Metrolinx making plans to relieve crowding in Exhibition GO station tunnel during TFC games

Toronto FC soccer games are known to generate some of the loudest, rowdiest crowds at any sporting event in Toronto.

For die-hard Reds fans, the party starts well before kick-off. You can find soccer nuts draped in red at the various bars and pubs in Liberty Village. Then many make the trek to BMO Field through the tunnel at the foot of Atlantic Avenue, under Exhibition GO station and out the other side.

“It’s one of those things that is part of the game day experience. You go through the tunnel and it’s fun,” said Cal MacLellan of the Red Patch Boys, one of TFC’s official supporters’ clubs.

“It’s a great experience, but you wonder at what cost.”

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Members of the group worry that the growing population of Liberty Village and popularity of the team are creating added safety concerns for fans making the weekly tunnel march.

YouTube videos from as far back as eight years ago show crowds that would intimidate a person with even the slightest claustrophobia jamming into the tunnel with crowds singing, chanting and banging on the walls as they inch their way through shoulder to shoulder.

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It was manageable then, but several members of the group’s online forum, including MacLellan, said it’s getting a bit worrisome now. While he conceded the potential for danger is not on the same scale, MacLellan worries about a smaller version of the 1989 disaster at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England. A human crush due to overcrowding left 96 people dead and hundreds more injured at a soccer match that day.

“Too little space in a tight area, and that’s what we’re talking about here. You would not want anyone crushed. You wouldn’t want a stampede one way,” MacLellan said.

READ MORE: Concerns raised over capacity of Exhibition GO station tunnel due to BMO Field events

When Global News first reported on the tunnel’s safety concerns in 2016, Metrolinx acknowledged there was a problem. However the transit organization said any solutions would have to wait until after they achieved their priority of electrifying the GO Transit line in the area.

But Metrolinx said it has since expedited the process. In December, staff put out a call for contractors to submit ideas to improve the overall design and function of Exhibition GO station’s operations. Spokesperson Vanessa Barrasa said this would mean better access and egress with at least one more tunnel. The tunnel could be located at the foot of Jefferson Avenue, west of the existing one at the end of Atlantic Avenue.

“We’re looking for the bidders to be able to look at how to improve access and how to improve safety,” she said.

The next step is selecting qualifying ideas from those submissions and then accepting bids for the work.

READ MORE: Renovated BMO Field ready for Toronto FC home opener

“We’re looking for all this work to be done anywhere between 2020 and 2023,” Barrasa said.

Many who have become fed up with game day crowding in the tunnel have taken to walking over to and down on Dufferin Street in order to access the stadium. It’s a longer trip, but it’s much more wide open route.

MacLellan said he is glad to hear a solution is forthcoming, but wishes it would be built sooner. Until then, he said TFC fans will just have to hope nothing goes wrong and keep protecting each other.

“Everyone who goes to the game, I think, understands how bad it could get, so everyone is extremely respectful and everyone is very cautious,” MacLellan said.