On November 16, 2023, the TTC posted an RFP (number P58PW23631) on the Bonfire bidding website for “Track Maintenance Consultant Services”.

The short description, on the title page, is:

The Scope of Work of this Contract includes, but is not limited to the provision of Consulting Services specializing in rail transit to provide track and structure engineering support.

This caught my eye because of the SRT derailment that shut down that line prematurely earlier this year. Although TTC management stated that the full report on this incident would come out “in a few weeks”, it is now mid-December and the report has not been released.

In the September report to the TTC Board, the cause was cited as loose bolts holding the reaction rail which allowed it to be pulled upward by magnetic forces and collide with the train. What was not explained was how the condition of the track reached a point where this could happen.

Recently, the City’s Auditor General reviewed the practices of Streetcar Overhead maintenance, and found them badly wanting. On questioning at the Board meeting, the TTC’s head of infrastructure acknowledged that Streetcar Overhead was likely the worst department on that count, but it was not the only one. This begs an obvious question: what other TTC departments are not producing top quality work and what is the effect on service and safety. A second equally important question is how did TTC practices decline.

We hear a great deal about system safety with homeless people living in the subway, and panhandlers (or worse) harassing passengers, but the context for discussion is that these problems originate outside of the TTC. Is there a generic problem with maintenance, and hence with safety and reliability, within the system itself?

The first of a series of goals here is “Increase passenger and overall system safety”. Another goal to “Increase competence and capability of Track Maintenance and Engineering staff” is equally troubling.

Through the entire Scope of Work is a sense that much needs to be improved within the TTC’s subway track maintenance activities.

Scope of Work

Consultant responsibilities may include but are not limited to the following:

Engineering Support Services

• Engineering Design, analysis, and assessment of track substructures;
• Engineering Design analysis and guidance in maintenance of track drainage, guidance in rehabilitation of drainage components, (pipes, manholes)
• Engineering Design, analysis and maintenance of special track work (switches, turnouts and expansion joints)
• Analysis of cracked rails and fractures within steel, concrete and composite track components;
• Assessment and analysis of various track components and prototypes;
• Support and provide expertise in Track Asset Management, Life cycle of track and track components,
• Support optimization of track maintenance, planning and scheduling activities
• Perform subway tunnel clearance analysis
• Provide up to two (2) competent technical writer(s) for support in writing standards, specifications, risk analysis and similar technical documentation under the guidance of TTC as well as engineering contractor. This involves providing benchmark rules of North American rail transit systems of policies, procedures and standards for Track Maintenance management, defect criteria and repair methodologies, whilst understanding TTC operational aspirations and targeted levels of service. This includes but not limited to reviewing and assessing existing TTC Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and writing new procedures.
• Provide a competent Track Engineer and a Track Maintenance Supervisor for secondment to TTC as needed for a period of up to one (1) year to assist TTC in achievement of the following goals
  o Increase passenger and overall system safety;
  o Reduce operating schedules;
  o Find capacity expansion options;
  o Fulfill code and best practices compliance requirements;
  o Reduce life cycle maintenance costs;
  o Increase asset reliability;
  o Increase competence and capability of Track Maintenance and Engineering staff.
• Participate in typical track night shift activities to understand TTC track maintenance and operations in order to provide consultancy recommendations such as issues for drainage and track work repairs.
• Drafting services in MicroStation and Solid Works
• Hands-on training and mentoring of the forepersons and other frontline supervisory staff as deemed necessary to improve efficiency and quality of work.
• Perform conditional survey and determine the causes of deterioration and provide recommendations.

The intent is that this work would be performed as needed:

TTC will determine and specify the Work required, and provide the Consultant with a specific scope of work for each Work Assignment Release. The specialized work/task will be on a “case by case” basis upon request.

The project team will include a range of positions including the Project Manager, Senior Track Engineer, Track Maintenance Supervisor, Senior and Junior Engineers (Civil/Transportation, Structural, Geotechnical, Mechanical), Technicians and a CADD Operator. This is not a trivial group, and one must wonder whether the existing track engineering and supervision teams will be sidelined. For their part, a consultant will not have a team of this size “on standby” should the TTC send work their way.

The proposed term of the contract is three years with two optional one-year extensions. The estimated upset limit for the contract is $4.8 million.

The SRT derailment brought unhappy memories of the crash at Russell Hill three decades ago during a period of financial cutbacks. At the time, management assured the Board that the system’s safety was not being compromised, but that accident unmasked deep problems in maintenance, inspection, training and operations.

The RFP does not close until January 9, and probably will not come to the Board for approval for some months afterward. It will be interesting to see how management “spins” the need for these consultants.

Questions for the TTC

In preparation of this article, I posed a series of questions to TTC Media Relations on the morning of Dec. 13, 2023. As of late afternoon on December 15, I have received neither a reply nor an acknowledgement.

1. Is this a net new contract or a renewal of services already provided under one that is expiring (by analogy to the bus cleaning and servicing contract on the recent agenda)?

2. The services requested imply a desire to correct some practices that are sub-par. This is odd considering the TTC’S reputation for good maintenance. Is this an offshoot of the SRT derailment investigation and/or the Auditor General’s review of the Streetcar Overhead section?

3. Is the intent to supplement TTC engineering and supervisory staff during the three year contract period for gradual skills transfer, or is this intended as a permanent arrangement?

4. When the SRT derailment was reported to the Board, if memory serves, the report on this incident was to come forward in December. Is there a release date for this yet?