Commuters have already suffered through multiple weekend closures during the first month of 2024, and they can expect plenty more inconvenience throughout the year, with a staggering 22 full-weekend closures of portions of the subway network on tap this year alone.

The 2022 completion of the Automatic Train Control on the TTC's Line 1 was advertised as an end to rolling closures disrupting weekend life in Toronto.

But a year and a half later, weekend closures remain a frequent headache for commuters as the transit agency now works to repair crumbling infrastructure.

The TTC's 2024 Subway Closures and Streetcar Diversions Forecast, released in January, highlights plans to temporarily shutter portions of the transit network to advance several projects.

These 22 closures include two outages to accommodate subway ventilation equipment; six closures to allow work on upgrades to Davisville Station and its train yard; five state-of-good repair closures; four closures for automatic train control work on Line 2; one closure for Ontario Line construction; and another four for Scarborough Subway construction.

The projected number of weekend closures in 2024 is an increase over the 15 full-weekend subway outages recorded in 2023, and is even higher than the combined 18 single-day and full-weekend closures last year.

One stretch of track that has undergone frequent weekend closures is the portion of Line 1 that includes Queen's Park and St Patrick stations.

In its late-January closure forecast, the TTC says that outages on this portion of Line 1 have been required in order to replace ceiling and wall finishes in the twin-tube-shaped stations to eliminate the risk of "asbestos-containing materials from dropping onto platform or track level."

The majority of this spray-applied asbestos acoustic insulation was removed in 2021. Several closures from late 2022 continuing into 2024 have allowed crews to paint tunnel liners that will remain exposed, and to install bolts and framing to support new porcelain enamel panels.

Station finish replacement is just one of several reasons behind planned track closures this year, and the TTC has produced a map explaining where and why stretches of subway track will be closed in 2024.

This work doesn't come cheap, either.

According to TTC documents, the average subway early closure cost sits at approximately $40,000 per evening, while a typical full, two-day weekend closure cost is $500,000 per weekend ($250,000 per day).

That means weekend subway closures alone will cost the transit agency $11 million in 2023 — a cost the transit agency attributes to replacement buses, advertising, and staffing requirements.