WATCH: Peter Kim reports on how the TTC responded to the leak found near College Station Tuesday.
TORONTO – Subway service resumed between Bloor and Union Station Tuesday afternoon following a suspected fuel leak at College Station.
Shuttle buses were running between Bloor and St. Andrew Station to ease the congestion and get commuters moving.
TTC CEO Andy Byford said subway service was disrupted around midnight due to initial reports of some sort of fuel leakage on the tracks.
“We discovered some sort of unknown substance seeping into our tunnels about 500 feet north of College Station,” Byford told reporters Tuesday morning.
“The strong suspicions is that it’s some king of heating or flammable liquid.”
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Officials originally suspected it was a form of gasoline but now say it could be kerosene or diesel fuel.
Byford said the leak is flowing through an expansion joint inside the subway tunnel.
“What was striking to me is that this is not just dripping through, it’s pouring,” said Byford.
“Work cars have appeared on site and are moving into the tunnel. They will set about plugging the hole of the liquid.”
The exact source of the substance is still under investigation, but TTC officials believe it may be coming from an underground fuel tank nearby.
A sample of the substance has also been collected for testing.
“This is not generated by the TTC,” said Byford.
TTC head of communication Brad Ross posted several pictures of the leak on Twitter.
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Toronto Fire, Toronto Water and gas crews are also on scene assessing the source of the leak.
Public transit advocates say the most recent service disruption, of which the cause of the substance leak is still unknown, is yet another example of chronic underfunding to the TTC.
“Basic maintenance is not being done, and there has not been enough investment in building new lines so riders can still get around when one line goes down,” said TTC Riders member Aaron Manton in a media release.
“Maybe if elected officials were late to work today like the rest of us they’d be motivated to fairly fund the TTC.”
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