A cracked rail is causing longer than normal travel times on Line 1 between Union and Bloor stations for subway riders heading northbound, the TTC says.

Travel times could take five to 10 minutes longer, according to TTC spokesperson Stuart Green. That means it could take up to 20 minutes for riders to get from Union to Bloor stations on Wednesday, a trip that usually takes 10 minutes.

There will be longer than usual travel times on that stretch of Line 1 all day, he said.

"As a result of the cracked rail, we have to move trains more slowly through that area," Green said. "We are trying to get that rail repaired. We are working on a temporary fix right now."

Image | Cracked rail TTC

Caption: TTC crews are hard at work on a temporary fix of the cracked rail. (Brad Ross/Twitter)

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Green said permanent repairs will have to be done overnight. The cracked rail is right inside Bloor station on the northbound tracks. The area is now considered a "reduced speed zone," he said.

In the meantime, the TTC is urging Line 1 riders to consider other options, including going to St. George station, instead of Bloor station, and heading south from there, or taking a streetcar from Broadview station into the downtown core.

Riders can also hop on streetcars from the University Avenue side of Line 1 if they head south from St. George station, he said.

"There are other options," Green added.

On Tuesday, TTC riders on Line 1 and Line 2 also experienced delays due to a combination of problems.

Those problems include a southbound train experiencing door problems at Museum station, then an emergency alarm being pulled on the train, a frozen switch at Wilson Yard, a brake locked on a train that caused it to smoke at Eglinton station and a fire at Warden station.

Brad Ross, spokesperson for the TTC, apologized in a tweet for the "abysmal" service on Line on Tuesday. Then he posted a long list of reasons why service did not proceed as planned.

"That's what happened, and we will learn from it," he said.