally arrived at Finch station around 9:40 this morning - a full hour and a half after I'd left my apartment (which is five minutes' walk from Eglinton, which is five stations south of Finch - normally, including a stop at Starbucks, the trip takes me about 20-30 minutes). The rest of the trip was uneventful, but I didn't get to work until about 10:40.
Because of this afternoon's rather nasty thunderstorm, Zak decided that he wanted to leave around 5:15 in case it rained again. Vic had already left, which meant that I had to leave as well. I got on the southbound bus around 5:30, and we got to Richmond Hill... where the fun started again.
Apparently (I was facing the back of the bus, so I couldn't see), Yonge Street was blocked off just south of Richmond Hill Centre, which meant that the bus had to go along Highway 7 and High Tech Boulevard (yes, that's really the name of the street) to Bayview, then turn south until Clark Avenue in Thornhill, where it got back onto Yonge. Again, chaos reigned - that detour probably added an hour to the trip home.
The subway was still closed this evening, but the shuttle bus was much faster (I'm just glad I wasn't on it around 5 or 6 this evening). The firefighters were still milling about, and the TTC Command Unit bus was still there, but the police and fire trucks were gone. I only got home about fifteen minutes ago.
So, to sum up...
Left home: 8:10 am
Arrived at work: 10:40 am
Travel time: 2.5 hours
Lunch: 30 minutes
Left work: 5:15 pm
Arrived at home: 8:15 pm
Travel time: 3 hours
Time spent at work: 6 hours 5 minutes (not including lunch)
Time spent in transit: 5 hours 30 minutes
I was tentatively supposed to be having dinner with
cuteteenboy tonight, but I keep getting his voicemail. I guess it's leftover stir-fry again... I'm just glad that I bought enough ingredients on Saturday for five days' worth, unintentional though it was (I don't generally need my wok and Dutch oven to make stir-fry... it had been so long since I last made it that I overestimated how much food would fit into my wok). It means I don't have to slave in the kitchen tonight.Oh, and according to the TTC employee I spoke to at York Mills this evening, they won't know whether the subway will be open tomorrow until about 5 am... so I guess it's an early night tonight and early morning tomorrow, just in case.
