“It’s like Christmas,” says Fraser, supervisor, security and life safety and, more recently, program manager for the Union Station Transit-Secure Program as she stands in front of six large video cubes still under protective wrapping. The screens will serve up CCTV footage from Union Station cameras to the security operations centre, which was built to ULC standards. A separate emergency operations centre will provide a place where all transportation stakeholders and emergency personnel can gather in the case of an emergency.

“This has been the most challenging project of my career,” says Fraser. “This is the busiest transit hub in Canada — it handles more people than Pearson.”

The daily commuters who come and go through the Front Street hub each day have no idea what’s been going on at Union Station for the last year. On this particular day as she tours the facility, Fraser is mindful that there are 20 working days left before her team and the construction workers hit their March 31 deadline. It’s been etched in her mind for months now, ever since she signed on for the project.

The City received funding of almost $16 million dollars for the station’s security upgrade, with Transport Canada providing 75 per cent and the City of Toronto funding 25 per cent of the total project costs.

The project includes security applications and improved resources that span physical security enhancements, emergency plans, and training to help deter, detect, respond and recover from potential terrorist incidents. It also meant providing training for Union Station employees and tenants, to address skills and awareness. A “See something, say something” campaign was launched, encouraging people to report suspicious behaviour.
Fraser has been guiding the project since she first heard about it when she was on maternity leave following the birth of her son.

Prior to landing the Union Station project, Fraser, 34, who started her career as a security officer in 2001 in the Social Services division, is a Certified Protection Professional, Certified Security Project Manager and a Certified Protection Officer, held a security position in the social services department of the city, but when she heard about the project to secure Union Station she contacted her boss, Dwaine Nichol, manager of security and life safety and in August 2006 asked to be transferred to the project.

She knew she wanted to the job and returned to work in January 2007 ready to tackle the project.
“I knew this project would be very interesting for me,” she says.

Since then she has been the project manager at Union Station, responsible for getting consensus from the multiple players involved including Transport Canada, GO and TTC.

“I knew that Silvia had strong security project management skills, but what I was most impressed with was her ability to form and enhance strong relationships with our partners and external stakeholders. For a project of such great scope and with a short timeline, it is amazing that Silvia was still able to be flexible, empathetic, and display all the qualities of a great leader,” says Nichol.

Every year, Union Station sees more passengers than all three terminals at Pearson International Airport, Canada’s busiest airport: That includes 43 million GO Train and bus passengers, 20 million TTC subway passengers, and 2.4 million VIA passengers.

Historical influences
As a Parks Canada heritage building, Union Station fell under many requirements for historical structures. The City of Toronto’s Heritage Preservation Service was also part of the approval process. Fraser hired an architect specializing in heritage properties: Goldsmith Borgal and Company Architects of Toronto. Even paint colours had to be matched with the original paint on the walls in the office areas. The team couldn’t get a building permit until the heritage approvals were met.

“I think one of the greatest challenges of my career has been to manage the complexities of the transit-Secure program at Union Station as Canada’s largest commuter hubs while juggling the heritage approvals for the physical security enhancements and managing stakeholders expectations,” says Fraser. “The heritage approvals took nine months. Everything we touched had to be approved, but they never said, ”˜You can’t put a card reader there’.”