TORONTO — A Metrolinx follow-up investigation into the Feb. 2 Union Station derailment found inadequate visual inspections and track maintenance, and 40 other defects in the surrounding corridor, as CEO Michael Lindsay told directors Thursday that a 30% World Cup service boost froze operator training and forced weekend Barrie and Stouffville GO trains down from 15 trips to four.The cuts are in effect this weekend and are slated as an interim measure through spring 2027. Lindsay said Metrolinx and its private operations contractor, Alstom, paused vacations and halted training and certification to staff the tournament, “in ways that now, this fall, lead us to have to deploy crew carefully.” Buses on routes 65, 68 and 71 cover some of the cancelled rail, rush hour is unchanged, and Barrie Line riders lose trains between Downsview Park GO and Union this weekend and next for separate track-upgrade closures.The Feb. 2 westbound derailment on depot track 3 sheared lag screws at nine locations after plates were held by two screws instead of the four required since Metrolinx rewrote the standard in 2016.The rail moved 1 1/8 inches, four platforms went out, and service across the network was a mess for days. Lindsay told the February board that Toronto Terminals Railway and Metrolinx inspections had missed the non-compliance for years.The new report says those visual inspections and the maintenance around them were not good enough, and that the walk after the wreck found 40 further defects — not the “one or two” sites Lindsay described in February.No injuries followed because of slow orders on legacy corridor track. That is not a clean bill for the inspection regime or for a contractor-run roster that cannot both surge for FIFA and certify new operators.
