TTC set to hold emergency preparedness exercise at York

Excal.on.ca
Oct. 19, 2017
Munirul-Haq Raza

The TTC will be holding an emergency preparedness exercise on October 25 for its new subway station at York, which is scheduled to open in mid-December.

According to Janice Walls of York Media, the exercise will impact TTC and GO bus services.

TTC and GO Transit will be relocated to York Boulevard, the York GO Train Shuttle and York Glendon-Keele Shuttle are to be moved to Fine Arts Road, and Wheeltrans, Mobility Plus, and Van Go will pick passengers up and drop them off at Vari Hall as scheduled.

“YRT/Viva and Brampton Transit (Züm) buses will maintain their regular bus stops.

“All classes, tests, and exams are expected to proceed as normal.

“We will inform the community once further updates arise,” adds Walls.

“This exercise is one of two emergency planning exercises—the other is at the Highway 407 Station in November,” says Stuart Green, senior communications specialist with the TTC.

“We are conducting the exercises in advance of the opening of the Line 1 extension on December 17.

“These exercises are an opportunity for the TTC, first responders, and our community partners to test emergency preparedness, should there ever be an incident on the line,” Green adds.

Green explains the exercise will involve more than 600 people and will simulate an incident in the tunnel, practicing “evacuation, transportation, communications, and coordination between the various agencies such as Toronto Police, the fire department, EMS, and York.”

“The event at the Highway 407 station will be on a smaller scale and give first responders in York Region and Vaughan the chance to practice managing a subway incident for the first time,” he adds.

“Students, faculty, and staff at York will be kept informed leading up to and during the emergency exercise via communications from the Vice-President Students office, YFile, LCD screens, and social media,” says Walls.