[URBAN NOTE] "Subway closures painful but ‘worth the wait’"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's David Rider explains the import of subway closures. They're an inconvenience, as we noticed this weekend just past, but they are needed for repair.

As the saw bites into steel rail, a fountain of sparks pierces a dark subterranean soup thick with dust, musty smells, noise and mysterious winds.

On the street above, commuters used to comfortably whizzing through these tunnels while peering at their phones no doubt grumble as they board shuttle buses.

Down here, in a tunnel closed for a weekend of signalling and maintenance work, the man overseeing TTC subways is making the case to reporters that there is commuter gain in this frequently occurring closure pain.

“These weekends are worth their weight in gold,” Mike Palmer says in the tunnel between St. Clair West and Dupont stations, near a plaque marking a 1995 fatal subway crash that reminds staff of the safety-first motto.

“We can do so much more work in a 52-hour closure than two or three hours a night . . . It’s hot, dirty, cold, smelly, smoky. I pay tribute to the men and women who work down here — 366 nights this (leap) year — to do maintenance, good housekeeping, catch up with repairs, and laying cabling.”