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TTC Chooses Hitachi for Line 2 Automatic Train Control

On July 15, the TTC announced that it would award the contract for implementation of Automatic Train Control (ATC) on subway Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth). This will include the Scarborough extension now under construction.

Between the New Subway Train (NST) contract already awarded to Alstom and the Hitachi signalling contract, both companies will be involved in supplying the TTC for a decade and more.

The NST contract includes trains for:

  • Replacement of the existing fleet of T-1 trains on Line 2 which are approaching end-of-life;
  • Supply of additional Line 2 trains both for the Scarborough extension and for future service improvements;
  • Supply of additional Line 1 trains both for the Richmond Hill extension and for future service improvements.

The ATC contract will cover replacement of the existing block signal system on Line 2. It is linked to the NST contract in the sense that the existing Line 2 fleet cannot be modified for ATC operation. New signalling requires new trains.

The choice of a different ATC technology has implications for the TTC’s fleets and operations:

  • The Line 1 and Line 2 fleets will not be able to operate in “foreign” territory where the signalling system does not match the on-train equipment. Line 1 uses Alstom’s Urbalis system, while Line 2 will use Hitachi’s Seltrac sytem. Any trains which would operate on both lines must have ATC gear for both technologies.
  • The TTC has no intention to interoperate Lines 1 and 2 (e.g. the short lived “integrated” service in 1966 or any variation of that), and regards “Crossline Train Operation” (CTO) as unneeded in the spec for reasons explained later in this article.
  • Any equipment which will operate regularly on both lines (e.g. work trains) will require interfaces to both systems for protection from other traffic.
  • Although “foreign” trains could be moved if needed (e.g. to take trains to another line’s carhouse), this would have to be done off hours under rules for unprotected, manual train operation. Trains could not be “borrowed” or rerouted off of their home lines.
  • Although the Line 2 trains will be fitted with Hitachi gear, the added trains for Line 1 will have to carry Alstom equipment. Moreover, the Line 1 trains will have to be managed as six-car sets because that is the configuration the Alstom system is designed to support. (See TTC report quote below.)
  • With a cutover date to ATC on Line 2, this also sets the earliest date for Platform Edge Doors (PEDs) assuming that the TTC regards ATC as a pre-requisite. Yonge Station on Line 2 might be rebuilt with provision for PEDs but it will be over a decade before the signal system is able to support them.

There is a somewhat surreal aspect to all of this given the timelines. Installation of Line 2 ATC will occur in phases up to 2037 based on the assumption that the existing Line 2 fleet will be retired soon before that. The line cannot be switched to automatic operation with a mix of old and new trains. By extension, any service improvements from ATC operation (closer train spacing, service more frequent than 2’20”) are a decade away, and even that depends on increasing the fleet beyond basic requirements to open the SSE.

Part of this extended timeline can be laid at the feet of former management who felt they could keep the existing trains and signals system running much longer than their planned retirement date. That attitude changed with the ongoing signalling problems on Line 1 before ATC conversion, but years were lost in procurement both of ATC equipment and new trains that could use it.

A September 2024 report on Line 2 modernization stated:

The RFP for Line 2 ATC does not include a Crossline Train Operation (CTO) feature for trains to move between Line 1 and Line 2. The requirement for CTO has been reviewed based on existing and future service plans, and operational needs assessment. It has been determined that CTO is not a requirement for day-to-day service for Line 1 and Line 2. There are also technical challenges that arise with CTO on the revenue fleet with one of the main constraints being that the trains on Line 1 are a permanent six car consist with a fixed ATC Train-Borne equipment configuration, whereas the expected new trains for Line 2 will consist of three married pair cars that will be dynamically configured. The dynamic configuration for the Line 2 ATC Train-Borne equipment is not supported by the ATC Line 1 system architecture. It should be noted that to support the CTO feature, additional funding would be required to redesign and upgrade the existing Line 1 ATC system to accommodate CTO. [pp16-17]

It is clear that the TTC would never return to integration of service between lines, but the need to move trains onto “foreign” territory has come up in the past as a way to deal with major disruptions. That option will be foreclosed. I have asked the TTC for clarification of their intent re emergency operations, carhouse moves and work cars, and will add their reply here when it comes in.

Replacing aging signals and trains is “good news”, but the benefits will not materialize soon for riders.

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Construction Effects at Gerrard and Leslieville Stations

Over coming years, Metrolinx will build new stations on the Ontario Line at Gerrard (Gerrard & Carlaw) and Leslieville (Queen & De Grassi). These structures will span local streets including two streetcar lines. Various partial and total closures of affected streets are needed for this work to proceed. Much of this involves sidewalk and curb lane closures, but there will be a five month period for each station where streetcar service is removed to allow Ontario Line work without energized streetcar overhead.

The full transit changes have not yet been published, but in each case streetcars will divert to the parallel street (Gerrard or Queen) between Coxwell and Broadview. Replacement bus service will bridge the gap diverting around station construction as necessary.

Details including parking restrictions, pedestrian and cycling effects, are in a City of Toronto report on the July 8 agenda of Toronto & East York Community Council:

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College-Carlton Construction Plans Summer-Fall 2026

Phase 2 of the planned reconstruction of sewers and track on College and Carlton requires 506/306 streetcars to divert via Dundas Street between Bay and Parliament Streets. A replacement bus service will operate on College and Carlton. This arrangement begins on July 26 and is expected to continue until the end of 2026.

506B/306B buses will run from Spadina Station to Broadview & Gerrard:

  • Eastbound via Spadina, College, Carlton, Parliament and Gerrard looping near Bridgepoint Hospital.
  • Westbound via Gerrard, Parliament, Carlton, Jarvis, Wellesley, Bay, College and Spadina

Note that there will be no westbound service on Carlton/College between Jarvis and Bay because the street will be closed in that direction in the work zone. One eastbound lane will remain open.

This phase of the work includes:

  • Reconstruction of the sewer and watermain on College between Bay and Yonge, and
  • Reconstruction of the streetcar track on Carlton between Yonge and Church.

In Phase 3 later this year, the work zones will switch with streetcar track replacement west of Yonge.

As with the King Street project described in a separate post, it should be noted that the work by Toronto Water is the lengthier of the two components. As the City upgrades water and sewer infrastructure that is over a century old, there have been many disruptions to streetcar routes, although track and overhead upgrades are scheduled concurrently to take advantage of the streetcar diversions.

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King West Construction Plans: 2026-27

Water main construction, coupled with track repairs, will force the diversion of 504 King streetcars from November 2026 to early Summer 2027.

The map below is taken from a report at Toronto & East York Community Council on July 8-9 (p 4).

Two areas will be affected starting November 2026: Close to Dufferin, and Portland to Spadina. At the end of February 2027 work will begin between Shaw and Bathurst Streets.

The following services will operate over the 504 King corridor:

  • 504 streetcar from Broadview Station to Dundas West Station diverting both ways via Queen between Roncesvalles and Spadina
  • 504 bus service from the Distillery District to Sunnyside Loop
  • 503 Kingston Road bus service from Bingham Loop to Dufferin Loop
  • Not shown in the map is the 508 Lake Shore car whose summer 2026 suspension appears to continue through the construction period.

Night service will be provided by:

  • 304 streetcar over the same route as 504 King car
  • 304C bus over the same route as 504C King bus

Projects planned for 2027 includes watermain work and intersection reconstruction at King and York. This was originally expected in Fall 2026, but has been pushed back into the next construction year. TTC advises that King/York is scheduled to start in late June 2027 with the intention of completion before the film festival in September. Other projects will affect King West in 2027, but details for this work have not been announced.

Traffic regulations will be changed at several locations to assist transit vehicle movement during the construction. Details follow the “more” break.

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Metrolinx Board Meeting – June 25, 2026

The Metrolinx Board met on June 25, and as usual for that secretive organization, most of the agenda was discussed in private session. What they do talk about in public is inevitably “good news”, and there is rarely any indication that the Board might have issues with management.

Items included in this article:

  • Write-Down of GO Transit Assets
  • GO Transit Project Status
  • Update on Line 5 and Line 6 LRT Operations
  • Fare Enforcement Bylaw Update
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Reviewing TTC Surface Delay Data 2025-2026

This article is a followup to a review of subway delay data published here in early June.

Four sets of data are summarized here:

  • Bus data January 2025 through April 2026
  • Streetcar data January 2025 through May 2026
  • Line 6 Finch data December 2025 through May 2026
  • Line 5 Eglinton data February through May 2026

There is no bus data for May 2026 because the TTC’s June 22, 2026 update on the City’s Open Data site did not include it.

The Open Data files include a key translating delay codes to text. However, many codes used in the logs do not appear in the key, and in those cases I have used “?” in the tables. I have asked TTC for an updated code list, but they have not replied.

Among the information shown in these delay logs:

  • “No Operator Available” is a serious problem related to TTC staffing levels.
  • Diversions account for a large number of delays, notably on the bus network, not just streetcars.
  • Collisions involving buses and streetcars are common.
  • Weather related delays including autos blocking tracks peak in winter months for buses and streetcars.
  • Streetcar delays related to switches are reported under various codes, but there is no code for derailment thereby masking the number of the most serious track-related events.
  • The number and length of delays on 6 Finch have fallen by over 50% since the opening months.
  • A common source of delay on 5 Eglinton relates to guideway intrusion.
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Rethinking the Waterfront East LRT

Recently, I wrote about a very unsatisfactory online meeting of the Stakeholder Advisory Committee for waterfront east transit. Little came of that meeting beyond a sense that nothing will happen soon to improve transit in the area.

The big news, which was not “news” at all given the media coverage, was that $3-billion had been secured from the City, Province and Federal governments toward the project. Predictably, in the absence of any details, this produced a shower of questions about why such a sum would be spent on a short line and whether that amount would actually be enough to finish the project.

Planning for and development of the eastern waterfront dates from an era when new buildings could be sold as quickly as they were built. This extended all the way from Yonge Street out to the Don River and the massive plans for the East Harbour Station area. Transit demand projections originally assumed a mix of residential and commercial development particularly at East Harbour, but the commercial market collapsed and residential growth is at nowhere near projected rates and time frames.

Toronto always talked of the waterfront as a “transit first” development, but actual delivery falls way short of that goal. Queens Quay East has a mix of infrequent bus services, and access to the city north of the rail corridor is throttled by traffic on limited crossings. The proposed LRT corridor might exist on plans, but bus rapid transit (BRT) as an “interim” solution always lurked in the background. That might be credible if there were a clear transit corridor to the Union Station area, not to mention street capacity to handle buses and riders, but these problems have never been discussed in waterfront plans.

If we cannot get transit “right” in a brand new community, how can Toronto hope to shift existing neighbourhoods away from cars?

Those who have followed this project through many false starts and changes over the years know that this is not a straightforward “streetcar line” extending from Union Station into the planned community on the island now called Ookwemin Minising. Both through delays and added complexity in some components, the price tag keeps rising, but we have yet to see a consolidated budget or a description of just what it will pay for.

There are beautiful drawings of a future city on the water, but no clear transit plan.

This article reviews the major components of the waterfront east proposal, the many outstanding issues, and options such as there may be for getting better transit to an underserved area.

For those who just want the conclusion, here is my take on the current situation.

  • Previous public consultation sessions gave the sense that plans were heading to a point where in early 2026 there would be construction staging options and a better handle on the project budget. Instead we seem to be going backwards with more uncertainty on the timing and scope of work, and exactly when there will be streetcar service to the eastern waterfront.
  • Development proposals have consistently run ahead of the provision of frequent, reliable transit service.
  • There is an undue focus on getting connectivity to the new developments from the west as a top priority causing the northern link (via Cherry to King) to be placed on the back burner.
  • It is clear that the overall project is constrained by available funding and by the cost of rebuilding Union Station Loop. It is also possible that Union Loop will not reopen in time for first occupancy in the new Ookwemin Minising neighbourhood thereby providing less than ideal transit service to a new “transit first” neighbourhood.
  • Transit ridership projections for the eastern waterfront date from the era when substantial commercial development was planned, and this boosted the expected peak demand.
  • Development plans, and hence future demand, will be affected by proposals for a much-expanded Island Airport, but we do not know the scale of the effect.
  • The continued lack of a staging plan makes discussion of interim service configurations over coming years almost impossible.

The project planners appear to have made up their mind on at least part of the staging plan without fully explaining how it will work, or the “why” behind options chosen. The momentum of 2025, the sense that real work was imminent, has been lost. We now have $3-billion “in the bank”, but with no clear idea of what it will buy, what elements will be missing on opening day and what future completion of the project will cost.

The rebranding of the “Waterfront East LRT” into the “Waterfront East Rapid Transit Line” speaks of desperation and a desire to avoid the “LRT” moniker now poisoned by botched implementations on Finch and Eglinton (Lines 6 and 5). This is most definitely not a “rapid transit line”, it is a streetcar on its own right-of-way. What Toronto needs is honesty about waterfront transit, leadership and real progress on construction.

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505 Dundas Transit Priority: Data to May 2026

Much attention regarding transit priority in recent months focused on the RapidTO red lanes for 29/929 Dufferin and 510 Bathurst, and on traffic signal timings for 6 Finch West, 5 Eglinton and a few intersections on 510 Spadina. Another change with less fanfare was the modification of parking and stopping restrictions on Dundas Street West between Dovercourt and University.

Council approved these changes in two groups. The first was for the area between Spadina and McCaul, and the second extended this east to University and west to Dovercourt.

In a previous articles, I reviewed the effect of changes on 7 Bathurst between Bathurst Station and Eglinton, and on 511 Bathurst and 29 Dufferin south from Bloor.

This article continues the series with a review of changes on Dundas Street West.

A few noteworthy points:

  • Over the 29 month period of this review there has been little change in travel times, although there are some specific seasonal and weather-related spikes and dips.
  • Peak period, peak direction shows more variation than off-peak, especially westbound in the PM peak.
  • Extended travel times do not occur only in the “downtown” part of the route, nor only in the peak periods. Attempts at transit priority that focus only on the core and the peak periods will not address issues at other times and locations.
  • There are quite striking “heartbeat” patterns in the data where the highest values usually fall on the same day of the week:
    • AM peak eastbound: The spikes tend to be on Tuesday or Wednesday. This corresponds to a known pattern that developed during the pandemic that midweek traffic was higher than the ends of the week.
    • Early and late evening eastbound: The spikes tend to fall late in the week on Thursdays and Fridays. A similar pattern shows up in the late evening westbound.
  • Although travel times are fairly consistent, they only measure the service that actually shows up. At the end of the article are charts showing headways (the interval between streetcars) both ways at Dufferin, Bathurst and University in May 2026. Travel times might be consistent and even slightly improved, but the overall service quality remains uneven.
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TTC Service Changes Effective June 21, 2026

Service changes for the streetcar system were effective on June 7 in anticipation of the World Cup games starting on June 12. See:

The main set of bus and rapid transit changes will occur on June 21.

The seasonal changes are described as coming both from reduced summer demand and limits on operators to drive the service. It is not clear if this is due to a budgetary decision about staffing levels, a difficulty in recruiting new operators, or a mix of both.

The spreadsheet detailing old and new service plans has been added after the “more” break.

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TTC Service Changes Effective June 7, 2026

As I began to write this on June 6 at 5:00pm, the TTC had not yet published the detailed memo of service changes for June 7. There is a web page listing World Cup related service changes, but no details about service frequencies. On an interim basis, I have used the electronic version of the June 7 schedules (GTFS data) as a source for info on scheduled service. On game days, there will be additional service as needed.

Updated: The TTC issued the detailed service memo in the early hours of June 7. Thanks to those burning the midnight oil to get this out. This article has been updated to consolidate info from the memo. Note that June service changes for subway, LRT and bus routes will not occur until June 21, and these will be covered in a separate post.

  • 307 and 311 Bathurst night services: Stopping arrangements at Bathurst and St. Clair West Stations clarified.
  • Streetcar route maps added at the end of the article.
  • 301L route clarified to include extension to Dufferin Loop.
  • Streetcar vehicle allocation tables added.
  • Spreadsheet of detailed changes added. Revised to include 929 Dufferin Express.
  • List of destination sign changes added.

Bathurst Corridor

  • Night service on 307 Bathurst bus will be shortened to end at Bathurst Station. Service south to Exhibition will be provided by a 311 Bathurst night car running from St. Clair to Exhibition Loop.
  • Service on 511 Bathurst will be improved (see table later in this article).
  • Updates:
  • 307 buses will loop through Bathurst Station, but will lay over and serve a new stop northbound on Bathurst at London (opposite the station).
  • 311 streetcars will run out of service through St. Clair West Station.

Spadina Corridor

  • Service on the 510 Spadina streetcar will be shortened to turn at Queens Quay Loop. Service to Union Station will be provided by 509/309 Harbourfront and by 310 Spadina. (Corrected)

Waterfront

  • Service on 509 Harbourfront will be improved (see table later in this article), and a new 309 Harbourfront night car will operate.

Dufferin Corridor

  • Service on 929 Dufferin express will be added on Sunday evenings on Game Days running every 8 minutes.

King Corridor

  • Service will be improved on 504 King. On Game Days, the 504B from Broadview Station will turn back via a loop of King, Queen and Shaw without serving Dufferin Loop. See detailed map and schedule in the schedule section later in this article.

Queen / Lake Shore Boulevard West

  • 507/501/301 Long Branch service will be replaced by buses due to construction at Long Branch Loop.
    • Two branches of the replacement bus service will operate:
      • 507 from Humber Loop to Long Branch Loop via Park Lawn.
      • 507M from Humber Loop to the Humber Bay Shores area looping via Marine Parade Drive.
    • This configuration will run until Labour Day weekend. In September, 507 streetcars will return as far as Kipling Loop, and the 110 Islington South will be extended west to Long Branch Loop.
  • 508 Lake Shore streetcar service will be suspended for the summer season returning after Labour Day.
  • Updated: 301L night buses will operate from Long Branch Loop to Dufferin Loop via Queen and Dufferin providing an overlap with the 301 Queen night car.
  • See map in the schedule details later in this post.
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