TTC officials don’t know whether they will be able to meet the scheduled late 2015 opening of the $2.6 billion Spadina subway extension into York Region.

They have yet to determine how much time they can recover from the months lost to an investigation that followed the death of a young construction worker on Oct. 11 at the York University work site.

It will be fall before the impact of that delay is known and publicly reported.

“The schedule is out of sync, and we lost time because of this fatality…. The real issue is whether we can recover this lost time or not,” said TTC chief capital officer Sameh Ghaly.

An Ontario Ministry of Labour spokesman confirmed that a Do Not Disturb order — which requires an accident scene remain untouched — was in place between Oct. 11 and Feb. 16 on one sector of the construction site.

Meantime, two of the TTC’s four giant tunnel-boring machines — affectionately known as Torkie and Yorkie — are sitting idle near the Schulich School of Business on the York University campus.

Work called compensation grouting, which protects the foundation of the business school, is now proceeding. But that has to be finished before the tunneling can continue, said Ghaly.

“The reason we do that is to eliminate or mitigate any settlement of the building,” he said.

Two other tunnelling machines — Holey and Moley — are, however, proceeding south towards Downsview station from the new Sheppard West station, said TTC spokesman Brad Ross.

Those are the same machines that were at the centre of a publicly marked milestone in June — the end of the tunnel drive on the 1.6-km stretch between the new Sheppard West and Finch West stations.

The custom-made tunnel boring machines cost the TTC $58 million and began digging the twin tunnels of the 8.6-km subway last year. The extension will add six new stops to the Spadina line. Starting at the existing Downsview station, it will run northwest to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre.

The tunneling delay at York won’t affect the construction of the Eglinton West LRT. Metrolinx has bought its own set of giant tunnel-boring machines to dig the underground portion of that line, expected to be complete around the end of the decade.

Kyle Knox, 24, died at the York University construction site when a giant drill rig fell on the loader he operated. The Ontario Ministry of Labour investigation is continuing, said a spokesman.

The TTC is the project manager for the subway, but two Spanish firms, Obrascon Huarte Lain (OHL) and Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC), have the subway construction contracts and are responsible for workplace safety.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

TTC spokesman Brad Ross refused to discuss liability issues related to the accident or the resulting delay.

The subway is being paid for by Ottawa, the province, York Region and the City of Toronto.