Subway to stop for hydro Y2K test

By Mike Funston Toronto Star Staff Reporter

Ontario Hydro will stage the Y2K version of an air raid drill this Saturday in Toronto.

And the TTC says it will bring all subway and streetcar service to a standstill until the test is done, in case anything goes wrong. The drill is to last only a few minutes.

Trains and streetcars will stop at the nearest station or transit stop for 10 minutes, beginning at 11:55 p.m., TTC spokesperson Anne McLaughlin said yesterday.

At midnight, Hydro will set its computer system to mimic the switch to Jan. 1, 2000, at its Manby Transformer Station on Kipling Ave. at Bloor St., which feeds power to Toronto Hydro.

About 180,000 Toronto Hydro residential and commercial customers could be affected, said Ontario Hydro official Bill Imms.

These customers are in the area of Etobicoke Creek to the west, Highway 401 to the north, and east down Avenue Rd.-University Ave. to Queen St. W., east to Yonge St., and south to the lake, including the Toronto Islands.

The TTC, as well as residential and business clients, have been advised that the test is unlikely to cause any power loss.

Just in case, the TTC will stop service to avoid potential passenger panic if trains are stuck in tunnels, or danger from streetcars stopping dead in intersections, McLaughlin said.

Bus service will run as usual, she added.

Hospitals on University Ave. and the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry are excluded from the test, but other hospitals within the boundaries, as well as traffic lights, could be affected, said Toronto Hydro spokesperson Blair Peberdy.

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Ray

-- Anonymous, March 04, 1999

Answers

I happen to live in the area of Toronto where the testing will occur. When I arrived home from work this afternoon (Thurs) there was a "personalized form letter" from Ontario Hydro/Toronto Hydro relating pretty well all the info shown in the article above. I guess they sent that letter to every one in the testing area. That alone must have cost them close to Can$ 50K (about US$ 34K).

I must say that I am pleased to see that they are _communicating so well about certain parts of their Y2K testing. It means they must be pretty confident that their assessment and remediation phases for this portion of their Y2K project were completed satisfactorily. (See my second footnote below for a comment about Toronto Hydro overall Y2K.)

I'll post here on Sunday morning to let you know how things went!

A couple of interesting footnotes:

Toronto Hydro lineman are currently on strike - I think this is day 5. Management crews are responding to emergencies. (So far there have been no major storms, but 15-20cm of snow is predicted for Sat.) It would appear, though, that the strike has _not affected plans for this test. Let's hope that it hasn't affected _any of their Y2K work.

My latest bill from Toronto Hydro contained a small pamphlet about their Y2K project. If memory serves, the phrase that caught my attention was "... an ambitious but achievable timeline" - this was in reference to the overall goal of being compliant by 30 June 1999.

Mike Coulter

-- Anonymous, March 05, 1999

I have a close contact in the area that will be providing updates. It sounds like Ontario Hydro is doing the right things, in many respects. They are being very public and somewhat specific about what they're testing and the possible impact. I will also try to follow up with some more technical details on exactly what they tested (ie. what is the function of the "computer system" that they're rolling over, and what substation functions were excercised as a result of this test).

-- Anonymous, March 06, 1999