Q&A: TTC’s Brad Ross talks sweltering subway cars

This month, subway riders on Line 2 have been stepping onto sweltering and stuffy trains with failing air conditioning — often feeling worse than the heat wave outside. With temperatures soaring into the 30s again this week, many are asking, “When will the problem be fixed?” We asked TTC spokesman Brad Ross for some answers.

CityNews: Why are the subway cars so hot?

Brad Ross: Twenty, 25 per cent of the subway cars on Line 2, the older trains, are having AC issues. Air conditioning is failing in the extreme heat because of overworking, and the failing, it’s a function of the age of the trains.

CN: How long will it be before they are fixed?

BR: We have a program that’s been underway for about a year now that we are repairing these units… In some cases we can do a quick reset on the car. In other cases, we have to take the train or the car completely out of service. And the way that trains work is there are two pairs, so we lose two cars to do this work. So, it won’t be, unfortunately, until about the fall when we will get the entire fleet out.

CN: Why do they take so long to fix?

BR: These are not just simple air conditioners. These are complicated technology and trains. These are 15-year-old cars and in many cases we need to replace units completely or do complete overhauls of those units. It’s not something that can be done overnight.

CN: Why don’t you just take the hot cars out of service?

BR: If we took a train out of service, we wouldn’t have enough trains. So, we’d have people on platforms that are extremely warm because we don’t ventilate subway stations.

CN: When are these hot cars running?

BR: We knowingly put hot cars into service in the rush hours because we don’t have enough trains to not service the entire line… After rush-hour periods, we identify those cars, we take them out of service. So, in the off-peak periods, we try to run as many trains with functioning AC as possible.

CN: What should I do in the meantime?

BR: We put cars that have functioning AC at the front and the end because that’s where the operators have to operate from. They can’t run in a hot car like that when they are running back and forth. They don’t have the opportunity to change cars or get off and wait for the next train, which is what we advise our customers to do. If they get on a hot car, get off that car, wait for the next train. If it’s safe at the next station, change trains, change cars. Or ride in the front or the last car until we get this fixed.

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