TORONTO - Thousands of Toronto commuters were left facing lengthy waits Wednesday evening when service on a portion of the main north-south subway line was halted due to a damaged bridge.
The Toronto Transit Commission shut down the Yonge Street line between the Bloor and Eglinton stations after a contractor doing work unrelated to the TTC dug a trench along a bridge, not realizing a subway line ran beneath.
Portions of Yonge Street and a street parallel to Yonge were closed to traffic to allow a fleet of more than 70 shuttle buses to move passengers between the two stations.
The TTC said 300,000 people were directly affected by the closure and thousands more faced delays.
Full service on the line resumed shortly after 8 p.m., the TTC said.
TTC chair Adam Giambrone said service was shut down after a private contractor, not associated with the TTC, cut some of the tunnel structure and the TTC couldn't guarantee the safety of the tunnel.
"I know a lot of people are frustrated and it's frustrating for us too," Giambrone said of the evening rush outage.
"You can't replace the subway with buses," he said. "It carries 30,000 people an hour ... buses, 50 or 60 apiece."
