Overview
- The latest shutdown on Monday was traced to a power surge that blew a fuse in a switch heater, sending riders to replacement buses.
- Finch West relies on electric switch heaters, the same technology an Ottawa LRT inquiry found caused numerous winter failures before being replaced with gas units.
- Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said the route’s centre-of-road, embedded track rules out gas heaters on safety and feasibility grounds and described current problems as operational.
- Metrolinx and its contractor Mosaic Transit Group say they are refining procedures and that Mosaic is investigating root causes and adding preventive measures.
- A Liaison Strategies poll found 62% of Torontonians call the rollout very unsuccessful and 54% hold Metrolinx chiefly responsible for reliability and maintenance.