Challenges with State of Good Repair at TTC – Rick Leary reports

In what was likely his last interview before his surprise resignation 2 days later, Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) CEO Rick Leary was interviewed on June 18 at TRACCS  (Transit Rail Association for Canadian Contractors, Maintainers, Operators and Standards)  Rail Day 2024.  He focused mostly on State of Good Repair (SOGR) and gave a very sobering summary of SOGR at the TTC.

The TTC 15-year capital plan now stands at about $38B, only one-third of which is funded.  This leads to continual deferral of necessary SOGR items.  Leary noted that the derailment of the Scarborough RT in 2023 was due to the rolling stock being 13-years beyond lifetime, and noted that “airlines don’t brag about having the oldest fleet in the country”.

Top priority SOGR items include:

• Money from the federal government to match provincial and municipal funds for new subway cars on Line 2.  The federal permanent Public Transit Fund starts in 2026 and TTC is hoping to get preauthorization this summer for the federal funds, so that procurement can start
• Maintenance/upgrades of track, power, tunnels and signals on Line 2
• Streetcar maintenance
• Bus fleet maintenance/electrification

Leary indicated that various academic studies have shown that every dollar invested into transit yields seven dollars in economic uplift, not including health benefits and opportunity for affordable housing.