TTC asks council to bail out Spadina subway extension

Torontosun.com
Jan. 21, 2016
By Terry Davidson

TTC commissioners formally asked city council Thursday to help bail out its “doomed” Spadina subway extension.

The City of Toronto and York Region could end up having to fork over $400 million to help cover the over-budget Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension (TYSSE).

Toronto is on the hook for up to $240 million while York may have to cover up to $160 million.

Provided the project is finished under the new timeline and with no further cost overruns, the six-stop extension is expected to open by the end of 2017 at a cost of around $3.2 billion. A TTC spokesman confirmed the TTC will “likely” fight some of the construction claims that have driven up the project’s budget.

“This project has been beset with challenges right from the start,” TTC CEO Andy Byford told the commission.

He pointed to an early 18-month delay in federal government funding, waffling between the board and staff on station design, “struggling” contractor performance, bad winters, and a six-month delay at one station site due to the death of a construction worker.

Byford also acknowledged there were errors made by the TTC when it came to project management.

“There are things that could have and should have been done differently,” he said. “This project was, to a certain extent, doomed from the start because there were certain things that happened in the start and we’ve been playing catch-up ever since.”

In March, Byford fired two senior TTC managers working on the TYSSE. He also got the TTC and council to approve an additional $150 million for the extension and to hire Bechtel Canada Co. to manange the troubled project.

“The good news is, at the end of next year, we’ll have a railway ... that will be the envy of North America,” Byford boasted.

TTC chair Josh Colle says he hasn’t lost confidence in Byford.

“I think it’s clear we have to do things better ... and we’re saying to the TTC ... we have to do things better, but (we) also have to recognize there were other factors above and beyond the TTC’s role,” Colle said.

Colle has already requested a report looking at how the TTC builds and manages all its capital projects.