Tankers
By Errol Young
December 13,
2017
Our community
finally has new subway station and Keele and Finch. Everyone
is happy about that but Toronto councillors and planning
staff have also created a deadly problem. Huge tanker trucks
will be travelling over the subway route and stations
carrying tons of deadly cargo.
It took over
twenty years of advocacy to convince the city that stations
in the North end of the city will eliminate the need for
thousands of buses taking staff and students to and from
York University. For our community, the ride downtown will
be cut by about half an hour or even more depending on the
time of day.
In order to
ensure support of the subway route by the petrochemical tank
farm (located to the North West of the Finch West station),
the TTC made a bad and potentially dangerous bargain. They
agreed to let super tankers each carrying around 65,000
litres of explosive gasoline travel over the subway line for
two kilometres, including the York West Subway/LRT stations.
In 2010, Council passed an exemption to the 1950s by-law
that restricted tankers from travelling over a subway route
for more than 2 kilometres; i.e., Pond Rd. to St. Regis.
The original
by-law was well thought out. Councillors in the 1950s had
vision. Picture a crash involving two supertankers above the
intersection of Keele and Finch. Both trucks would probably
burst into flames as tonnes of flammable liquid and vapours
spill from the trailers and down the subway vent holes. And
if this happens over the station -well its not worth
imagining.
TTC says that
the risk is remote and acceptable. Granted, it is remote;
but acceptable? If you are a regular transit user, the image
of 65,000 litres of flammable liquid above your head
regularly racing down Keele Street at 65 kilometers per
hour, in the control of possibly a texting or fatigued
driver, might not appear acceptable. Consider the recent
accident on highway 400 where intense heat devoured the
road.
One easy way
to reduce this risk and make this scenario even more remote
and almost impossible would be to reroute the trucks. But
according to Theresa Theresa Buck Construction Liaison
Officer for the Toronto York Spadina Subway Extension
Project, "There was … extensive public consultation and
review of the design plans for Finch West Station with the
community." But this issue was never fully addressed at
those meetings.
|
Our community
finally has new subway station and Keele and Finch. Everyone
is happy about that but Toronto councillors and planning
staff have also created a deadly problem. Huge tanker trucks
will be travelling over the subway route and stations
carrying tons of deadly cargo.
It took over
twenty years of advocacy to convince the city that stations
in the North end of the city will eliminate the need for
thousands of buses taking staff and students to and from
York University. For our community, the ride downtown will
be cut by about half an hour or even more depending on the
time of day.
In order to
ensure support of the subway route by the petrochemical tank
farm (located to the North West of the Finch West station),
the TTC made a bad and potentially dangerous bargain. They
agreed to let super tankers each carrying around 65,000
litres of explosive gasoline travel over the subway line for
two kilometres, including the York West Subway/LRT stations.
In 2010, Council passed an exemption to the 1950s by-law
that restricted tankers from travelling over a subway route
for more than 2 kilometres; i.e., Pond Rd. to St. Regis.
The original
by-law was well thought out. Councillors in the 1950s had
vision. Picture a crash involving two supertankers above the
intersection of Keele and Finch. Both trucks would probably
burst into flames as tonnes of flammable liquid and vapours
spill from the trailers and down the subway vent holes. And
if this happens over the station -well its not worth
imagining.
TTC says that
the risk is remote and acceptable. Granted, it is remote;
but acceptable? If you are a regular transit user, the image
of 65,000 litres of flammable liquid above your head
regularly racing down Keele Street at 65 kilometers per
hour, in the control of possibly a texting or fatigued
driver, might not appear acceptable. Consider the recent
accident on highway 400 where intense heat devoured the
road.
One easy way
to reduce this risk and make this scenario even more remote
and almost impossible would be to reroute the trucks. But
according to Theresa Theresa Buck Construction Liaison
Officer for the Toronto York Spadina Subway Extension
Project, "There was … extensive public consultation and
review of the design plans for Finch West Station with the
community." But this issue was never fully addressed at
those meetings.
