TTC's Leslie tracks off the rails again
The TTC's Leslie streetcar tracks - already ripped up once - won't be finished until August now.

thestar.com
July 21, 2015
By Tess Kalinowski

The botched Leslie streetcar tracks that had to be ripped up after being improperly laid, are suffering yet another delay.

Transit officials now say it will likely be mid-August before Leslie can be re-opened from Queen St. south to Eastern Ave.

When it came to light in May that the contractor, Pomerleau Construction, had improperly installed the supporting concrete foundation under the road, TTC CEO Andy Byford said the tracks would be in place by the middle of July.

But it took longer than expected for AECOM, another TTC contractor, to review the reconstruction plan, said transit spokesman Brad Ross.

"This is special track work that we're laying there - not just the foundation but the rail itself because it's got some special vibration and noise components that are built into it. So the designs and drawings needed to be signed off by AECOM. While we were hopeful (the work would be done) by July it just never materialized that way. They needed to take the time to make sure they got it right because if it was wrong, we'd have a real problem," he said.

It's the latest snag in a project that was originally supposed to be complete last fall. The deadline was then moved to June and, subsequently, July. The original cost of $14 million has grown to $105 million with the addition of new water valves and sewers.

Residents have lamented the traffic disruptions, noise and dust, while businesses in the area have struggled.

"It's interminable," said Toronto-Danforth Councillor Paula Fletcher. "We're coming to expect when there's a deadline it's never met."

It took about six weeks as planned to reinstall the concrete foundation. But the work that was supposed to begin June 1, didn't actually start until the end of the month. The tracks are now being laid, then the road will be paved and re-opened.

It will be fall before the low-floor Bombardier streetcars begin running to the new car house at the bottom of Leslie on Lake Shore Blvd. E., said Ross. The TTC still needs to hang the overhead wires that supply their power.

The overhead work should cause minimum disruption to traffic when Leslie is reopened, he said.

The Leslie Barns car house will be used to store up to 100 of the new streetcars. The storage tracks will be complete by the end of Sept. The entire fleet of 204 low-floor streetcars will eventually be maintained at the Barns. The interior is supposed to be finished toward the end of this year.

For now there are only seven new vehicles in the city. The eighth is en route.

Bombardier is badly behind in production and delivery. The TTC expects to have 30 in town by the end of the year but that schedule has yet to be confirmed.

"Bombardier is continuing to work towards a schedule that will eventually see a new car, built to our expectations, on property every five days," said Ross. "A plan is to be presented to the TTC by the end of July."