The calm of a seniors’ home dining room was shattered one afternoon last month when a hunk of metal came hurtling through the window.

The culprit in the incident — in which no one was hurt — wasn’t a vandal or group of rowdy kids, but the TTC yard next door.

A normally harmless streetcar part called a trolley shoe had been turned into a dangerous projectile when it came loose from a vehicle, sailed through the air, and broke the third-floor window of the Copernicus Lodge residence on Roncesvalles Avenue.

Remarkably, the Jan. 29 incident wasn’t the first of its kind at the TTC’s Roncesvalles Yard, the Star has learned.

On Aug. 31, 2019, a trolley shoe crashed through another window of the same seniors’ residence under similar circumstances. There were no injuries in that case either.

The TTC didn’t publicly report the startling events. But copies of internal emails sent anonymously to the Star and TTC board members show the Jan. 29 incident alarmed agency officials.

“This (is) the second incident of a shoe being catapulted into the seniors’ residence at Roncesvalles ... we were extremely fortunate no one was injured,” acting head of streetcar maintenance Pat Borrelli wrote to his colleagues, calling for an immediate investigation.

Coun. Brad Bradford, who sits on the TTC board, described the accidents as troubling.

“We’re fortunate that we just have a broken window here and that nobody was hurt … It could have been a lot worse,” said Bradford (Ward 19, Beaches-East York).

“That’s a heavy piece of equipment, when it’s coming off at speed and flying through a window, that’s not what we want to see.”

The councillor said the TTC was taking steps to address the issue, and he was confident they’d be effective.

Catharine Kowalenko, CEO of Copernicus Lodge, said in both cases the trolley shoes landed in dining rooms that were empty at the time.

Police were called to the scene in the January case but referred the matter to the TTC. A spokesperson for the Toronto Police said there is no investigation ongoing.

“It was very concerning. It was very alarming. We’re very grateful and so thankful that no one was hurt,” Kowalenko said.

Copernicus Lodge includes a 228-bed long-term care home and 200 seniors’ apartments.

Trolley shoes are the primary point of contact between a streetcar’s trolley pole and the overhead wires. They’re made of brass and weigh three or four pounds.

In an email, TTC spokesperson Stuart Green explained that in both the August and January cases the agency determined that while a vehicle was being moved over a curve in the tracks in the Roncesvalles yard, the trolley pole lost contact with the wires and the shoe snagged overhead.

As the streetcar moved forward, the shoe was “ripped from the pole,” and “was then propelled upwards and backwards” toward the lodge in a slingshot-type motion, Green said.

In the August incident, the shoe travelled high enough to strike a window on the lodge’s fourth floor.

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The agency is trying to determine whether the shoes were properly fastened to the pole.

“These incidents are concerning to the TTC. We pride ourselves on making safety our top priority — that includes the safety of our neighbours across Toronto,” Green said.

“It is clear that with two almost-identical incidents, much more needs to be done — and is being done. We want all Torontonians to feel safe when it comes to our operations and assure them that when there is a safety issue, it is addressed as quickly as possible.”

According to Green, the TTC started talking to Copernicus Lodge management as soon as the breakages were reported and since then have been in “constant contact” with the home.

Green said TTC CEO Rick Leary spoke directly to Kowalenko on Thursday, the same day the Star asked questions about the accidents, and “assured her of immediate measures” the agency was taking, including the erection of protective netting “as quickly as possible.”

The agency had previously instituted a speed restriction of 5 km/h through the section of the Roncesvalles yard where the shoes became snagged, and communicated to employees the importance of attaching the devices correctly. The TTC also inspected all of its streetcars to check for any problems with the devices, and found none.

The trolley pole system is a holdover from the TTC’s now-retired old-model streetcars, and the agency is in the process of converting the streetcar network to allow the vehicles to run using pantographs, devices that don’t use collector shoes and that provide a more stable connection to overhead wires.

The TTC’s new streetcars have both trolley poles and pantographs, and streetcar drivers have been ordered to use pantographs while on the yard tracks near the lodge.

Green asserted the trolley shoes don’t pose a risk to the public and the new streetcars are safe.

“This is not a vehicle design issue,” he said.

Kowalenko said she’s been reassured by her conversations with TTC officials.

“I feel very comfortable that they are very apologetic, and that the safety of our Copernicus Lodge community is their utmost priority,” she said, adding management at the home, which has been in the same location for four decades, has never had safety concerns about its proximity to the TTC yard before.

Kowalenko wouldn’t comment on whether the lodge is taking legal action against the TTC.

Green said the agency had compensated the lodge for the damage in the August matter, and intends to do so for the January incident as well.

“Both incidents are being dealt with through our claims process,” he said